The City Council of Lleida (Paeria), along with the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs, has unveiled the program for the awards, which received 88 submissions this year: 25 for the essay prize and 63 for the poetry prize. The Councilor for Culture, Pilar Bosch, the vice-president of the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs, Estefania Rufach, and the head of literary programming for the Paeria, Rosa Mesalles, have detailed the planned activities.
The week of events, scheduled from November 16th to 20th, will culminate in the awards ceremony at the Seu Vella in Lleida on November 20th. This ceremony will begin with a remembrance of Josep Vallverdú, the author after whom one of the awards is named and who passed away last July. Councilor Pilar Bosch emphasized that these will be the first awards "without the master" and also lamented the loss of poet Jaume Pont, who was associated with the literary awards as a jury member for the Màrius Torres Prize.
The central theme this year will revolve around the Spanish Civil War, marking the 90th anniversary of its outbreak. The focus will be on the suffering of people and the language during that period. Literary events will include 'No eran aceitunas, que fueron rosas...', in memory of Federico García Lorca, and 'De aquella guerra. Teresa Pàmies, el compromiso y la memoria', dedicated to the writer, a chronicler of the Civil War and exile.
The program will also feature a talk on spiritualism, a little-known movement that promoted gender equality and free thought, introduced to Catalonia by the family of Màrius Torres. As is customary, the winning works from the previous edition of the awards will be presented.
The awards, organized by the Lleida City Council and the Provincial Council of Lleida, are endowed with €9,000 each and are among the best-funded in Catalonia. The jury for the essay prize consists of Ignasi Aldomà, Anna Ballbona, Gabriella Gavagnin, Joan Roig, and Ramon Sistac. For the poetry prize, the members are Josep Borrell, Teresa Colón, Àngels Gregori, Jordi Julià, and Anna Pantinat.
