In the Dominican Republic, most people had never heard of Spanish author Irene Vallejo until she visited with the sponsorship of the Mar de Palabras movement led by literary activist Minerva del Risco. She recently was in Santo Domingo and delighted audiences with her call for reading print books, at a time when all seems to be audio and digital. The author spoke to Dominican audiences at the auditorium of the Central Bank.
Irene Vallejo is a Spanish writer, historian, and philologist born in 1979, best known for her book Infinity in a Reed (El infinito en un junco), which won Spain’s National Essay Prize and has been translated into many languages. She is also a regular columnist for newspapers like El País and has written novels and children’s books.
She became a literary phenomenon for her message in Infinity in a Reed where she delivers a passionate vindication of the act of reading. Readers can share her amazement at the evolution and survival of Greco-Roman culture through the centuries. Her work encourages people to marvel at humankind’s capacity to save large bodies of knowledge and experience from our own perishable nature.
Vallejo’s success is attributed to an approach that is both didactic and daring. The writing is described as elegant and richly digressive. Vallejo retells experiences from her own life and finds links between the classical world and contemporary phenomena.
On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, Universidad APEC awarded an Honoris Causa Doctorate to visiting Vallejo in recognition of her contribution to education, culture and the defense of humanism, elements described as key to the strengthening of the Dominican educational system.
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25 November 2025