MADRID – Juan Carlos Mestre on Thursday was named the winner of Spain’s National Poetry Prize for “La casa roja” (The Red House), a work in which the author explores various currents of contemporary poetic thought.

Conferred by the Culture Ministry, the prize was accompanied by a 20,000-euro ($29,200) cash prize and awarded to the best work of poetry published in Spain in 2008 in any of the Iberian nation’s official languages.

“Without abandoning the permanent roots of Mestre’s personal mythology, (the work explores) the most revealing developments in contemporary poetic thought through a passionate critical and ethical dialogue,” Javier Bello wrote in the edition of “La casa roja” published by Calambur.

Also an acclaimed visual artist, Mestre was born in the northwestern town of Villafranca del Bierzo in 1957 and graduated with a degree in media sciences from the University of Barcelona.

He won the Adonais prize in 1982 for his first book of poems, titled “Antifona del otoño en el valle del Bierzo, and the Jaime Gil de Biedma prize in 1992 for “La poesia ha caido en desgracia.”

Mestre also received the Jaen de Poesia prize in 1999 for “La tumba de Keats.” EFE