Antonio Gamoneda has won the prestigious Cervantes Prize, the Spanish literary world's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, Spanish officials announced Thursday.

Spanish Culture Minister Carmen Calvo announced Gamoneda as the winner after the 76-year-old poet was selected by a panel of Spanish and Latin American academics led by Victor Garcia de la Concha, president of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.

The literary honour carries a cash prize of €90,000 (about $136,000).

Born in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo, Gamoneda lost his father — a modernist writer — while still a toddler. His mother moved the family to the city of Leon, where he still lives.

Gamoneda worked in finance before focusing on his writing. He first began publishing his work in Spain in 1960, with the poetry collection Sublevación inmóvil. Eventually, later volumes of poetry — including Descripción de la mentira, León de la mirada, Blues Castellano and, his biggest success, Edad — were also translated into French and other languages.

Gamoneda has also developed a reputation as a translator himself, adapting works by writers from Turkey, France and other countries for Spanish readers.

Gamoneda is scheduled to receive the prize from Spain's King Juan Carlos next April in a ceremony held in the central Spanish university town of Alcala de Henares — the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, the 17th-century author of Don Quixote.

Last year's winner was Mexican writer Sergio Pitol.