Claudia Morales wins José Rubén Romero Fine Arts Novel Prize

Claudia Morales has been awarded the 2026 José Rubén Romero Fine Arts Novel Prize for her work, ‘Basta con saber que yo misma soy culpable’. The award was presented by the Mexican Secretariat of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), in collaboration with the Government of the State of Michoacán.

The winning novel explores the life of Laura Méndez de Cuenca, a prominent 19th-century Mexican poet and educator, through a literary dialogue between the past and the present. The jury, composed of Laura Baeza, Yuri Bautista, and Omar Delgado, praised the work for its dramatic structure and its aesthetic approach to the intellectual figures of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Morales described the novel as an offering to Méndez de Cuenca and the female writers who preceded her. The prize is considered one of Mexico's most significant national literary honors.