Claribel Alegria Wins Neustadt International Prize for Literature

Posted on November 1, 2005

Nicaraguan/Salvadoran writer Claribel Alegria has been named as the 2006 laureate of the $50,000 Neustadt International Prize for Literature by an international jury representing eight countries. The University of Oklahoma and its international literary magazine, World Literature Today, administer the prize.

The biennial Neustadt Prize is the only international literary award from the United States for which poets, playwrights and novelists are given equal consideration. It is widely considered the most prestigious international prize after the Nobel Prize in Literature and is often called the "American Nobel." Twenty-five Neustadt laureates, candidates or jurors in the past 37 years have been awarded Nobel Prizes following their involvement with the Neustadt Prize.

Alegria was born in Esteli, Nicaragua, but from early childhood lived in the Santa Anaregion of western El Salvador. She is the 19th recipient of the Neustadt Prize and the third woman to win. Alegria's poetry and fiction has been translated into more than 14 languages, and she has received numerous awards in Europe, Latin America and the United States.