Richard Gwyn wins Premio Valle Inclán at Society of Authors Translation Prizes

Emeritus Professor Richard Gwyn has won the 2025 Premio Valle Inclán for his translation of Invisible Dog by Mexican poet Fabio Morábito.

The award was announced at the Society of Authors’ annual Translation Prizes ceremony, held on Tuesday 10 February at the British Library’s Knowledge Centre.

Richard’s winning book, published by Carcanet Press, presents a selection of Morábito’s poems in English. The judges praised the translation for recreating Morábito’s voice with an “assured and deft” approach to language and form.

Nine literary translators and one editor were named winners on the night, with more than £32,000 shared between winners and runners-up across the prizes.

The Premio Valle Inclán is an annual prize for translations into English of full-length Spanish language works, established in 1997. The winner receives £3,000, with £1,000 awarded to the runner-up.

Richard said: “At a time when the art of translation - and the translation of poetry in particular - is at threat of terminal breakdown through the abuse of AI, it is a privilege for me to receive the Premio Valle-Inclán, the only UK prize to specifically reward translation from Spanish.

“I am grateful to Fabio Morábito, the great Mexican author whose work I have translated, for his friendship and collaboration in this project from the very start, and to Michael Schmidt and the team at Carcanet for their ongoing support.”

Richard has long combined writing with literary translation, working primarily from Spanish. His previous translation work includes The Other Tiger, an anthology of contemporary Latin American poetry, and Impossible Loves by Darío Jaramillo, which was shortlisted for the Premio Valle Inclán in 2020.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by Fiona Sze-Lorrain and also marked the first presentation of the John Calder Translation Prize, recognising translations of full-length literary works from any language.