Uruguayan writer Peri Rossi to receive Miguel de Cervantes Prize

Uruguayan writer Cristina Peri Rossi will be awarded this year's Miguel de Cervantes Prize for literature, the Spanish Minister of Culture Miquel Iceta announced in Madrid on Wednesday.

Peri Rossi, writer of novels such as "Solitaire of Love" or "Dostoevsky's Last Night," lives in Montevideo.

She is one of the most famous contemporary writers in Latin America.

Shortly before the beginning of the military dictatorship in her home country (1973-1985), she went into exile in Barcelona in 1972.

She also lived for a year in what was then West Berlin. Peri Rossi turns 80 on Thursday.

The Cervantes Prize is considered the most important literary award in the Spanish-speaking world and it comes with monetary award of 125,000 euros (143,650 dollars).

Lifetime achievement

It is named after the writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), the author of 'Don Quixote.'

The prize has been awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture since 1976 to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer.

Peri Rossi is only the fifth woman to be honoured with the prize.