Spain’s Planeta Prize Again Goes to a Spanish Author

by Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 10/15/2007

Earlier this week, Spain’s most lucrative literary prize, the Premio Planeta de Novela, was awarded to author and journalist Juan José Millás (b. Valencia, 1946) for El Mundo (“The World”), which was inspired by the author’s move to Madrid when he was a child. The author, a columnist for Spain’s daily newspaper, El país, told the press that the winning work was a “fictionalized autobiography or biographical novel” about a preteen named Juanjo Millás (Juanjo is a nickname for Juan José) “who lives on a street and whose only dream is to escape from it; when he does, he finds that street is everywhere.”

Already prolific and provocative, Millás has published numerous novels and short stories collections, as well as newspaper articles. He received his first literary award in 1974 for his first novel, Cerbero son las sombras (“Cerberus Are the Shadows”). Several other prizes followed, including the Premio Nadal for La soledad era esto (“This Was Solitude”) in 1990 and the Premio Primavera in 2002 for Dos mujeres en Praga (“Two Women in Prague”). Millás has also received several journalism prizes, including the Premio Mariano de Cavia de periodismo in 1999, which is awarded by Spain’s conservative newspaper, ABC. Millás’s works have been translated into over a dozen languages.

Venezuelan-born Boris Izaguirre, a popular radio and television personality in Spain, was this year’s finalist for Villa Diamante (“Diamond Villa”), a novel about two sisters orphaned when their father commits suicide following the death of Venezuelan dictator Juan Vicente Gómez. According to Izaguirre, “Latin American writers always try to relate to political changes, [they] try to explain their country.” His novel is a reflection of the current Venezuela and is “accompanied by those [same] intentions.”

The winning novels will be on sale in Spain in mid-November and in the United States later that month. According to Marla Norman, Planeta’s U.S. sales director, Planeta will distribute the books in the United States until winter 2008, at which point U.S. rights will transfer to Rayo. This follows a 2006 joint agreement between the two houses.

Millás and Izaguirre, whose works were selected from 469 submissions received from Spain, Latin America, and the United States, will receive €601,000 (approximately $859,000) and  €150,000 (approximately $214,000), respectively.