Planeta awards the controversial television personality Juan del Val

BarcelonaIt's happened again: Juan del Val, the man who was proclaimed the winner of the 74th Planeta Prize, worth one million euros, was hiding behind a female pseudonym, Elvira Torres, at a gala held at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia during a day of general strike: while at the top of Montjuïc, a police officer. The Madrid novelist, screenwriter and contributor to the television program The Anthill, was chosen from among the 1,320 candidates who applied for the award, which just four years ago discovered the previously secret identity of Carmen Mola, who in this case were not one or two men, but three, Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez and Antonio Mercero. At least this year's finalist – who will receive 200,000 euros – was a woman, the Galician Ángela Luz Banzas, with When the wind speaks, the first novel he will publish with Planeta after a brief but intense period at Suma, a Penguin Random House imprint.

Vera, a love story is the title of the seventh book by Juan del Val (Madrid, 1970). Set in Seville, it addresses with "light touches of thriller social inequalities and the complicated family dynamics of the protagonist," according to the publisher, which also highlights that it presents "a contemporary story that is easy to read." "Seeing myself here, collecting the award, is almost a miracle. At many times I have been close to failure, surrounded by dust, concrete and soil. The best thing in life are the unexpected things," admitted the author, partner of Núria Roca, television presenter who currently directs the weekly magazine The Rock on La Sexta. As a curiosity, it is worth remembering that Del Val and Roca have written two books together, For Ana (from you dead) (Espada, 2011) and The inevitability of love (Espasa, 2012), where Roca's name appeared as the main attraction. "Aside from TV, I am what I write; it's what gives meaning to my life," he added. "The protagonist of my new novel, Vera, is a woman who learns to be free when she loses her fear of making mistakes."

The triumph of the neighborhood boy

It was with It seems unbelievable (Espada, 2017) that Juan del Val began to fly solo literary. He chose to do so with the autobiographical story of the neighborhood boy he was. Having passed the age of 45, he reflected "on the problematic adolescent, the lost young man, and the intrepid man" who made his way, without having university studies, in the world of journalism in the early 90s—in media such as Radio Nacional Española, TVE, Antena 3, and Telecinco—with the dream of 'up there'. Among the references that Del Val often cites in interviews are Woody Allen and Michel Houellebecq. Both give some clues about the narrative material of their books: Allen, because stories of impossible love mark books like Candle (2019) –with which he won the Primavera award– and Delparaíso (Espada, 2021); Houellebecq, because his views are of a conservatism that sometimes flirts with the far right. Although he was a "briefly" member of the Young Communists when he was 16 and has explained that he voted "on several occasions" for the PSOE and Izquierda Unida, he declares himself "against Pedro Sánchez's government." He admits that he doesn't respect "EHBildu voters, but he does respect Vox voters."

Del Val is known for his controversial opinions. He stated that "to have sex you have to lie," he said that coming to Barcelona has "made him lazy" since 2017, when he began to see it as "a hostile city, full of angry people," he lashed out at "the feminists of Podemos, who have done a disservice to the majority because in reality, feminism" parents, when their children fail, say it's not because "they're stupid, but because they have high abilities." During his acceptance speech for the Planeta Award, Juan del Val avoided making any mention of the war in Gaza, the reason for the general strike called for the same day the award was presented, and which was preceded by demonstrations such as the one on October 4. At first, Del Val considered the program The Rock, for which he is a contributor, that the number of attendees in Madrid had been "on the low side": "I say this with sadness, because it seems absolutely necessary," he stated. The novelist eventually reversed himself when he was informed that there were more than 100,000 protesters, according to the Government Delegation, or 400,000, according to the organizers. The only controversial spark in the winner's words upon receiving the award came when he argued that "literature is made for readers, not for four intellectuals."

The intimate novel by Ángela Luz Banzas

The finalist author, Ángela Luz Banzas, has a much less explosive profile than Juan del Val. Born in Santiago de Compostela in 1982, before specializing in writing thrillers set in Galicia—both in the present and the past—she studied Political Science and Business Administration and spent a few years in public administration. She debuted in 2021 with The silence of the waves (Debolsillo), and since then he has published a novel per year, with titles such as The conspiracy of the fog (Suma, 2022), The shadow of the rose (Suma, 2023) and The breath of flames (Suma, 2024). With When the wind speaks changes her style when it comes to titles, but remains faithful to both the setting of her previous books and the subject matter. "It's my most intimate novel," she has advanced. "It begins with a childhood memory that has marked my life until now. When I was seven years old, I was hospitalized and I met a girl the same age as me who, unfortunately, had an incurable illness. While I could, I brought her books from the hospital library because thanks to literature I could escape."

The author, however, has not opted for autofiction, but rather for the historical novel. The protagonist of When the wind speaksSofía is a woman born during the postwar period who grew up in rural Galicia with her grandparents and who "carries along several family secrets and absences." A "strange illness" takes her to the hospital, where she will discover, in addition to "horrible experiments on people," the existence of "a lost twin sister."

How the Planeta Awards have changed

In 2021, the Planeta Prize increased its prize money from €600,000 to €1 million, making it the award with the highest prize money in the world. The prize even surpasses the Nobel Prize, which is awarded €11 million, or just under €1 million at the current exchange rate.

This year's edition is the 74th edition of the prize, which dates back to 1952. That year, the winning text was In the night there are no roads, by Juan José Mira. The award's list of winners reflects how the tastes of the general reader have changed: while during its early decades it honored authors of literary value such as Ana María Matute, Ramón J. Sender, Juan Marsé, and Camilo José Cela, more recently it has favored names such as Eva García Sáenz Sánchez-Garnica.