Estepona Town Council has presented the 5th ‘Ciudad de Estepona’ International Poetry Prize to the Madrid-born author Julia Viejo Sánchez, for her work ‘Anidan minerales’, at a ceremony held at the Mirador del Carmen Cultural Centre and chaired by the mayor José María García Urbano. 

This competition, organised by the Town Council, has become established as one of the most important in Spain for its high participation and its prize money: 7,000 euros and the publication of the winning work by the prestigious publisher Editorial Pre-Textos, a leading name in Spanish-language poetry. In this fifth edition, more than 2,300 works were submitted.

During the prize ceremony, the audience had the opportunity to take part in a meeting with the author. The packed auditorium enjoyed, as a finale, a performance by the artist Abraham Boba, vocalist of the band León Benavente.

The mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, stressed the consolidation of this literary prize, which was born with the vocation of permanence and which he predicts will have many years of life given the growing interest it arouses in each edition.

Julia Viejo Sánchez (Madrid, 1981) is the author of the short story collection ‘En la celda había una luciérnaga’ (Blackie Books, 2022) and the novel ‘Mala estrella’ (2024). She has contributed to the short story anthology ‘Una Navidad así’ (Tusquets, 2024) and has edited two poetry anthologies by Gloria Fuertes (‘Lo que pasa es que te quiero’, 2023, and ‘La gente corre tanto’, 2024). She has also translated ‘Cometa rojo: arte incandescente y vida fugaz de Sylvia Plath’ (Bamba editorial, 2023).