The latest novels by Imma Monsó, Maria Climent and Elisabet Riera are the three finalists for the Òmnium award for Best Novel of the Year, which will be decided at the end of January, as the award jury announced this Tuesday Omnium, formed by Magí Camps, Neus Real, Marta Pessarrodona, Toni Puntí and Marta Segarra.
According to the jury's assessment, A casa teníem un hymne (L'Altra Editorial), by Maria Climent, describes "a relationship between women with complicity and family secrets that is able to capture the reader with doses of humor and a living language". With regard to La mestra i la Bèstia (Anagrama), by Imma Monsó, he values “the construction of a powerful and unique character that dresses a complete novel with a personal vision of post-war Catalonia”. Finally, on Elisabet Riera's Once it was summer the whole night (Males Herbes), the jury defines it as "a novel with a poetic breath that claims the voices of troubadours and builds an initiatory journey".
In a statement, the president of Òmnium, Xavier Antich, has assured that these works "show yet another year the splendor and power of current Catalan literature", at the same time that he proudly celebrates that "there are three women writers who choose to take home the award for the most financially well-endowed published work". It is worth saying that the grant is 20,000 euros for the author and 5,000 for the promotion of the book, while that of the Finestres prize is 25,000 for the author. Antich added that "we need to continue working to give prestige to our literature and to expand the canon with top-level authors".
The three finalist works have been chosen from among the nine candidates previously selected, among the books published between November 2022 and October 2023, by a committee of experts formed by Valèria Gaillard, Enric Gomà, Júlia Ojeda and Esteve Plantada. In addition to the finalists, there were also Casada i callada, by Emma Zafón; Against the world, by Pere Antoni Pons; The day of the whale, by Melcior Comes; I gave you my eyes and you looked at the darkness, by Irene Solà; The most painted woman, by Màrius Serra, and Triumphant, Joan Jordi Miralles.
The Òmnium prize for published work, inspired by similar prizes such as the French Goncourt and the British Booker, was born in 2017, when it was won by Raül Garrigasait's The Strangers (Editions of 1984), and was subsequently won by Learn to Speak with the plants, by Marta Orriols (Periscope); The spirit of time, by Martí Domínguez (Proa); Boulder by Eva Baltasar (Club Editor), which last May was a finalist for the international Booker; Junil in the lands of the barbarians, by Joan-Lluís Lluís (Club Editor), and last year Ràbia by Sebastià Alzamora (Proa).
