Del Molino won with a novel that, according to the jury, reveals “dark family secrets in the midst of a past marked by Nazism” and “shocks the reader’s conscience.”
The Spanish writer and journalist Sergio del Molino was today the winner of the 27th Alfaguara Novel Prizeendowed with 175 thousand dollars, imposing himself with his work “Germans”a text that addresses the history of a group of Germans settled in Zaragoza, the mutations of Nazism and the impact of the past on the personal history of individuals.
Finally selected among six finalist novels and under the pseudonym Patricia Bieger., Del Molino won with a novel that, according to the jury, reveals “dark family secrets in the midst of a past marked by Nazism” and “shocks the reader’s conscience.”
The award, announced during a ceremony at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid by the writer Sergio Ramireztakes place within the framework of Alfaguara’s sixtieth anniversary and opens a year of celebration for a label that unites Spain and Latin America.
“The past is something that is always asleep and we cannot forget. And if we do, it will do great damage,” warned the author when asked about the background of the text during the celebration. “It is a novel without a last name, without detours. It is something that he had not done until now,” the author confessed when receiving the award. “We live in tough times and I hope that literature tries to create the fiction that the other is not an absolute stranger to try to mitigate the mystery of the other so that we cannot dehumanize him,” he said about the “allegation” that underlies the work. .
Who is Sergio del Molino?
Del Molino is the author, among others, of the essays “Empty Spain” (2016) and “Against Empty Spain” (2021). He has won the Ojo Crítico and Tigre Juan awards for “La Hora Violeta” (2013) and the Espasa for “Lugares Out of Site” (2018). Among his novels, “The Skin” (2020) or “What Nobody Cares About” (2014) stand out. His last published book is “Un tal González” (2022).
The jury was made up of emblematic writers of the label who have served as presidents of previous juries of the award: the Nicaraguan Sergio Ramirez, Juan José Millásthe Spanish Rosa Montero and Manuel Rivas and the Colombian Laura Restrepoin addition to the director of the label Pilar Reyes.
The winner will also receive $175,000, a sculpture of Martin Chirino and the work will be published simultaneously in all Spanish-speaking countries and will arrive in bookstores in April.
In this call, the seal received a total of 800 manuscripts. Of this set, 396 were sent from Spain, 104 from Argentina, 109 from Mexico, 93 from Colombia, 40 from the United States, 20 from Chile, 26 from Peru and 12 from Uruguay.
In 2023, the Peruvian writer and communicator won Gustavo Rodriguez with the tragicomedy “One Hundred Guinea Pigs”, in which he addresses with skill and humor the paradox of older adults in our societies, increasingly older and at the same time increasingly hostile to old age.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
