After a blank edition, declared deserted, the one from 2022, and another one that grabbed some linguistic controversy, last year, the Llibres Anagrama de Novel·la prize, endowed with 12,000 euros, has been won this year by Clara Queraltó with Com el so of a beat in a microphone, which will be published between the end of March and the beginning of April. The verdict of the jury, formed by Mita Casacuberta, Guillem Gisbert, Imma Monsó, Sergi Pàmies, Jordi Puntí and the editors Isabel Obiols and Silvia Sesé, was announced this Monday.
According to Anagrama, the novel mirrors the lives of Gabriela and Quim, who are swimming in a lake, and explores “the mechanisms of seduction and attraction between opposites,” “with a precise language and a refined style.” In a statement from the publisher with comments from members of the jury, Gisbert wrote that it is “an uncomfortable fable that reminds us that the first stages of love are, deep down, a form of prejudice.” Imma Monsó, for her part, indicates that “the discovery of the story lies not so much in the feminine point of view that explains to us a summer infatuation where she believes she marks the steps, but in the masculine one that, undoing them, reveals to us the content of his silent submission.” According to Sergi Pàmies, “the idea of the heartbeat is not only a metaphor, but also a truth that marks the rhythm, style and emotions of this novel.”
Professor of Catalan language and literature, Queraltó (El Pla del Penedès, 1988) became known as a writer by winning the Mercè Rodoreda short story award with El que pensen els altres (Proa, 2017), she has also published the novel Et diré R (Empúries, 2021) and a few months ago he debuted in the children's novel with Whistle in case of emergency (Bindi Books, 2023). He has also participated in the collective books Barcelona suites and Summer nights (Univers, 2019 and 2020) and collaborates in various media such as RAC1.
The Llibres Anagrama de Novel·la prize was established in 2016, when it was won by Albert Forns with Jambalaia, and later won by Tina Vallès (The memory of the tree, 2017), Llucia Ramis (Les possessions, 2018), Irene Solà (Canto jo i la muntanya balla, 2019), Anna Ballbona (I'm not here, 2020, in which Terres mortes de Núria Bendicho received a special mention), Pol Guasch (Napalm al cor, 2021) and Andrea Genovart (Consum preferent, 2023).
Catalan version, here
