Mallorca poet wins €30,000 National Poetry Prize

€30,000 goes to Llucmajor writer Sebastià Alzamora after he won the 2026 National Poetry Prize for Sala Augusta seguit de Llengua materna. Spain’s Ministry of Culture announced the award in Madrid on 15 September. The Catalan-language collection ties the history of Palma to memories of family life.

The prize goes to a man for the first time in eight years. Miriam Reyes received it in the previous edition.

A Palma cinema and a mother

The jury praised Alzamora for bringing together historical accusation and the quieter world of the home. It said the collection weaves public history into family intimacy.

Sala Augusta is one long poem in free verse about the horror of the Civil War. It begins with a cinema in central Palma that had been used as a prison, and follows a tragic passage of innocent deaths.

Its companion poem, Llengua materna, looks instead to Alzamora’s mother and a modest childhood. The women in that household supported it through work for the footwear industry, the jury said.

Writer from Llucmajor

Alzamora was born in Llucmajor in 1972 and studied Catalan philology at the University of the Balearic Islands. He first came to notice with the 1994 poetry collection Rafel, which won the Salvador Espriu Prize.

He has also written novels including La piel y la princesa, Crimen de sangre, Rabia and El Federal. His work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Polish and Danish.

Topics: Sea rescue · Culture · Politics · Palma · Llucmajor

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com