"The worst evil of the Catalans is self-hatred."

BarcelonaThroughout almost six decades of awards, the Honorary Prize for Catalan Literature has distinguished narrators, poets, linguists, singer-songwriters and historians, but until now it had not recognized anyone who had dedicated his life to philosophy as Pere Lluís FontLluís's intellectual contribution has been deployed, broadly speaking, on four levels: university teaching, translation, publishing, and writing. "To think is to rethink." "Catalonia and philosophy have been my two passions." "We are monolingual, but it suits us to be polyglots." These have been three of the award winner's mottos throughout his long and fruitful career.

At 91 years of age, Pere Lluís Font received the 57th Honorary Award in a Palace of Music packed with friends and admirers of his work, including editors such as Ernest Folch and Xavier Mallafrè; the President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa; the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar; and former President Jordi Pujol, who entered the hall with a smile of joy etched on his face. The first to speak was Jaume Casals, former rector of Pompeu Fabra University and a former student of the award winner. "There are a multitude of us, the students who are candidates to paint Professor Pere Lluís Font," he began. "My colors are those of an initial severity, those of an invitation to an almost paternal respect, and those of the recognition of unexpected affection and warmth." Casals highlighted, above all, Lluís's "concise, controlled, and ironic humor," "a precise tone that sometimes resonates with those who read or listen to him, a humor with a hint of erudition." The "enormous" work of the Honorary Prize winner, cultivated "for seven decades, so far," Casals noted, is a skillful combination of "wisdom, patience, and art."

Elegy for General Knowledge

Pere Lluís Font was one of the driving forces behind the collection. Philosophical texts In 1981, almost a hundred titles were published, including fundamental books by Kant, Schopenhauer, Hume, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Fichte and Descartes, some available for the first time in Catalan. In parallel to his work as an editor and as a professor of history of philosophy—first at the University of Barcelona, ​​​​later at the Autonomous University—, Lluís has translated key works of modern thought such as Discourse on the method, by René Descartes (Ediciones 62, 1996) and has edited Critique of Practical Reason, ofImmanuel Kant (Ediciones 62, 2003). One of his latest major translations has been Thoughts and pamphlets, of Blaise Pascal (Adesiara, 2021), which received the National Award for the best Translation, to which must be added the Essential poems of San Juan de la Cruz (Fragmenta, 2025).

Pere Lluís Font has had "two obsessions" as a teacher. The first: "Expressive quality, both oral and written, especially in our language, which is the most mistreated." The second: "The attempt to promote appreciation for general culture." "I know it has little prestige," he added. "A doctor can lose a patient, but a lack of culture doesn't kill anyone. One of the terrible legacies of our time will be the loss of general culture." The Honorary Prize winner was generous in describing the value of reading: "I express everything I am in books. Reading has been my homeland: it is here where I find the philosophical saints of my devotion."

Teach to cultivate the spirit

During the ceremony to receive the Honor Award, Marina Rossell and Xavi Lloses performed Spiritual song and poems like Song rehearsal in the temple, by Salvador Espriu, and Right now, by Miquel Martí i Pol. Also a second gloss, by David Jou, professor of physics, translator and poet, who defined Lluís Font as "stone, light and source transmuted into passion, lucidity and fertility". Xavier Antich, president of Òmnium Cultural - the entity that convenes the prize annually - recalled that "Pere Lluís Font has been studying and speaking about others for decades: it is for this reason that he resists being called a philosopher". "Culture does not protect us from all evils: however, without culture or philosophy we are more fragile and vulnerable", warned Antich. "We are among those who believe that at the heart of philosophizing lies freedom".

Pere Lluís Font closed the event with a serene and emotional speech. "Studying and teaching philosophy is a way of teaching how to cultivate one's own spirit," said Lluís, who focused his speech on language and philosophy. "If we are a nation, it is because we have our own language. In each language, the depth of the personality of its speakers shines through in a different way." Lluís also recalled that, in relation to the country's limited linguistic awareness, "the worst harm Catalans face is self-hatred." "The most difficult of revolutions is the mental one," he added. "Servitude is comfortable when accompanied by bread and circuses".

The 57th Honorary Prize winner ended his speech by praising philosophy, while asking that it be freed from "a certain solemnity." "Most Catalan-speaking philosophers have long been writers of Spanish," he continued. "That's why Josep Calsamiglia and Josep Ramoneda and I launched the collection Philosophical texts". Four decades later, Catalan thought flourishes through books by Catalan authors and translations. And Pere Lluís Font is about to add a new title to the bibliography, Philosophy in nature, "an essay for imminent distribution" that must be read, because it aims to be a synthesis of a lifetime dedicated to thinking and rethinking.