“A work of overwhelming intelligence, a proposal in which language, ideas, art excel”. This is how the jury has defined The Irredempts (LaBreu), the book by Cristina Garcia Molina that has won the Llibreter prize in Catalan, as announced this morning and will be released tonight at a party this evening in the Paral room. lel 62. The prize is awarded by the Booksellers Guild of Catalonia through the votes of the 300 associated establishments, of which more than a hundred have voted.
The author has acknowledged that “it’s not an easy or pleasant story, and it didn’t come out in two days”, and she has confessed that “I thought it would be a dead book or that at some point I would end up forgetting it. I’m proud to have reached the end”.
The book is a literary triptych, a three-time narrative that is a whole experience of language with three independent stories that end up dealing with the theme of rooting. According to its publisher, Ester Andorrà , “an artistic and vital manifesto, on the threshold of a small explosion and which opens up new ways of storytelling”.
The book by Cristina Garcia Molina (Granollers, 1975) had already been a finalist for the Finestres prize, which ended up winning Roser Cabré-Verdiell with Aioua (Males Herbes).
In the category of other literature, the winner was the South African Damon Galgut with La promesa, from (Les Hores/Libros del Asteroide). The book has already won the Booker Prize in 2021. “The relationship between men and the earth is one of the great themes of contemporary literature. We know the story of a family in which an unfulfilled promise hangs over the characters. Great writing and an original structure”, in the words of the jury.
In the absence of Galgut, the editor Maria Sempere, of Les Hores (which was the third year that she had a finalist book, but so far had not won it), explained that Galgut’s book represents her line: “themes that concern individuals to bring another reality closer, in this case the history of South Africa and the disillusionment after the end of apartheid, and it does so in an innovative style”. Luis Solano, from Asteroide, recognized the importance of an award that is not only one of the few in Spain for a published work, but also serves to vindicate the prescriptive work of booksellers, an essential link. In a thank you video, Galgut praised the editions of his book in Catalan and Spanish, which he described as “especially beautiful”.
In the children’s and youth category in Catalan, the winner was Roger Tarrés with the first installment of the fantasy trilogy Fills d’Èodhum, L’amenaça verda (Fanbooks), a book of which the publisher Patrizia Campana was very proud because it is not easy to find fantasy of quality and closeness, and he also emphasized that “it is incredible that a new author is so mature as a writer”. Tarrés guaranteed “adventures, combat, war, strategy, a very brave protagonist, love, hate, a completely new world, friendship and revenge”, but which are not limited only to young people, but can be enjoyed by all ages.
In the children’s and youth category of other literature, the winner was Pardaleta / Gorrioncita (Meraki), by the Portuguese Joana Estrela, a work that according to the jury “enters the reader into a world of subtleties that go far beyond the adolescent love, with an honest and close text that plays and is nourished by real and natural illustrationsâ€. According to the publisher Alba Besora, the book is a graphic novel in which “a shy and observant girl searches for her identity, and gives visibility to the LGTBI group.
As for the illustrated album, the winner was Hi hivia una forma / Érase una forma (Barrett), by the Gazhole couple
The president of the Booksellers Guild, Eric del Arco, has emphasized that the three finalists in each category are “different models of very high quality literature”, and that the winner in each one has prevailed by a very small difference in votes. Gemma Barrufet, from the A Peu de Pà gina bookstore in Sarrià (Barcelona), pointed out that with these winners, the award fulfills the objective of highlighting books that do not have the commercial support that others might have.
