The Jerusalem Prize for 1977 will be awarded to the Mexican poet, essayist and former diplomat Octavio Paz, it was announced here today. The presentation will be made by Mayor Teddy Kollek at the eighth Jerusalem International Book Fair next April 26.
The $2000 award is made every two years by the Jerusalem municipality to an author whose works express the idea of “the freedom of the individual in society.” Paz, 62, is considered one of the leading contemporary writers in Spanish. In more than 30 published volumes of poetry and essays he has covered such subjects as literature, anthropology, art, psychology, philosophy and science. Much of his work has been translated into English and French.
Paz served as a member of Mexico’s diplomatic corps in the U.S., France, Switzerland, Japan and as Ambassador to India. He resigned from the latter office in 1968. Since 1969 he has taught Latin American literature at Cambridge and at various universities in North America. In 1962 he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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