Yerro, the columnist for ‘Diario de Navarra’, received in 2019 the Prince of Viana de la Cultura Award for his career
Tomás Yerro Villanueva, the writer, and teacher from Lleine who dedicated his life to culture died this Saturday at the age of 71, a victim of lung cancer that he had suffered in recent years. Yerro received in 2019 the Prince of Viana Prize for Culture in recognition of his career. In granting it, the Navarre Council of Culture highlighted “his work in three areas, as a teacher, as a researcher and as a promoter and disseminator of literature, especially among vulnerable groups.
His candidacy had been presented and defended by the Navarra Association of Writers and received numerous support received from cultural and social associations of all kinds, also from outside Navarre. The proponents highlighted in their proposal that “in his work as a professor, lecturer or award jury, he has collaborated with a good part of the Navarrese cultural institutions. For many years he has taken a very active and intense part in the cultural life of Navarra, with absolute generosity, especially in everything that has to do with literature ”.
Tomás Yerro had a degree in Romance Philology from the University of Navarra, he was a professor of the Baccalaureate of Spanish Language and Literature and a professor at the University of Navarra, the Public University of Navarra, the National University of Distance Education, and the University for Older Francisco Induráin. Married to María José Vela Ponz, also a professor of Language and Literature, he had two daughters, Irene, a doctor in Architecture and Ana, a journalist, and four grandchildren.
He was director of the Cultural Action Service of the Government of Navarra between 1991 and 1995 and general director of Culture between 1995 and 1999.
An article writer for Diario de Navarra , he published in various scientific journals such as Cuadernos de pedagogía , Revista de philología y su didactica or Cuadernos de etnología y etnografía de Navarra . He directed the poetry magazine Río Arga, in which he published frequently, and was the founder and first director of Ítaca, an education magazine published by the Ministry of Education and Culture, as well as a member of the editorial committee of Cuadernos gerontológicas, published by the Navarra Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology. Yerro also participated in the creation of the Ateneo Navarro and is a member of the board of the Amado Alonso Foundation.
Among other works, he is the author of technical and structural aspects of the current Spanish novel (1977), ‘Río Arga’, a poetic magazine from Navarra: study and anthology (with Charo Fuentes, 1988). Last January he presented ‘Lerín. Ship stranded on the river Ega ‘ and’ Seniors, first class heritage ‘ , the two books published with the prize of the Prince of Viana prize.
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