César Pérez Gellida (Valladolid, 1974) is the winner of the Nadal Prize for novels, which passed its 80th edition yesterday. 'Under Dry Land' is the title of his winning novel, a rural and very dark intrigue that Gellida presented under the pseudonym of Keyser Söze – the protagonist of the film 'The Usual Suspects' – and with the provisional title of 'Black Orchids'. With it he pockets the 30,000 euros of the prize and enters the select club of winners of the dean of Spanish literary awards, a faithful thermometer of our literature.
The writer and columnist from Valladolid takes over from Manuel Vilas, winner in 2023 with 'Nosotros'. With Gellida, Nadal once again dyes himself in black, a genre abundant in his record, and rewards one of the most read authors of criminal intrigue, a genre that continues to gain readers and generate films and series. “We use the word thank you too little and I want to thank the jury for giving me the most important literary award in this country,” thanked the winner.
'Under dry land' is a rural thriller written in the fast-paced and characteristic style of this author of crime novels, one of the most successful in this field. It stars an enigmatic and seductive widow who in Extremadura at the beginning of the 20th century marked the destiny of those who crossed paths with her, paving the path she walked with passion, blood and mud. It is the portrait of a merciless woman who will disappear after the fire at her farm. An investigation will then be carried out to find her whereabouts and clarify the causes of the fire. As the writer summarized, “'Under dry land' is very dark with a political and social background that greatly conditions the novel in which it is revealed that hostility can condition people and make them much more hostile.”
César Pérez Gellida
«This novel has traveled with me for years. It is Extremadura in 1917, a lot of poverty, despotism and hunger, a lot of hunger.
With a degree in Geography and History from the University of Valladolid and a master's degree in Commercial Management and Marketing from the Chamber of Commerce of his hometown, Pérez Gellida developed a professional career in different commercial management, marketing and communication positions. All of them worked in companies linked to the world of telecommunications and the audiovisual industry – films and video games – until in 2011 he decided to dedicate himself exclusively to literature. He then decided to move to Madrid with his wife and son to dedicate himself to his emerging writing career.
His commitment to letters bore fruit in 2013 with the publication of 'Memento Mori', the first of the novels in the trilogy 'Verses, songs and pieces of meat' (2015) – along with 'Dies irae' and 'Consummatum est' – , praised as one of the most personal series of Spanish crime novels in recent years. It is the investigation of the bloody murder of a young Ecuadorian woman who appears along with some mysterious verses and of the narcissistic and peculiar murderer Augusto Ledesma.
César Pérez Gellida and Jaume Clotet pose with the Nadal Prize and Jaume Clotet with the Josep Pla..
EP
In Pérez Gellida's narrative production there are titles such as 'We grow dwarfs' (2022); 'Splinters in the Skin' (2021); 'The Luck of the Dwarf' (2020); The duo 'All the worst' (2019) and All the best' (2018); 'Konets' (2017); 'A great evils' (2017); 'Stick Knife' (2016); 'Scabies with taste' (2016); 'Mutatis mutandi' (2015); 'Khimera' (2015); 'Indivisa Manent' (2015); and 'Sapere Aude' (2015).
Since February 2014, Pérez Gellida collaborates with El Norte de Castilla, a Vocento newspaper in which he publishes a weekly column in the culture section called, 'La Cantina del Calvo'. Before Nadal he had received awards such as the Golden Cluster of Literature, the Golden Pinion or the Lee Misterio which was awarded to him twice.
César Pérez Gellida
«'Under dry land' is very dark with a political and social background that greatly conditions the novel in which it is revealed that hostility can condition people and make them much more hostile»
Last October Amazon Prime premiered the adaptation of 'Memento mori', the first of the trilogy 'Verses, songs and pieces of meat' directed by Marco Castillo and with a script in which the author himself participates but signed by Luis Arranz, Germán Aparicio and Abraham Sastre. For twelve days it was number one in the Amazon Prime ranking and remained in the Top 10 for eleven consecutive weeks.
The finalists
Pérez Gellida's Nadal-winning novel was the best among the five finalists selected from a total of 824 works presented this year. It won over 'If I Could Lend You My Heaven', by Laura Macías Pérez; 'Sisters', by Eba Martín Muñoz; 'The legacy', by Artemisa (pseudonym); and 'Rag Hands', by María Regla Prieto. The jury that ruled in favor of Pérez Gellida was made up of Inés Martín Rodrigo, Care Santos, Lorenzo Silva, Andrés Trapiello and Emili Rosales.
On the same evening, the 56th edition of the Josep Pla Prize for prose in the Catalan language was awarded, endowed with 10,000 euros and which was awarded to Jaume Clotet (Barcelona, 1974) with 'La Germandat de l'Ángel caigut', a work he presented with the provisional title of 'La missió' and under the pseudonym Bernat Bosch.
It is a current thriller with historical roots that narrates a mission in which the war between good and evil is played out and that puts the foundations of the Catholic Church at risk. It begins in Acre, in the Holy Land, in 1291 with a Templar knight who flees from Jerusalem with the best kept secret in Christianity, although the story stars a monk from Montserrat and a mosso d'Esquadra.
Jaume Clotet Planas is a journalist and historian. He was head of the politics section of the newspaper Avui and has worked for several Catalan media. He takes over from Gemma Ventura Farré, winner of the previous edition with 'La llei de l'hivern'. 37 works participated in this edition of the Pla. The jury was made up of Laia Aguilar, Marc Artigau, Montse Barderi, Manuel Forcano and Glòria Gasch.
A healthy award with 80 years of history
The dean of Spanish literary awards is a healthy octogenarian. It was created in 1944 in memory of the late journalist and editor Eugenio Nadal, who died shortly before. His mentors were Ignacio Agustí, Josep Vergés and Joan Teixidó, creators years before of the publishing label Destino and who later joined the powerful Grupo Planeta. Endowed with 5,000 pesetas, on the night of January 6, 1945, during dinner at the Café Suizo, he celebrated his first evening, in which Carmen Laforet won, a perfect unknown at the time who beat César González Ruano and José María Álvarez Blázquez. A faithful thermometer of our contemporary literature, it has added talents such as Miguel Delibes, Ana María Matute, Elena Quiroga, Carmen Martín Gaite, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Alvaro Cunqueiro, Francisco Umbral, Fernando Arrabal, Manuel Vicent, Juan José Millás, Maruja Torres, to its roster. Clara Sáchez, Felipe Benítez Reyes, Antonio Soler, Rosa Regàs, Álvaro Pombo, Gustavo Martín Garzo, Lorenzo Silva or Fernando Marías.
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