A novel about Nicolas Cage's hair wins the Crexells prize

Barcelona"What if I wrote a novel about Nicolas Cage's hair?" he asked himself a few years ago. Albert Pijuan (Calafell, 1985), novelist, playwright and translator. "It seemed to me too absurd a starting point to let him lose." –he continues–. If the ideas survive the passage of time and that obsession persists, I know that it will haunt me until the end of time and then I have no choice but to write it down."

This was the seed of The Great Replacement (Ángulo Editorial), with which Pijuan won the 54th Crexells Prize, a prize of 6,000 euros awarded annually by the Ateneu Barcelonès. The jury, composed of Anna Ballbona, Andreu Gomila, Eva Piquer, Francesco Ardolino, and Valèria Gaillard, highlighted the novel as "daring, contemporary, and hilarious." The story begins in an exclusive Croatian clinic, where Dino De Laurentiis Jr. is waiting to undergo plastic surgery to achieve the actor's appearance. The character is led there by an incredible and delirious succession of events: unacknowledged paternity, plagiarized articles, and various identity thefts. "While working on the novel, Cage's viral internet phenomenon collided with the construction of identities in the contemporary world, which takes as references very silly or delirious things such as conspiracy theories, among which Pizzagate stands out, which went viral during the 2016 US presidential elections," he said, "grateful" for having received the award, which has a list of winners with authors he admires and who have influenced him, among whom he highlighted Francesc Trabal, Mercè Rodoreda, Joan F. Mira and Vicenç Pagès Jordà.

The Great Replacement begins "with Den Harrow, a musician fromItalo disco who was able to dethrone Michael Jackson in the 1980s in the best-sellers," the author recalled. "It is a novel with many bizarre twists, which humorously imitates those B-movies in which Cage participated on numerous occasions," the author added. Number of a Hollywood mogul, a world-famous hairdresser Italo disco, a baby who has a bout of diarrhea on a plane, and members of a cult that wants to predict the future through Nicolas Cage's hairstyles. the previous one. The second is that, in addition to the tragicomic humor that it poses The Great Replacement, there is a story of emotional identity and the search for the father."

Albert Pijuan, who recently co-wrote The third escape, with Victoria Szpunberg –premiered at the TNC with an excellent reception-, is working with the playwright "on three new plays" and is about to submit a book for La Segunda Periferia. He also has the idea for a new novel ready. "The prize will buy me time to continue writing," promises the author, who has previously published books such as And on Sunday, meteorite (Animalibros, 2023) –winner of the Bookseller Award–, Why don't we rethink cannibalism? (Medusa, 2023), Tsunami (Angle, 2020) –which received, among others, the Pin i Soler and Finestres awards– and You will follow the rhythm of the Jamaican ghost (Angle, 2017).