The seventh Òmnium Award for the Millor Novel·la de l'Any has already chosen the nine books that compete for the award, the long list from which the three finalists will emerge, who will be announced next month, and finally The winner will be announced in January.
The nine novels selected, published between November 2022 and October 2023, are A casa teníem un hymne, by Maria Climent (L’Altra Editorial); Married and silent, by Emma Zafón (Empúries); Against the world, by Pere Antoni Pons (Empúries); The day of the whale, by Melcior Comes (Univers), I gave you eyes and you looked at the darkness, by Irene Solà (Anagrama); The most painted woman, by Màrius Serra (Proa); The Teacher and the Beast, by Imma Monsó (Anagrama); Triomfador, by Joan Jordi Miralles (Males Herbes), and Una véda sar summer all night, by Elisabet Riera (Males Herbes), and have been selected by a committee of experts formed by Valèria Gaillard (translator and cultural journalist), Enric Gomà (writer, screenwriter and linguistic popularizer), Júlia Ojeda (literary critic) and Esteve Plantada (journalist and poet).
From the list, another jury, made up of Magí Camps, Neus Real, Marta Pessarrodona, Toni Puntí and Marta Segarra, will choose the three finalists, who will be announced next month, and finally, in January, the will announce the winning work.
In a statement issued by the entity, the president of Òmnium Cultural, Xavier Antich, has assured that the award gives “prestige to Catalan literature because to guarantee the future of the language, more creation is needed, more reading is needed and more are needed. literary references in Catalan”.
The Òmnium prize for published work was born in 2017, inspired by similar prizes such as the French Goncourt and the British Booker, and is endowed with 25,000 euros, of which 20,000 are for the author and 5,000 are allocated to promoting the book.
The first edition won The Strangers, by Raül Garrigasait (Editions of 1984), and later they won Learning to speak with the plants, by Marta Orriols (Periscopi); The spirit of time, by Martí Domínguez (Proa); Boulder by Eva Baltasar (Club Editor), which last May was a finalist in the International Booker, Junil a les terres dels barbaras, by Joan-Lluís Lluís (Club Editor), and last year Ràbia by Sebastià Alzamora (Proa).
Catalan version, here
