Ramon Solsona, Trajectory Award of the Week of the Catalan Book

BarcelonaThe writer and journalist Ramon Solsona (Barcelona, 1950) has always defined himself as a "worker" of Catalan letters; a profession that the author compares to that of a miner:

A graduate in Romance Philology from the University of Barcelona, Solsona worked for twenty years as a secondary school teacher before dedicating himself professionally to literature and journalism. Since his debut as a novelist, Figures de calidoscopi (1989), Solsona has been a constant presence in bookstores and has become one of the most solid voices in Catalan literature. His work has been recognized with awards such as the Prudenci Bertrana, the Serra d’Or de la crítica, the Lletra d’Or for Les hores detingudes (1993) and the Sant Jordi novel award for L’home de la maleta(2011). His latest work is the essay Dones migpartides. Trenta narradores entre la il·lusió republicana, la derrota i el redreçament (Pòrtic, 2025), winner of the Carles Rahola essay prize.

After assuming that receiving a career award means "having a certain age", Solsona wanted to emphasize that "this has been a career in Catalan literature," and that when he debuted he was already 39 years old and felt "like an old man." In 1991, he recalled, he requested a leave of absence from his job as a teacher to "go to the dark side" and professionalize himself as a writer. "I became self-employed, and that means that since then I have lived as a writer in Catalan, and that is extraordinary, because for a good part of the 20th century it was not possible," Solsona stressed, admitting to having had a "complicated career" in which he had to do "many jobs to get by," from scripts like those for the series Estació d'enllaç to his many collaborations in the media. "The humorous poems in Lo Gaiter del Besòs [published in 1987 in the weekly L'Avui] are the most slave-like work I've ever had, I wouldn't wish it on anyone," he joked.

In the thank you section, Solsona wanted to differentiate his two families. First, the nuclear one, "that of wife and children," with whom he admitted feeling indebted for the "many hours of weekends and holidays" he had "stolen" from them to dedicate himself to literature. However, he made priorities clear: "It is said that there comes a time in the lives of all writers when one must choose between life and literature, and that writers by nature choose literature; well, I am not a writer by nature, because I have always chosen family, and that is why I have published so little." The other family Solsona wanted to remember was that of the book world, starting with the three editors he has had: Jaume Vallcorba, Esteve Pujol, and Josep Lluch. "I haven't moved much, but I have immense gratitude for the publishing world," he said, and took the opportunity to advocate for the work of proofreaders ("We have excellent ones!"), salespeople, cultural journalists, booksellers, and, of course, Book Week.

“To disseminate is wonderful”

The other award granted by the Setmana del Llibre en Català is the Difusió award, and this year, in its 6th edition, it has been awarded to the writer, translator, and enigmatist Màrius Serra (Barcelona, 1963). The jury awarded it to him for having “decisively contributed to bringing Catalan literature and language closer to broad and diverse audiences” and for having “turned wordplay, reading, and linguistic creativity into accessible, rigorous, and popular forms of cultural dissemination”. Serra could not be present at the award announcement event, but he has confirmed his attendance at the Setmana del Llibre en Català, which will celebrate its 44th edition from September 18 to 27, 2026, on Barcelona's Lluís Companys promenade. Serra sent a video of thanks in which he acknowledged being a “follower” of the literary fair since the 80s and celebrated the specificity of his award: “The verb to disseminate is wonderful: let's all disseminate as much as possible”.