Ben Clark Wins The 2017 Poetry Loewe Prize With Work Done During A Mojácar Council And Valparaíso Scholarship
“La Policía Celeste”, by the Ibizan poet, Ben Clark, has been awarded the XXX International Loewe Foundation Poetry Prize. The Jury, chaired by Víctor García de la Concha, along with Piedad Bonnett, Francisco Brines, José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Antonio Colinas, Soledad Puértolas, José Ramón Ripoll, Jaime Siles and Luis Antonio de Villena, remarked on the book’s unaffected simplicity and openness.
The collection of poems, they added, “is full of anecdotes, not simply in black and white, but which the writer has taken to another level and enriched.”
Ben, who stayed in Mojácar last January to take up a scholarship from the local Council and the Valparaíso Foundation, won the prestigious prize out of 706 of the world’s best poets, from 31 countries.
During his visit, he finished his award winning poetry book and also gave a recital to the 4th year students at the town’s Rey Alabez School, which both Ben and the youngsters really enjoyed. He first grabbed their attention by saying “not all poets are dead” and from that moment on, he kept them entertained with readings and, by answering the questions his work and career raised.
Remembering Ben’s happy times in Mojácar, culminating in this winning work, the town now sends him their heartfelt congratulations.
This Spanish writer who resides in Ibiza, was born in Great Britain and has been bestowed with many literary awards including; the Hyperion Prize, the VII Felix Grande National Young Poetry Prize, the IV RNE Young Poetry Prize and the Joan Alcover Ciutat de Palma Award.
He has also taken up scholarships at the Antonio Gala Foundation, the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers in Scotland and the Château de Lavigny International Writers’ Residence in Switzerland.
Now, added to his glowing curriculum vitae, is the Loewe Foundation Poetry Prize, one of the most prestigious in Spain.
