Prize winner speaks of love for Spanish

Considered one of the most important writers and thinkers of the second half of the 20th century, the 90-year-old said the beauty of Spanish words such as “piedra, viento [or] fuego” have been essential to his love for words. “Even in your Spanish language society, anchored in a rich pre-Hispanic past, there is this beautiful continuity between popular culture and the concerns of academia, the place where the spirit of poetry nourishes vigorously.”