They've announced that Elena Poniatowska galardonada con el Premio Cervantes 2013, as the Mexican author has taken the most prestigious Spanish-language author prize (worth €125,000); see also, for example, the Latin American Herald Tribune report.
This prize has an impressive list of winners -- scroll down at the official announcement -- though they do tend to wait until the authors are really old before honoring them, especially in recent years (providing cover for them having so far, for example, overlooked the Goytisolos): Poniatowska is over 80, but her win actually lowers the average age of the prize-winner these past four years: none of the last three was under 85 when they got the prize (and Nicanor Parra was closer to 100 than 90 when he won in 2011).
For more information on her, see the Fundación Elena Poniatowska Amor site.
Several of her books have been translated into English -- though not yet her recent fictional biography of Leonora Carrington (see the Seix Barral publicity page). But her Massacre in Mexico, about the 1968 killings, is one place to start; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
This prize has an impressive list of winners -- scroll down at the official announcement -- though they do tend to wait until the authors are really old before honoring them, especially in recent years (providing cover for them having so far, for example, overlooked the Goytisolos): Poniatowska is over 80, but her win actually lowers the average age of the prize-winner these past four years: none of the last three was under 85 when they got the prize (and Nicanor Parra was closer to 100 than 90 when he won in 2011).
For more information on her, see the Fundación Elena Poniatowska Amor site.
Several of her books have been translated into English -- though not yet her recent fictional biography of Leonora Carrington (see the Seix Barral publicity page). But her Massacre in Mexico, about the 1968 killings, is one place to start; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.