FIL Award

The FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages (Premio FIL de Literatura en Lenguas Romances, previously the Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature) is awarded to writers of any genre of literature (poetry, novels, plays, short stories and literary essays) working in one of the Romance languages: Spanish, Catalan, Galician, French, Occitan, Italian, Romanian or Portuguese. Endowed with US$150,000, it is given to a writer in recognition to all their work, making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world.[1]

Ida Vitale (left) receiving the award in 2018.

It was created in 1991 to acknowledge, in the beginning, writers of literature from Latin America or the Caribbean. It is organized by Mexico's National Council for Culture and Arts, the University of Guadalajara, the government of the state of Jalisco, and the Fondo de Cultura Económica and was originally named in honor of writer Juan Rulfo, a native of Sayula, Jalisco. It is awarded during the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL).

In 2005, the Rulfo family requested that the name be removed from association with the prize, given that it had become "the spoils of small groups that sought only to benefit their own interests". As a result, beginning in 2006, the award was renamed the FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages.[2][3]