Álvaro Pombo Wins 2006 Premio Planeta
By María E. Cruz -- Críticas, 11/15/2006
Last month, Editorial Planeta’s 55th Premio Planeta de Novela—Spain’s most lucrative literary prize—was awarded to Spain’s Álvaro Pombo for La fortuna de Matilda Turpín (“Matilda Turpín’s Fortune”). The highly recognized Pombo was the winner of the first Premio Herralde de Novela in 1983 with El héroe de las mansardas de Mansard (“The Hero of Mansard’s Mansards”). Marta Rivera de la Cruz’s En tiempo de prodigios (“In Times of Wonder”), won second place. Pombo and Rivera de la Cruz, whose works were chosen from 442 manuscripts, will receive 601,000 and 150,000 euros, respectively. Members of the this year’s jury included Alberto Blecua, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Pere Gimferrer, Carmen Posadas, Soledad Puértolas, Rosa Regas, and Carlos Pujol.
La fortuna de Matilda Turpín tells the story of Matilda, a wealthy woman who after 13 years of faithful marriage and three sons, builds a successful career in finance. The decision comes at a high cost, since Matilda has to make the two paths converge in her marriage. According to Marla Norman, Planeta’s U.S. Sales Director, the U.S. edition of the 2006 Premio Planeta winner will be published simultaneously in Spanish and English by Rayo; the release date is tentatively scheduled for June 2007.
Rivera de la Cruz’s En tiempo de prodigios, about a friendship between Cecilia and the grandfather of one of her friends—a U.S. spy during WWII— will be available in the United States in January 2007.
View All Blogs
