Atlantis Prize for Gregorio Luri, the "master philosopher on a crusade against ignorance"

BarcelonaFor the first time in forty years, the Atlántida Prize has been awarded to a teacher. The educator, philosopher, essayist, editor, and contributor to the ARA (Argentine Association of Publishers) Gregorio Luri (Azagra, Navarre, 1955) received the 40th Atlántida Prize, awarded by the Catalan Publishers' Guild. The Night of Publishing was celebrated at the Goya Theatre, in front of the entire publishing profession and with representatives from the Catalan Ministers of Education, Culture, and Language Policy. The director of the ARA, Esther Vera, who spoke about the award winner, described him as "the philosopher-teacher on a crusade against ignorance": "All his work can be understood as the patient gesture of helping us turn our gaze toward the light, even if it is not always comfortable," Vera explained, referring to Luri himself. In dozens of books such as On the art of reading either School is not an amusement parkLuri has defended "an idea so classic it's almost countercultural: that knowledge matters, that effort has meaning, and that not everything is relative," Vera recalled.

Gregorio Luri dedicated the prize to his village teacher, the one who, with the phrase "this boy is good at his studies," addressed to his mother when he was barely 9 years old, broadened his horizons, even though it cost him a family separation from the school library at his boarding school—with Salgari, Stevenson, and more Stevenson. The author recalled the first wild tales he heard from his mother and his early readings and friends like Captain Thunder and Roberto Alcázar and Pedrín. He lamented the political correctness that today mutilates the classics of Roald Dahl and Mark Twain, and celebrated the perversion of The Lady of the Camellias"Reading doesn't help us live better; it's living intensely that helps us read better. What you don't find in life, you can't find in bookstores," he stated. That's why he dedicated the award to Superman, "because he does exist: he was the teacher in my town." Luri emphasized his commitment to books and literature, saying: "An award like this places me before the perpetual obligation of having deserved it. In human relationships, the poorest thing is that which hasn't incurred a debt of gratitude." And he added: "I don't intend to ever repay my outstanding debts of gratitude."

At the Night of Publishing – presented by journalist Carolina Rosich and featuring a performance by Gemma Humet singing a Thanks to life Violeta Parra's version, adapted by Pol Guasch, has been awarded to Laertes Editorial for its 50th anniversary, and two publishing houses celebrating their 25th anniversary—comic book publishers Amaníaco Ediciones and Pujol & Amadó—have also received an award. In addition, Arpa Editores has been awarded the 31st Fernando Lara Memorial Prize for young entrepreneurship because it "contributes to enriching public debate and consolidating Barcelona as one of the European capitals of non-fiction publishing." The Ángel Crespo translation prize in Catalan has been awarded to Arnau Barios for his version ofDead souls by Nikolai Gogol (The House of Classics) and in Spanish, by Eduardo Moga and the Transfigurations by Jay Wright (Leaves of Grass). The Guild also wanted to pay tribute to the twelve centennial publishing houses in the country, starting with Publicaciones de la Abadía de Montserrat and La Casa dels Clàssics.

The Guild's president, Patrici Tixis, highlighted the vitality of a sector that has adapted to the evolution of demand in the 21st century – "access to books at any time, in new formats, with new stories and new ways of reading them" – and that has attracted new generations, both of those who have joined the guild and of readers. In fact, the sector has gone from a steadily aging clientele and a continuous loss of teenage readers to a surge "unimaginable just over 10 years ago" among young people, which is 10 points above the average reading rate. Young people have transformed "reading into a shared pleasure and not a solitary activity," Tixis points out.

The president of the guild, who is stepping down after eight years, celebrated milestones such as the explosion in popularity of St. George's Day, the Week of the Week, and the international presence at book fairs, and highlighted two serious problems: firstly, the fraudulent use (without permission or compensation to the authors) by large technology companies and even the Ministry for Digital Transformation; secondly, he called for measures to improve reading comprehension levels, which are low compared to Europe, urging "a return to content-driven books and for the humanities to occupy the place they deserve."