The writer Paloma Sánchez-Garnica (Madrid, 62 years old) has won the Planeta 2024 award with the work Victoriapresented under the pseudonym Anna Akhmatova. The writer had already been a finalist for the award in 2021 with the work Last days in Berlin. The finalist in this 73rd edition is the journalist and writer Beatriz Serrano (Madrid, 35 years old) with the work Fire in the throat. The award was announced this Tuesday night during a gala dinner in the Oval room of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC), in Barcelona. The Planeta Prize is endowed with one million euros for the winning work (an endowment greater than that of the Nobel Prize in Literature) and 200,000 for the finalist.
In the winning novel, the Madrid writer returns to the Berlin stage, this time after the defeat in World War II. From there, Victoria will have to move to the United States to act as a spy for the Soviets while embarking on a love story before returning to her city, where she will witness the construction of the wall that divided the city and the world for almost three decades. “It is not a novel about journalists, but it does show the importance of journalism in one of the fundamental rights of a civilized society: the right to truthful and verified information,” said the winner. And he quoted Edward R. Murrow: “A country of sheep begets a government of wolves.”
Fire in the throatthe work of EL PAÍS journalist Beatriz Serrano (who won the Ondas award for Best Conversational Podcast in 2023 for Arsenic caviarwhich he performs on Podium Podcast with Guillermo Alonso, and has achieved great success with his novel The discontent), is a coming-of-age novel set in recent decades. The protagonist, Blanca, who possesses supernatural powers, rebels against the abandonment she suffered as a child in a Valencian neighborhood. “I would never have imagined getting here, it almost seems like a glitch in the Matrix,” Serrano said. He then delved into the story of the book, inspired by a quote from Chuck Palahniuk: “If you haven’t noticed, all my books are about a lonely person trying to connect with others.” The protagonist becomes a fan of Charles Manson and Joy Division, and murders a classmate who mocks her for her family abandonment. The audience at the gala murmured at this information.
The Planeta gala, under the majestic vault of the Oval Room, was presided over this year by the Kings of Spain, received with a standing ovation and phones in the wind for photos. “This is not just any edition,” said the King, regarding his presence and in reference to the 75th anniversary, and he had a memory for the Chilean writer Antonio Skármeta, who died this same day, who won the Planeta in 2003 with The Victory Dance. “Not a few Planeta awards have resisted the harshest critic, which is time,” added Felipe VI, to whom the audience gave him a standing ovation.
The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, also attended; the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun; the Minister of Transportation, Óscar Puente; the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni; other authorities, and, as usual, a good part of the Catalan bourgeoisie and cultural personalities (in a not too high percentage). And a very large troop of journalists at the back of the room, near the great German organ of the EF Walcker company, inaugurated in 1929. A total of about 1,100 guests were divided into round tables of 10 people. A string quartet welcomed the public in a space surrounded, on the steps of the Oval Hall, by thousands of candles with flickering orange flames and blue lighting from the Planeta group. On the menu, roasted pear vichyssoise with red prawn and tomato tartar and, as a main course, Catalan sea bass, Semon 1962 red wine and Miranda d’Espiells white wine. Like other years, a qualifying round of the 10 nominees was staged and a pool was held among the diners.
75 years of Planet
This year 1,070 novels have been submitted for the award. Among the 10 finalists, as explained by the writer and jury Juan Eslava Galán in the press conference on Monday, were the crime novel, the educational novel, the traditional romantic or the new technologies. In those hundreds of pages there was the murder of a supermarket cashier, childhoods marked by orthopedics, characters with powers who speak in internet chats, slave traffickers, buildings that explode, marijuana plantations or amputations of limbs. “This last one is a bit gore”, observed Eslava Galán. In this batch, the strong presence of feminism and digital communications can be seen (based on chats, emails, whatapps), that take relevance in contemporary literature. “One of the characteristics of the Planet is that it presents people who agree with current society, and that is reflected in the novels,” added the writer.
This edition is special because the Planeta group celebrates 75 years, since the founding of a small publishing house in 1949 by José Manuel Lara Hernández and the publication of his first novel, While the city sleepsby Frank Yerby, which is set in New Orleans before the American Civil War. In the time that has passed, they have published some 135,000 titles and sold some 1,000 million copies, according to the group’s president, José Creuheras, at the press conference. Two years after its founding, the Planeta award was created. “Our objective remains the same: discover new readers and promote literary creation,” said the president.
Since that small publishing house, Planeta has gone through several phases, it has incorporated literary imprints and bookstore chains (such as La Casa del Libro), it has sold collectible fascicles, it has entered the world of comics, it has produced films and it has diversified into other sectors such as education or communication, where it owns channels such as Antena 3 and La Sexta or newspapers such as The reason.
New juries
The novelty of the award in this edition also happens in the jury. After the death of two members, Rosa Regás and Fernando Delgado, to whom tribute was paid, two new juries joined: the writer Luz Gabás, winner of Planeta in 2022, and the academic Eva Giner, rector of the International University of Valencia . Creuheras said that the increase in the number of women is not due to female quota criteria: “We simply wanted, as always, to incorporate writers and academics, and they are the best we have found.” The squad continues with Carmen Posadas (who has been participating for 25 years), Juan Eslava Galán and Pere Gimferrer, who could not appear due to health problems. “He is recovering very well, but it is prudence that has made him stay at home,” explained Creuheras.
The most lysergic note in the previous press conference was placed by the rumor that Pablo Motos, presenter of The anthillfrom Antena 3, was going to be the winner and about which Crehueras was asked. “I think that is not going to happen, at least he would have told me that it has been presented, but not even I am aware,” the president responded. I wasn’t lying.