The winner work of the 21^st César Simón Poetry Prize of Universitat de València, “A veces la poesía es un desguace a la orilla de una carretera secundaria”, a poetry compilation about obsessions and aesthetic and theme constants of the author: the configuration of a poem as a metapoethic journey, playing with times and bending itself, a tribute to the authors he reads and admires.

The jury applauded the work’s brave perspective of theme: “It is a risky tune for a book of poems, appealing to several poetry traditions. Realism and urbanism as its aesthetic makes a dashing narrator using everyday language to reflect on the borders of poetry”. The jury praised the use of intertext sources as a foundation of the work.

The jury members were: Xelo Candel as president and Chairwoman of UV, head of the Poetry Classroom, Jorge Pérez Cebrián, poet; Juan María Calles, poet and essay writer; María García Zambrano, poet; y Ana Mª Chillarón assistant of UV Culture Service.

Pedro Flores has published over 40 works of poetry, narrative and theatre. Throughout his career that started on the 80s, he has been nationally and internationally awarded. Some of his latest works: Los poetas feroces cuentan lobos para dormir (Jorge Manrique Award), Los gorriones contrarrevolucionarios (27 Generation Award), Tocar de oído (Miguel Hernández-Valencian Community Award) y Nuestro nombre es piedra (Alegría 2024 Award).

Universitat de València’s Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Society‘s Poetry Classroom presents the César Simón Poetry Prize aiming to award the best books of poems and promoting poetry creation and dissemination within the university and society.

César Simón was a Valencian poet born in 1932. He earned his PhD in Philosophy and Language Theory with a thesis about Juan Gil-albert. He was Principal of Lluís Vives Institute of Benetússer and professor of the Department of Language Theory of Universitat de València. Chronological member of the “Second Postwar Generation”, his work began around the 60s. He earned the Loewe Award in 1996 for his book Templo sin dioses.