Rosa Montero, Liber 2025 Award to the most celebrated Spanish-speaking author

Reading time: 4 min.

The award ceremony will take place on 8 October in Madrid, during the main event of the International Book Fair. LIBER 2025, which will be held from 7 to 9 October at IFEMA MADRID

The award, presented by the Federation of Publishers' Guilds of Spain (FGEE), recognizes his extraordinary literary career and his unwavering commitment to culture.

The author Rosa Montero has been awarded the LIBER 2025 Prize, granted by the Federation of Publishers' Guilds of Spain (FGEE) in recognition of her professional career and cultural commitment. The prize will be awarded on 8 October at the Centro Cultural Conde Duque in Madrid, as part of the LIBER International Book Fair which will be held from 7 to 9 October at IFEMA MADRID.

The same event will also award the LIBER prize for the best audiovisual adaptation of a literary work, which this year has gone to the film Pedro Páramo; the LIBER prize for the promotion of reading in the media will be awarded to the journalist and communicator Antonio Martínez Asensio; the Boixareu Ginesta Prize for Bookseller of the Year will go to the Serendipia bookshop in Ciudad Real; and the LIBER prize for the promotion of reading in libraries open to the public, to the Jaume Fuster library in Barcelona. In addition, the LIBER 2025 Tribute will take place and will be announced soon.

Journalist, writer and cultural reference

Born in Madrid in 1951, Montero had a passion for reading and writing from an early age. He studied psychology and journalism. For years she combined her literary career with her work as a journalist, first in Pueblo and later as editor-in-chief of the Sunday supplement of El País. Over the years, and with her many published books, she has built up a unique and diverse oeuvre in which she describes the social and personal reality of her characters in a very specific and sometimes highly sensitive way.

Since the publication of her first novel, Crónica del desamor (1979), Rosa Montero has developed an extensive and extraordinary literary production, which explores major universal themes such as love, death, madness, time, identity, power and creation. Her narrative, which often crosses boundaries between essay, autobiography, science fiction and historical novel, always has an empathetic look at the human.

Among his most outstanding works are Te trataré como a una reina ( 1983), La hija (2022níbal (1997, Primavera Novel Prize), La loca de la casa (2003, Qué Leer and Grinzane Cavour Prizes), La ridícula idea de no volver a verte ( 2013), El peso del corazón (2015, translated as Weight of the Heart), Los tiempos del odio (2018) and El peligro de estar cuerda ( 2022), in which she explores the relationship between creativity and mental health, mixing autobiography, literary analysis and a social perspective. Her latest published work is Animales difíciles (2025), in which she raises ethical dilemmas about the development of technology and the possibility of it becoming an uncontrolled weapon.

As a journalist, she has been awarded prizes such as the Manuel del Arco Prize, the National Journalism Prize and the Madrid Press Association Prize. In her role as a writer, she has received awards such as the National Prize for Spanish Literature (2017), the José Luis Sampedro Prize, the Mandarache Prize, the Grinzane Cavour Prize and the International Columnists Prize by El Mundo, among many others.

Besides her many awards, Rosa Montero has always been close to her readership, and has managed to go beyond the literary sphere to become an essential voice of public opinion, always ready to stand for the value of culture and literature as essential tools for social development.

About Liber

Internationally recognized as one of the main trade fairs for the export, exhibition and promotion of Spanish-language publishing, this year LIBER will bring together more than 350 publishers and companies in Madrid to present their bibliographic collections and new releases, as well as products and services relating to the marketing and distribution of books. The fair also includes an extensive program of professional conferences to discuss and reflect on current issues related to the book value chain.

LIBER 2025 is being organised IFEMA MADRID and promoted by the Federation of Publishers’ Guilds of Spain (FGEE). It is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, ICEX Export and Investments, CEDRO, the Region of Madrid, Madrid City Council, and enjoys the collaboration of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and the Association of Publishers of Madrid.