The Prado Museum and the LOEWE FOUNDATION, in collaboration with Granta en español, announce that acclaimed writers Helen Oyeyemi and Mathias Énard will participate in the 2025 edition of Writing the Prado, the museum’s literary residency programme designed to inspire new works of fiction through direct engagement with its collection.

Launched in 2024, Writing the Prado invites internationally renowned authors to take up residence within the museum, granting them unique access to its galleries, archives, and behind-the-scenes spaces. The programme culminates in the publication of original texts inspired by their experience, forming The Prado Fiction Collection, edited by Valerie Miles. The series began with The Museum Guard by J.M. Coetzee and The Spirit Level by Chloe Aridjis, and will soon expand with new works by Olga Tokarczuk and John Banville, participants in the programme’s second edition.

In 2025, British writer Helen Oyeyemi and French novelist Mathias Énard will relocate to Madrid, making the Prado the centre of their activity and contemplation. During their residencies, both authors will take part in public talks and, at the end of their stay, produce literary reflections exploring the dialogue between fiction and the visual arts.

Helen Oyeyemi (Nigeria, 1984) is a British author of Nigerian descent currently based in Prague. Known for her lyrical prose, inventive narratives, and deft blending of folklore, magical realism, and contemporary themes, she has established herself as one of the most distinctive voices in modern fiction. Her work, translated into fourteen languages, explores questions of identity, race, and belonging. Among her eleven novels are Gingerbread (2019), Parasol Against the Axe (2024), and her most recent work, A New New Me (2025). She has received numerous accolades, including the Somerset Maugham Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and her novel Peaces (2021) was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize.

Mathias Énard, recipient of the Prix Goncourt for his novel Compass (2015), will join Oyeyemi in residence at the Prado this November. Énard studied Arabic and Persian and spent extended periods in the Middle East before settling in Barcelona. His writing—rich with historical and cultural resonance—traverses geography, time, and the complexity of human exchange. He is the author of The Deserters, Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants, Zone, and The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild, and has been honoured with multiple literary awards including the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie, the Prix Décembre, and the Prix du Livre Inter.