The Zenda Awards 2026 deliver collectively writers and politicians in a gala marked by literary suggestions | Culture | EUROtoday

The Zenda 2026 awards have been offered this afternoon in an occasion that introduced collectively authors, editors and representatives of the cultural subject. This was the second version of the awards, whose winners have been introduced in December 2025. The ceremony, as within the first version, was held on the Royal Tapestry Factory of Madrid, whose gala was attended by the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, and Queen Letizia, who presided over the occasion. “You have to arrive at Zenda happy and curious,” mentioned the queen on the inauguration. “It is a territory in which we feel that literature is with us,” he famous, “thanks to those who gave birth to Zenda, a free and plural territory 10 years ago.”

Among that group is Arturo Pérez-Reverte, creator and promoter of the literary portal Zenda. The author recalled that Zenda was born “cross-sectional to left and right: with the conviction that it is so recommendable Counterattackby Ramón J. Sender, as Madrid, from court to Czechby Foxá.” Pérez-Reverte, along with the Queen, offered the Honor Award to Enrique Vila-Matas, in recognition of a physique of labor that has marked literature within the Spanish language in current a long time.

Upon amassing the award, Vila-Matas declared: “A writer is a guy who takes off his gloves, rubs his hands, hangs up his coat and dares everything.” “It is not about fighting digital idiots thoroughly, but rather listening to them to build a better world; a world where idiots do not enter,” he famous throughout his speech. The winner remembered once they requested him to alter the colour of a hearth in considered one of his tales and he refused. And he paid tribute to the “old spirit of literature; nothing that has much importance, but that is precisely why it is so interesting.”

The current statements by Pérez-Reverte, who in a discussion board printed in The World On Monday, he accused the RAE (of which he has been an element since 2003) of not honoring its motto: “Neither fixes, nor cleans, nor gives splendor,” in what many have seen as an assault on its director, Antonio Muñoz Machado. “Anything goes, and any bold cathet can prevail, if he perseveres, over Cervantes, Galdós or García Márquez,” the creator lamented in his article.

José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of Madrid, offered the Zenda Narrative Prize to Paco Cerdá after recommending The three musketeers. “I didn’t like to read and my grandfather didn’t like to talk. For example, he didn’t talk about the Paterna wall where his father was shot,” mentioned Cerdá, creator of Gifts (Alfaguara), a piece that recreates the pompous funeral procession of José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1939 and which additionally received the National Narrative Prize. “It is worth talking, reading and writing,” he concluded.

Felix Bolaños (who really useful The Hare with Amber Eyes) offered the Poetry Prize to Chantal Maillard for Complete Poetry 1988-2022 (Tusquets), an version that brings collectively greater than three a long time of poetic writing. In her speech, Maillard referred to the truth that “the poetic voice is the most common, because it arises from the depths of humanity. The poet’s prize is knowing that this voice can guide us to the depths where there are no differences. Hopefully from there we can open channels for listening,” declared the poet.

“This is an award for biography, a genre that has not had as much popularity as others,” mentioned Anna Caballé, Zenda Essay Prize winner for Intimate Atlantisthe ebook that Julia Navarro really useful, who gave her the Prize, and which is a biography about Rosa Chacel. “But no two lives are the same, and they must be vindicated.”

In the First Feature class, the popularity went to Esther López Calderón for Someone, who devoted his award “to those who deal with the internal fire that pushes them to write a book.” And the Translation award went to José María Micó (for his total profession), who acquired his award from Miguel Rellán, who really useful The summer time of Cervantes.

Libros del asteroide (based in 2005 in Barcelona), acquired the Zenda Editorial award. Luis Solano, its editor, acquired the award from Isabel Días Ayuso, who really useful Pantaleón and the guests; and Lorenzo Silva, who really useful The Scythian Empire.

The Zenda Novel Award went to Alberto Olmos for Hotel Z, whereas the Essay distinguishes María José Solano for Oceans and libraries. In Non-Fiction, the award went to Álvaro Colomer for The name. On the opposite hand, the Zenda Journalism Prize acknowledged Ander Izagirre for journalist with bootshighlighting a profession targeted on reporting and chronicling.

In addition to the ten Zenda Awards, the Zenda Edhasa Special Award was offered. Luis Alberto de Cuenca and María José Solano (co-editor of Zenda Edhasa) offered the award to the soldier and historian Manuel Ángel Cuenca. Letras corsarias, from Salamanca, received the award for greatest bookstore. Santander 1936 was the ebook really useful by Ana Patricia Botín, and The satan’s dictionary by Javier Cercas. Together they offered the award to Ebiblio, the general public digital lending service. Jordi Martí, Secretary of State for Culture, collected the Zenda Innovation award.

The award for kids’s or youth ebook was given by Óscar Puente (who really useful The world of yesterday), together with José María Merino and Luis Mateo Díez and the award went to Najat el Hachmi for The secrets and techniques of Nur (Destination). What the award devoted “to girls who learn to read in places where they are not allowed to, and who put down roots in places where no one wants them to.”

The musical efficiency for the intermission was given by David Summers, chief of the band Hombres G, and pianist Basilio Martí. The occasion, like the primary installment, led to a large social gathering. With this second version, the Zenda Awards reinforce its dedication to literature that’s various in genres and views, consolidating itself as one of many cultural occasions firstly of the literary 12 months in Spain. As Pérez-Reverte himself mentioned: “Transversal from left to right.”