Mallorca poet wins book prize for Palma prison poem
Palma de Mallorca’s Sala Augusta cinema stands above a former Francoist prison: Mallorcan writer Sebastià Alzamora wins the Premio Lletra d’Or for a poetry collection that looks back at its past. His publisher announced the award on Monday, 19 October 2026. The prize names Sala Augusta seguit de Llengua materna the best book of 2025.
During the war, Republican prisoners waited for execution in inhumane conditions at the prison beneath what is now the cinema. The poem Sala Augusta recalls the men and women who fell victim to the 1936 fascist uprising on Mallorca.
Jurors say the collection makes readers laugh and cry while speaking fairly of the dead. It had already won four other literary awards, including the Premio Nacional de Poesía and the Premio de la Crítica.
The collection’s second part, Llengua materna, turns to the death of Alzamora’s mother. It also honours women who stitched shoes for Mallorca’s footwear industry from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com