The Francoliban writer Amin Maalouf said Monday that since he opened for the first time his eyes more than 70 years ago he has dedicated himself to observing the world, contemplating him to understand his changes and paths, such as the current authoritarian drift, which expands throughout the Mapamundi, the wars that bleed him and an ungovernable technology, issues that concern him because, he affirms, “the civilization is directed towards the ship. Maalouf, however, did not want to show pessimistic on Monday, when in Guadalajara they have awarded the prize in literature in Romance languages that the Book Fair (FIL) delivers. The narrator has received it with an allegation against the extremisms and favor of solidarity. “We live in a worrying time, sometimes even terrifying. And, at the same time, fascinating. We must convince ourselves that we will eventually find the inner strength to survive; humanity will exceed this period,” he says.
The jury stressed that Maalouf is one of the most important voices of our time, which with his work explores the fractures and mestizages of the modern world, and rejects the nationalist and religious closure. The Spanish academic Carmen Alemany, representative of the jury, stressed that the decision of the award “was very complicated”, because this year’s candidacies were “very first order.” One of the factors that took into account during deliberation was the essay character of Maalouf’s work (Beirut, 1948), which denounces sufferings and arbitrariness and that has an almost prophetic capacity to warn of the derailment of humanity. “It is a necessary voice to understand what is happening to us in our day. He has always told us that obcecation that is with nationalisms, with religion; he has told us about uprooted beings, those who live poverty, those who live misery, which often forget them and are totally necessary. They are the voices of those who have been and continue to be unfortunately on the shore,” explains Alemany.
In addition to the Spanish academic, the jury was made up of Alain Mabankau, from the Republic of Congo; Francisco Noa, from Mozambique; Jerónimo Pizarro, from Colombia; Lucía Melgar, from Mexico; Massimo Rizzante, from Italy and Xavi Ayén, from Spain. The award, one of the most important that is delivered in the literary world internationally, is endowed with $ 150,000 and is awarded to outstanding authors publishing in Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Romanian or Portuguese. The announcement of the FIL Literature Award was held on Monday morning in Guadalajara, headquarters of the most important Latin American book and the second largest in the world, in a ceremony in which local authorities participated, the direction of the FIL, academics and journalists. Héctor Raúl Solís, president of the award, has reported that in this edition they received 48 applications from 18 countries, which were nominated by cultural institutions, editorials, academic organizations and a jury composed of literary academics and critics.
A smiling Maalouf has responded to the questions of journalists by video call. He has done it since his library, surrounded by that world of books and stories that have forged that acute look on the problems facing humanity. Grateful for the award, the exiled journalist and author warns that extremisms can direct our societies to the shipwreck. “It is true that this is probably the most dangerous period in the history of humanity since its inception,” he says. “The progress of humanity has allowed him to advance in many areas, but what has not progressed enough, sometimes he has even retreated, is our mentality,” he adds. And that is why, he explains, literature is important, a “cure” to remedy a time of disagreements between cultures. Although he says that identity is important, he affirms that “the identity that we must respect is that of the human being. We belong to a larger culture, which is human culture. No civilization can be arrogant in front of others,” Zanja dings the author of famous works as Leon the African u Origins.
The organization of the FIL will deliver the award in November, during the inauguration of the fair that is organized every year in the capital of the state of Jalisco, located west of Mexico, and that is one of the largest meetings of the narrative in Latin America and is also considered the most important editorial meeting of Latin America. The Portuguese language writer Mia Couto unanimously received the prize, the first African author to obtain it. Couto made an allegation in favor of literature as a form of resistance against what he has denounced in his work as “the act of erasing history” or “historicide,” as he described.
The FIL was founded by the University of Guadalajara and has an ambitious program that includes the participation of leading world renown authors. Barcelona is the guest of honor in the 2025 edition and the organizers have reported that 69 writers will travel to the fair. The objective, said the curator of the Catalan mission, the journalist Anna Guitart, is to “explain the current literary Barcelona, as if the people who write in Barcelona or on Barcelona in any language one day in front of the cathedral were convened and we took a photo.”