Barcelona regains its prominence as the capital of the book. And it does so by having recovered the in-person presence of the literary evening par excellence, the Planeta Award ceremony gala, and by having raised the amount of the emblematic award to one million euros ---66% more---, a figure that is above the reward received by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. There was much anticipation this Friday to know who would take home the million euros for the first time, and the night did not disappoint, as it ended with a good coup de grâce, the resolution of the mystery that until now surrounded one of the recent phenomena of Spanish literature, that of Carmen Mola.
Yes, Carmen Mola has been the winner of the 70th edition of the Planeta thanks to the novel La Bestia, but Mola is not Carmen, it is not her, but them: the million euros will be shared not by one, but by three writers, three television series screenwriters who last night revealed themselves as the authors of the crime novels signed until now with the pseudonym Carmen Mola.
The Oval Room of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) hosted the coming out of Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez, and Antonio Mercero. The three confessed that they have spent the last four years "lying to everyone," as their identity was until now one of the best-kept literary secrets. "We knew that at some point we would have to say it; we told ourselves that if we won the Planeta we would do it, as has happened," explained Jorge Díaz.
Under the pseudonym Carmen Mola, the three friends, residents in Madrid, debuted in 2018 with the novel La novia gitana, starring Inspector Elena Blanco, followed by La Red Púrpura (2019) and La Nena (2020), a trilogy that has become a sales and critical phenomenon and has been translated into more than eight countries.
Until now, the authors behind Carmen Mola were married to the crime novel imprint of the Alfaguara publishing house ---of the Penguin Random House group---, but by winning the award they move into Planeta's orbit, where they will debut with La Bestia, a novel that reached the jury under the name Ciudad de Fuego and with the pseudonym Sergio López. The finalist work, winner of 200,000 euros, has been Los últimos días de Berlín, by the writer Paloma Sánchez-Garnica.
Historical novel with a thriller flavor
And what is the winning novel of the Planeta 2021 about? La Bestia is set in the 19th century, in Madrid in 1834, when it was a dusty city, besieged by cholera and by Carlist troops. According to the authors, it is a mix of thriller and historical novel starring Lucía, a fifteen-year-old orphan who desperately searches for her sister while a Beast that keeps committing murders roams the city. "On every page you wish the two sisters would reunite," explained the authors, after pointing out that "the novel ends up being a distorted mirror of our reality."
For her part, with Los últimos días de Berlín, Paloma Sánchez-Garnica (Madrid, 1962) says she has written "a street-level novel about the everyday stories of the rise of Nazism" and a tribute to Dr. Zhivago. "I wanted to recount the consequences of totalitarianism in everyday life," highlighted the author, who sets the novel in Berlin in the 1930s, from Hitler's rise to the Red Army's entry into the city. The Planeta finalist had previously written El gran arcano (2006), La brisa de Oriente (2009), El alma de las piedras (2010) and Las tres heridas (2012).
The president of Planeta and host of the gala, José Creuheras, expressed pride in "celebrating a marriage with the book every October 15" and recalled that throughout its 70-year history, Planeta has sold 44 million copies. The executive, who remembered the members of the Lara family ---owners of the group--- who preceded him in the position, called on the Government and the Minister of Culture in particular, Miquel Iceta, present at the event, for "a support plan for bookstores" and was pleased that 95% of the books sold are still paper.
This edition of the Planeta has broken participation records, with 654 original works submitted, the highest figure in the history of this award.