The Llibreter prizes, awarded by the Gremi de Llibreters de Catalunya, have already reached a verdict, and for the first time all the categories have been won by women.
The awards, which will be presented this afternoon, have been announced in the morning at a press conference with most of the winners, publishers and booksellers' representatives at the Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya.
It has also been the first public act of the new president of the entity, Èric del Arco, of the Documenta of Barcelona, that has taken the relief of M. Carme Ferrer, of the Empúries of Girona.
In the category of children’s and young people’s literature in Catalan, he has won L’hivern del Senyor Jeroni (AnimaLlibres), by Eulàlia Canal and illustrations by Jordi Vila Delclòs. In children’s and youth literature from other literatures, Mary John (L’Altra Tribu), by Ana Pessoa, with translation by Mercè Ubach and illustrations by Bernardo P. Carvalho.
With regard to the illustrated album, the winning book was Tails of Dreams (Cues de somni in Catalan), with text by Rita Sineiro and illustrated by Laia Domènech (Akiara Books), with a translation into Spanish by Teresa Matarranz and into Catalan by Pere Comellas. .
In Catalan literature for adults, the award went to L'instant abans de l'impacte (Periscopi, in Castilian in Lumen), the debut of Glòria de Castro, who recalled that one of the book's chapters, based on her own history of workplace harassment, ensures that "it does not win literary prizes", although it had been a finalist for some. She now she can no longer say.
The prize in the category of other literature for adults went to The Optimists (Els grans optimistes in Catalan), by Rebecca Makkai translated into Spanish by Aurora Echevarría and into Catalan by Marc Rubió (Sexto Piso/Periscopi). Makkai has sent a video from a cabin in the woods of Vermont (USA) to thank the award.
This year almost half of the associated bookstores have voted, a fact that the organization has described as a success. As they have also considered a very good sign that "in a prize without quotas or slogans" only women have won, said Del Arco, who also wanted to add the consideration that two of the winners (Pessoa and Sineiro) are Portuguese, a culture so close and that sometimes seems more distant.
Catalan version, here
