05 Dec 2011 02:34:16
The award was announced Thursday in Madrid by Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde.
It honors a writer's life work, and generally alternates between Spanish and Latin American writers from one year to the next. Last year it went to Spain's Ana Maria Matute.
The award carries with it a euro125,000 ($170,000) cash stipend.
Other front-runners this year included Ernesto Cardenal of Nicaragua and Uruguay's Eduardo Galeano.
