Odón Betanzos Palacios

Odón Betanzos Palacios was a Spanish poet, novelist, literary critic and professor, based in New York from 1956 until his death in 2007. Odón Betanzos was also a tenured member of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, of which was a Director and Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, the Guatemalan, Filipino, Chilean, Colombian and Nicaraguan Language and the Hispanic Society of America. Moreover, he was president of the Hispanic Cultural Foundation in the United States and was in possession of the Commandery of the Order of Isabel the Catholic and the Civil Merit in the degree of Number granted by the King of Spain. He also received the Silver Medal of Andalusia in 1989, Freedom Prize of the City of New York (1986), Vasconcelos Award (Mexico-1990) for his work of creation and Medal of Christopher Columbus from the Dominican Republic (1991) Also, the rocianero writer gave his name to a foundation and an International Poetry Competition – the second largest in the province of Huelva, after Juan Ramon Jimenez-. He was also presidente del Círculo de Escritores y Poetas Iberoamericanos (C.W.P.L.)