Spain’s Nativel Preciado Wins the Premio Primavera

By María Elena Cruz -- Críticas, 3/15/2007

Spanish writer and journalist Nativel Preciado received this year’s Premio Primavera de Novela—organized by Espasa Calpe and Ámbito Cultural—for Olvida el paraíso ("Forget Paradise"). Preciado is the author of several essays and novels, including the 1999 Premio Planeta finalist El egoísta ("The Selsfish One"). Though not much has been revealed about the plot, the author has told the media that it is a novel about the struggle to "overcome the pain that results from death and from love." The novel was selected from 350 unpublished manuscripts, a third of them from the Americas, including 14 from the United States.The jury praised Preciado’s work as a "triple journey: physical, sentimental, and moral."

Preciado will receive €200,000 (about $263,500) and the publication of her winning novel by Espasa Calpe as a prize. This year’s finalist was Care Santos, also from Spain, with La muerte de Venus (Venus’s Death). She will receive €30,000 (about $39,500) as a prize.