The University of Arizona Press

April 1, 2026

The Academy of American Poets has announced that La única cosa importante / The Only Thing that Matters, written by Amanda Hernández, was selected by poet and translator Aaron Coleman as the winner of the 2026 Ambroggio Prize. The Prize is given annually for a book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation. The winners receive $1,000 and publication by the University of Arizona Press, a nationally recognized publisher of emerging and established voices in Latinx and Indigenous literature. This collection will be published in 2027. Previous winners include Manuel Iris; Octavio Quintanilla, author and co-translator with Natalia Treviño; Margarita Pintado Burgos, with translator Alejandra Quintana Arocho; and Elizabeth Torres.

Prize judge Aaron Coleman praised the collection’s “wild imagination fueling the courageous vulnerability and self-reflective voice of ‘The Only Thing that Matters,’” adding that it “dwells in the complexities of connection, the (unending) aftermaths of (neo)colonialism and how it has tried to scatter so many of us.”

Amanda Hernández is a Puerto Rican poet and editor based in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. Her poetry collections include La distancia es un lugar (2020), Estrategias atómicas (2018), and Entre tanto amarillo (2016), all published by La Impresora. Hernandez’s poetry has been commissioned for musical works by the Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón, including pieces performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and presented as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series. In 2021, she was named an inaugural Letras Boricuas Fellow supported by the Flamboyán Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

We are thrilled to be publishing this award-winning collection. Congratulations, Amanda!

January 14, 2026

Literary Hub named The Whole Earth Is a Garden of Monsters | Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos as one of the most anticipated poetry collections for 2026. Written by Manuel Iris and co-translated by Iris and Kevin McHugh, this winner of The Academy of American Poets’ Ambroggio Prize will be published in February 2026. Literary Hub’s Rebecca Morgan Frank wrote, “Iris’ collections in Spanish have garnered awards in Mexico, while his more recent turn to bilingual collections has resulted in honors from the Latino Book Awards and the Ohioana Book Awards.”

Manuel Iris is a Mexican-born American poet based in Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages from the University of Cincinnati. The former Poet Laureate of Cincinnati, Iris currently serves as Writer-in-Residence for the Hamilton County Public Library; is Writer-in-Residence at Thomas More University; and is a member of Mexico’s National System of Art Creators. Kevin McHugh is a translator, poet, and editor with over thirty years of experience in writing and teaching. He holds an MA in English from the University of Windsor, specializing in Irish literature.

Congratulations Manuel and Kevin!

About the book:

This Ambroggio prize-winning bilingual collection intertwines the lives of a Renaissance painter and a modern migrant worker, offering a fresh perspective on art and migration. In this highly imaginative work, the lives of the northern Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516) and an imagined contemporary migrant worker named Juan Coyoc, later known as Juan Domínguez, run in parallel as they mirror each other across languages, time, and continents.

By comparing and at times intertwining these two poetic narratives, the book explores themes of art, migration, narco-violence, family, spirituality, and the idea that every human being represents all humanity at any moment in history. Both Hieronymus Bosch and Juan Domínguez become relatable and intimate figures, part of our own story.