Roser Cabré-Verdiell wins the Crexells prize with a story of infidelities and witchcraft

BarcelonaQue morin els fills dels altres, the second novel by Roser Cabré-Verdiell (Barcelona, 1982), has won the 55th Crexells Prize, awarded annually by the Ateneu Barcelonès and endowed with 6,000 euros. "It is a singular story, which shakes the family institution right from the title, impactful and enigmatic, and which is written in a forceful and lyrical prose that transports the reader through a world that moves in ambiguity," highlights the jury, made up of Lluïsa Julià, Xavier Aliaga, Francesco Ardolino, Montserrat Palau, Xènia Dyakonova, and Eva Piquer.

The novel, published by Males Herbes –also awarded the Llibreter Prize this Wednesday with Sau, by Ferran Garcia–, begins shortly after its protagonist, Rebeca, has turned 40 and moved from Barcelona to Ocata with her partner, Flavi, and their two children. Despite finding themselves in an apparently idyllic place, problems soon knock on their door: the friendship with a family of mysterious neighbors is the first step in a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries, including suicides, witchcraft, a sect, and a necropolis, experienced in parallel with the rediscovery of desire and the danger of madness. "Being part of the Crexells lineup is both a responsibility and an honor – acknowledged the author, who had just arrived from Finland–. Awards for published works validate a proposal from the publisher and the author, and in my case, they give me a very clear boost to continue making literature from my own universe, without also falling into market casuistry."

Cabré-Verdiell added that "literature must expand the world towards mystery and doubt": that is why "the initial hyperrealism of the story" leads to the protagonist's "bewilderment", who takes "her ambivalence and ambiguity to the extreme". "We live in a time when there is a homogenization of thought and less transparent reading, which does not explain everything to you upfront, is penalized," she warned. That's why she is "so happy" to have won a prize like the Crexells. Before debuting as a novelist with AIOUA (Males Herbes, 2022), Roser Cabré-Verdiell had published a string of short stories in literary magazines and anthologies, such as Altered States of Mind (Males Herbes, 2017) and Barcelona 2059 (Mai Més, 2021). With AIOUA, which narrated the journey of a woman to the United States, where she settled in a motel full of lonely, wounded women with a lot to share, Cabré-Verdiell won the first Finestres prize, endowed with 25,000 euros.

An almost centenary award

Although this year the 55th Crexells prize has been awarded, the literary award –currently endowed with 6,000 euros– is almost a century old. The Ateneu Barcelonès first convened it in 1927 to honor the memory of the philosopher, Hellenist, pedagogue, and economist Joan Crexells i Vallhonrat (Barcelona, 1896-1926). The inaugural edition, in 1928, was left vacant, but a year later the winner was Joan Puig i Ferreter with El cercle màgic. In the first stage of the Crexells, which closed in 1938 due to the Civil War, authors such as Prudenci Bertrana, Josep Maria de Sagarra, and Mercè Rodoreda received the Crexells. In the second stage, which began in 1982 and continues to the present, about forty authors have received it, including Pere Gimferrer, Jaume Cabré, Carme Riera, Vicenç Pagès Jordà, Manuel Baixauli, Josefa Contijoch, and Mònica Batet.