The Board of Directors of the Spanish Reprographic Rights Center (CEDRO), has awarded the 2025 Prize to the Galician writer, journalist and screenwriter Manuel Rivas. With this recognition, the entity highlights its firm commitment to culture and its contribution to the defense of copyright and intellectual property. Carme Riera, president of Cedro, has stressed that this year has wanted to reward Rivas’s public activism and commitment in the promotion and defense of literary creation, cultural values and copyright. Riera also recalled his constant struggle for writers and translators against the unauthorized use of their works by generative artificial intelligence.
In addition, he stressed that Rivas has publicly defended the need to preserve authorship and guarantee fair remuneration for writers in the digital age. His solidarity character has also been highlighted, remembering his participation in the #cedrotecompaña campaign in 2022, an initiative aimed at helping writers, translators and journalists in a situation of difficulty.
Manuel Rivas (A Coruña, 1957) has a great tour in the world of international literature. His work has been translated into numerous languages, highlighting The carpenter pencilwhich has reached 36 languages. He is a member of the Royal Galician Academy and has received prestigious awards, such as the National Narrative for What do you love me, love? (1996), the National Letter Award (2024) and the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts (2022).
Throughout his career he has worked in the press, radio and television, collaborating in media such as the country, The voice of Galicia y Ctxt. His work covers various genres, from narrative and poetry to essay. Among his most prominent novels are Books burn bad (2006), Everything is silence (2010) y Behind heaven (2024). In addition, some of his works have been adapted to the cinema, such as The butterflies y The carpenter pencil.
The CEDRO Award is awarded annually on the occasion of the International Day of Intellectual Property. Created in 2017, it seeks to recognize the work of persons or institutions that defend culture and copyright. Among the winners in previous editions are Lorenzo Silva (2017), Rosa Montero (2020), Antonio Muñoz Molina (2023) or Gemma Liesas (2024).