Humberto Lopez Morales picks up the Isabel Polanco Prize for his accessible look at the Spanish language

Isabel Polanco was "the most Hispano-American of Spaniards", so the prize bearing her name, and which this year went to a work that constitutes" a biography of Spanish", was received on Monday at the Guadalajara International Book Fair by the winner, Humberto López Morales, as "an amazing honor."

Isabel Polanco, the late CEO of Grupo Santillana  died two years ago. She was the driving force behind many activities in Latin America that consolidated the Group's literary brands. The essay prize, now in its second year,  is awarded jointly by the Fundación Santillana and the Guadalajara International Book Fair. Joining Ignacio Polanco, Isabel's brother and president of PRISA, were Isabel's widower, Alfonso López Casas, and Isabel López Polanco, one of her  daughters.

The work by Humberto López Morales, La andadura del español en el mundo (The global evolution of Spanish), published by Taurus, traces the " the power of Spanish, which, according to statistics, says, López Morales," will in 2050 overtake English in the US. "

It's an epic story of a language, now established in 22 Latin American countries, that sometimes reads like a tale of chivalry, beginning with King Alfonso X the Wise, and set to reach a milestone, according to López Morales in the not-too-distant future: "In 2050, if nothing gets in the way, 10% of the world's population will speak Spanish and English will be a second language in the US. "

For the Colombian novelist Laura Restrepo, a member of the jury, which was chaired by the former President of Chile Ricardo Lagos, this is "a biography of Spanish, treated as a living being; Lopez Morales has been able to get into the dark, hidden corners of the language, and has looked at the speech of the rebel Cimarrons and the sicarios of Medellin. " For the Mexican José Moreno de Alba, the winning essay is a book "written with rigor and talent and is accessible. " And Concepción Company, jury member, also said that "the book shows, without doubt, the true journey of a tireless traveler, who wherever he goes, takes out his notebook to record linguistic and social differences and similarities."

Ignacio Polanco stressed the Ibero-American vocation of Santillana and his sister Isabel; he also pointed out that the award given this year, coincides with  Santillana's 50the birthday, saying that the event, held in Mexico at the Book Far, was highly symbolic of the path and the vocation of the group. Polanco announced that next year the jury President will be the Spanish philosopher Fernando Savater and that the prize is open to all subjects.

Source: EL PAÍS