The Zenda Awards gala began with a sure bet. «I didn’t want to know, but I knew that one of the girls, when she was no longer a girl»… On stage was the actor Emilio Buale, who read the beginning of ‘Heart so white’, by Javier Maríasand then did the same with ‘Malena is a tango name’, by Almudena Grandes. So with memory invoked, we moved on to the sarao, a literature festival with the vocation of an event (hundreds of writers and academics, personalities from the cultural and political world, a series of events) in which twelve awards were presented and in which there was a performance musical of Loquillo and another humorous one by Leo Harlem, in addition, of course, to speeches and joys and celebrations of “literary excellence.” The event, presented by Espido Freire and Jesús Vigorrawas the confirmation of its principles, that is, the understanding of culture as a meeting place, as a transversal value.
Arturo Pérez-Reverte said it: «Rarely have so many names come together selflessly. The endowment of these prizes, instead of being economic, is measured in prestige. These are some prizes of truth, some prizes of justice». And this was also demonstrated by the composition of the jury: Jesús García Calero, director of ABC Cultural; Guillermo Altares, from ‘El País’; Nuria Azancot, from ‘El Cultural’; Pepa Blanes, from SER; Sergio Vila-Sanjuán, from ‘La Vanguardia’; Laura Barrachina, from National Radio; Antonio Lucas, from ‘El Mundo’; Alberto Olmos, writer and columnist for ‘El Confidencial’; Cristina Rivera Garza, writer and winner of the 2023 Pulitzer, and Santos Sanz Villanueva, cultural critic. In addition, Álvaro Colomer, editor-in-chief of Zenda, served as secretary of the jury, and Leandro Pérez, director of Zenda, as its coordinator. The awards, which are sponsored by Iberdrola and Telefónica, in addition to the collaboration of Banco Santander, and with ‘XLSemanal’ as a collaborating media, distinguished books published between August 2023 and July 2024.
However, the first to take the stage was Fernando Arrabalwho at 92 years old continues to look at the world through his colored glasses, of amazement, and perhaps that explains his freshness. «I am a Spanish writerI have been offered French nationality, but it is impossible for me to be French. Because I am Spanish! », he celebrated from the lectern. He received the Zenda Honor Award from Antonio Lucas and José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of Madrid. Also in the audience were Félix Bolaños, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, Borja Sémper, Jordi Martí Grau, Gabriel Rufián, Luis García Montero…
Afterwards, the writers Juan Gómez-Jurado and Bárbara Montes presented the Zenda Children and Youth Award to Leticia Costasfor the book ‘Seven Dandelions’ (Nordic). The Zenda de Poesía was delivered by Karina Sainz Borgo and Luis Alberto de Cuenca, and was for Maria Sanchez for ‘Fire the Thirst’ (La Bella Varsovia). The Zenda Rehearsal was for Xavier Pla for his biography of Josep Pla, ‘A furtive heart’ (Destino), and the Translation award went to Cristina Gómez Baggethum for bringing us to Spanish the ‘Complete Poetry’ by Jon Fosse, which Sexto Piso has published. Everyone recommended books, in addition to giving out prizes.
There were very funny contrasts. The filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia presented with the academic Carlos García Gual the Zenda of History, which they collected Fernando del Rey and Manuel Álvarez Tardío for his book ‘Crossfire’ (Galaxia Gutenberg). Then, Loquillo acted as Loquillo to mark the halfway point of the gala. On their return, Fernando Belzunce, editorial director of Vocento, and the writer Carmen Posadas, gave the Zenda Editorial award to Jesús García Sánchez, that is, Chus Visor. And María José Solano and David Summers presented the Special Zenda-Edhasa award to the painter and sculptor Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. The Zenda for First Feature went to ‘The Last Sentence’ (La Uña Rota), by Camila Canequesadly deceased. Montse and Ramón, his parents, picked him up in his name in one of the most emotional moments of the night. After, Paz Gil Sotofrom the Gil Bookstore, picked up the Zenda Librería. And the writer and narrative explorer Jorge Carrion the Zenda of Innovation.
For last they left the Narrative Zenda, which was for Leila Guerriero for ‘The Call’ (Anagrama), where he reconstructs the story of Silvia Labayru, victim of the last Argentine dictatorship. The closing was a counterpoint of Leo Harlemwho went up to make the staff laugh and left with a prize.
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