Ferran Torrent renounces the Valencian Literature Prize
The writer sent a letter to Mazón in which he lamented "the academic and institutional drift that is becoming less and less respectful of Valencian."
BarcelonaValencian writer Ferran Torrent has decided to resign to the highest award for Valencian literature that he received last year. He did so in a letter to the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón, in which he laments the "academic and institutional drift that is increasingly less respectful of the Valencian language." Torrent argues that, "given the direction the Consell has taken," he feels "forced to renounce the award."
The writer explains in his letter that, when he received the prize, "I wanted to believe that this recognition was part of a certain political and cultural normality that, despite the vicissitudes, could keep institutional dignity alive." However, he expresses his conviction that the language "cannot be relegated or subjected to bureaucratic silence or political criteria that distort its central role in collective identity." In the same letter, he emphasizes that "it is not possible to dissociate Valencian letters from the language that gives them meaning."
The Prize for Valencian Literature has been awarded by the Generalitat Valenciana since 1982, as part of the events commemorating the New October holiday. The prize was worth 150,000 euros until the Generalitat Valenciana abolished its remuneration in 2012. The first recipient was Joan Fuster in 1982.
