Formentor Prize book brings 700-plus pages of writers

More than 700 pages now chart the Formentor Prize, bringing together for the first time essays on writers honoured by the award since 1961. The Fundación Feltrinelli Anagrama and Fundación Formentor have published El canon Formentor. Una historia de la literatura. It was presented in Barcelona on 19 September, where Basilio Baltasar said the list of winners reveals a recognisable line of high literature.

Baltasar, director of Fundación Formentor and chair of the prize jury, describes the authors as a “literary lineage”. He said the prize is not a sporting contest, but recognition for a literary career following private jury deliberations.

The prize was created in the 1960s by publishers Carlos Barral, Claude Gallimard and Giulio Einaudi. Samuel Beckett and Jorge Luis Borges received the first awards. The prize ran until 1967, then returned in 2011 alongside its literary conversations.

The book also contains profiles, posters from different editions, details of the writers and juries involved in the gatherings, and extensive photographs. Annie Ernaux, later awarded the Nobel Prize, wrote an essay on Nathalie Sarraute; Gustavo Guerrero contributes the essay on Ernaux. Gonçalo M. Tavares is due to receive the prize this autumn.

Topics: Culture

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com