If you strolled around the National Museum of Art of Catalonia last night, it is likely that you came across more than one familiar face. There were many personalities – once again, the number was close to a thousand – who went to the gala where the Planeta award was announced, which in this 72nd edition went to Sonsoles Ónega television and which have as finalist Alfonso Goizueta.
The first to walk the traditional red carpet, which was actually blue, was the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Josep Santacreu, who arrived an hour before the convocation. A few minutes later, Luz Gabás appeared, shy, winner of the last edition with Lejos de Luisiana "I'm not used to the cameras yet", she acknowledged to La Vanguardia. The Aragonese writer consulted with last year's finalist, Cristina Campos, on what names to put in the traditional Jugueska. "It's a tradition to bet on someone, but I never get it right. The year Posteguillo won I was sitting next to him and I didn't smell anything". Her companion, on the other hand, opted for "a woman and a man, in that order, but I have to think carefully about who they could be".
They weren't the only award winners who made an appearance. Paloma Sánchez Garnica, Javier Sierra or Carmen Mola's trio, made up of Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez and Antonio Mercero, were seen, who happily greeted everyone who spoke to them about Cuba, the place where the new novel L' hell "We are one of the few who are calm because we have already won it. Do you know how much I like to dine without scares?” Mercero joked. Manuel Vilas knows these nerves very well. He experienced them before winning the Nadal prize. "The only thing I hope is that it will be a literary profile".
The writer and poet Gioconda Belli was more risky. "It's my second time at Planeta and I've come to play there. I put all my chips in the work presented as Sexudario. Its title attracts a lot of attention and it is a work that I would like to read". He said nothing about the work presented under the pseudonym of Tintaleve, which had some resemblance to his own biography, in which he narrates the life of the daughter of a famous Sandinista guerrilla.
The writer and former Minister of Culture and Sport Máximo Huerta broke the rules and preferred not to cross paths. "I'm polling and everyone tells me the same name", although he didn't say who it was. Hardly anyone did. Not even María Dueñas, who acknowledged that "secrecy has its advantages" and that "who knows if one day" she will be encouraged to come forward. "For now, I prefer to organize myself in my own way and at my own pace."
The institutional representation was headed by vice-president Yolanda Díaz; the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta; the Minister of Universities, Joan Subirats; the minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, and the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni. The president of Grup Planeta, José Creuheras, hosted the 72nd edition of the awards, which also included Javier Godó, count of Godó, president of Grup Godó and editor of La Vanguardia; Carlos Godó, CEO, and Ana Godó, group director.
