Álvaro Pombo García de los Ríos He was born in Santander on June 23, 1939. Bachelor of Philosophy and Letters from the Complutense University of Madrid and Bachelor of Arts For the Birkbeck College in London, he resided in the British capital for more than a decade. It was there that he published his first poems, Protocols (1973)written in the sixties, opening a literary work that has since elapsed between poetry, narrative, essay and philosophical reflection. In 2024, he was distinguished with the Miguel de Cervantes award. The delivery ceremony has been chaired by the Kings this Wednesday.
Member of the Royal Spanish Academy Since 2002 – the “J” armchair occupies -, took possession on June 20, 2004 with a speech entitled Likelihood and truthto which he responded, in the name of the corporation, Carmen Iglesias. In 2024, he was distinguished with the Miguel de Cervantes award, the highest recognition of the letters in the Spanish language, as a culmination of an extensive, original and deeply influential literary career.
A plural and persistent work
The Álvaro Pombo’s narrative It is one of the most personal and recognizable of the Hispanic literary landscape. With an elaborate prose and an ethical and philosophical approach, he has addressed issues such as identity, sexuality, morals, religion and affective links from a critical, intelligent and not without irony perspective.
Among his most prominent novels are:
- The hero of the mansard of Mansard (1983, Herralde Award).
- Where women (1996, National Narrative Prize).
- The iridized platinum subway (1990, critics prize).
- Matilda Turpin’s fortune (2006, Planet Award).
- The Hero’s tremor (2012, Nadal Prize).
- Santander, 1936 (2023, Francisco Umbral Award)
- The excluded (2024).
Your novel The adoptive son (1984) was adapted to the cinema under the title The game of invisible messages (1992). Other works such as THE CIRCLE CLUAG (1999), The ceiling (2001), Against nature (2005), Stay with us, Lord, because it sunset (2013), The transformation of Johanna Sansíleri (2014) o Viscount portrait in winter (2018), consolidate a trajectory of more than four decades of sustained creation.
Poetry, intellectual thinking and dialogue
Although his fame has been based on the novel, Álvaro Pombo has dedicated years of work to poetry. Author of four poems, he gathered them in Protocols (1973–2003) (2004), together with a selection of unpublished texts. His interest in philosophical thinking and theology is reflected in the essay Supreme fiction. An assault on the idea of God (2022), as well as in his dialogues with the philosopher José Antonio Marina collected in Literary creativity (2013).
In 2014 it was published The irremediable grace. Álvaro Pombo: Poetics of a stylevolume that includes the presentations presented in a seminar dedicated to the author by the Menéndez Pelayo International University and the Plaza Porticada Cultural Association.
Recognition and legacy
Translated into several languages - among them German, French, English, Italian or Portuguese – Pombo has received some of the most relevant literary awards in the Hispanic field: El Bardo Award (1977), Herralde Award (1983), Criticism Award (1990), National Narrative Prize (1997), RAE FASTENRATH Award, José Manuel Lara Award (2002), Planet Award (2006), Nadal Award (2012), Honorary Prize for the Letters of Santander (2018), Menéndez Pelayo International Award (2022), Francisco Umbral Award (2024) and, finally, the Cervantes Prize.
Key figure of contemporary literature in Spanish, Álvaro Pombo has made writing an ethical exercise, an aesthetic inquiry and a space for critical freedom. His legacy not only lies in the quality of his works, but also in his constant defense of free thought, human complexity and intellectual commitment to their time.
