The Prix Formentor (also known as Premio Formentor de las Letras, Formentor Literature Prize and The Formentor Prize) is an international literary award given between 1961 and 1967, and, after a long break, from 2011. In the 1960s, the Formentor Group offered two prizes, the Prix Formentor (The Formentor Prize) and the Prix International (the International Prize); the former was given to previously unpublished works and the Prix International was given to works already in distribution.Pavlovic, Tatjana
(2011) ''The Mobile Nation: Espana Cambia de Piel (1954-1964)'' Intellect Books p6-64 The prize takes its name from the town of

Formentor Cap de Formentor () is the northernmost point of Majorca, on the Formentor peninsula. Location Cap de Formentor is located on the northernmost point of the Balearic Island Majorca in Spain. Its highest point, ''Fumart'', is 384m above sea leve ...

on the Spanish island of Mallorca that was famous for its literary gatherings. As of 2012, the award carries a cash prize of 50,000 euros ($65,000) given to a single author.

History

The 1950s saw an increasing expansion of the global interest in Hispanic literature. Looking for a way to further open up Spanish literature markets, Carlos Barral organised, through the publishing house Seix Barral, a series of annual meetings of publishers, novelists and critics. These ' Coloquio Internacional de Novela' ('International Colloquium of the Novel') were held in

on the island of Majorca, Spain between 1959 and 1962, and were paid for by international publishers. The first meeting happened directly after celebrations for the 'Conversaciones de Poéticas de Formentor' '(The Conversations of the Poets of Formentor') 18–25 May 1959, inspired by novelist

Camilo José Cela Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquess of Iria Flavia (; 11 May 1916 – 17 January 2002) was a Spanish novelist, poet, story writer and essayist associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Litera ...

, and brought together a wide variety of multilingual poets. The first Barral Coloquio, which occurred 28–29 May 1959, focused on the political issues of the role of the novelist in societal change, specifically the new power of

social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

, polarised by concerns to give primacy to technical form or political commitment. The second Coloquio, 2–5 May 1960, shifted focus towards the role of the publisher as aesthetic pioneer versus commercial entrepreneur. Prominent publishing houses from the US, Italy, the UK, France and Germany, as well as Spain, were present. It was at this Coloquio that the Formentor Group was formally founded. The group operated between 1960 and 1968, and dedicated to the dissemination of the contemporary literary avant garde; they were joined during this time by publishers from an array of nations, including Japan, Denmark and Holland.Santana, Mario (2000) '' Foreigners in the homeland: the Spanish American new novel in Spain, 1962-1974''. Harrisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press
Pp. 50–53
It was during this second annual gathering that the participants were tasked with formulating an international prize that would be awarded the following year.Dravasa, Mayder. (2005)
The boom in Barcelona: Literary modernism in Spanish and Spanish-American fiction (1950-1974)
" ''Currents in comparative Romance languages and literatures'' 130:73. The group's initial idea was to award a “Prix International de Editeurs”, given to authors not widely known beyond their national bounds. It was to be given to avant garde works already published. The group hoped to take control of the market for Western high-brow literature. Co-founder Giulio Einaudi stated that the group, working with all major European publishers, was strategically placed to have a monopoly on "priceless information that would place them in the forefront of all narratives". Combined, they hoped to gain unrivalled access to all literary creation and criticism. Barral intended that the judging would be a symposium for lectures and debates held publicly in the presence of journalists, as it was. Instead of one prize, as a compromise between literary and commercial goals, two prizes were devised, both to be initiated in 1961. The Prix International was judged by a team of literary specialists and writers who assessed quality, in a process similar in structure to the judging of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

. The Prix Formentor was awarded by publishers, who participated in a secret vote at a closed session. Critics such Santana and Pavlović ( Mario Santana and

Miodrag Pavlović Miodrag Pavlović (Serbian Cyrillic: Миодраг Павловић; ; 28 November 1928 – 17 August 2014) was a Serbian poet, physician writer, critic and academic. Pavlović was twice nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize. Biography He gra ...

?) point to the clash within the Formentor group and between the two prizes presenting essentially different concerns: art versus the market; the cultural versus the economic;

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, as a literary/political centre versus

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, an economic nexus; leftist priorities versus more centrist financial interests. Mayder Dravasa also points to clear divisions between publishers from Latin versus Anglo Saxon cultures and also between Spain versus Latin America, whose 'colonialist' literature (see

postcolonial literature Postcolonial literature is the literature by people from formerly colonized countries. It exists on all continents except Antarctica. Postcolonial literature often addresses the problems and consequences of the decolonization of a country, especia ...

) was held as somewhat parochial.

Awards

1961-1967

During the third Coloquio, in 1961, the two prizes were awarded in the tense atmosphere of a political summit. The Prix International, for literary prestige, was given jointly to Irish playwright Samuel Beckett and Argentinian poet and short story writer

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

Max Frisch Max Rudolf Frisch (; 15 May 1911 – 4 April 1991) was a Swiss playwright and novelist. Frisch's works focused on problems of identity, individuality, responsibility, morality, and political commitment. The use of irony is a significant featur ...

(Swiss),

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

(American) and

Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French an ...

(Cuban) had made it to that shortlist. It was the first major recognition of an Argentinian writer and Borges commented "as a consequence of that prize, my books mushroomed overnight, throughout the western world." The other prize, the Prix Formentor, was created for a novel already in print with one of the group's publishers, a work that would commercially benefit from international translation and dissemination in 14 countries. The prize in that first year went to Spanish writer Juan Garcia Hortelano for his novel ''Tormenta de Verano'' (''Summer Storm''). The translations of the book were badly received by European critics and looked to mark the end of the prize. The novel went unnoticed outside Spain.

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

condemned the awards as intellectual dissidence against his regime and banned a repetition on Spanish territory. The prize giving was moved to Corfu (1963),

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

(Austria, 1964), Valescure (Southern France, 1965) and

Gammarth __NOTOC__ Gammarth ( aeb, ڨمرت ) is a town on the Mediterranean Sea in the Tunis Governorate of Tunisia, located some 15 to 20 kilometres north of Tunis, adjacent to La Marsa. It is an upmarket seaside resort, known for its expensive hotels an ...

(Tunisia, 1966). The Coloquios and the prize giving procedures were complex and expensive, paid for by the publishers. The decisions became increasingly politicised and factionalised, prompting the publishing houses to lose interest in backing the project. The last prize of the 1960s was given in 1967.

2011-present

The prize was resurrected in 2011, given to one author only with a cash award of 50,000 euros ($65,000). In 2011 the prize was given to

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), ''Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christopher ...

. In 2012 it went to Juan Goytisolo; the jury expressed "admiration for the strength, example and independent judgement of a writer whose literary work belongs to the great narrative tradition of the Spanish language."

Winners

Prix Formentor

* 1961:

Juan García Hortelano Juan García Hortelano (14 February 1928 – 3 April 1992) was a Spanish writer. He was born in Madrid on Valentine's Day 1928. His father was a doctor. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he was sent with his siblings to Cuenca, only returning ...

, ''Tormenta de verano'' (''Summer Storm'') * 1962: Dacia Maraini, ''L'età del malessere'' (''The Age of Malaise'') * 1963:

Jorge Semprún Jorge Semprún Maura (; 10 December 1923 – 7 June 2011) was a Spanish writer and politician who lived in France most of his life and wrote primarily in French. From 1953 to 1962, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Semprún lived clande ...

, ''Le Grand Voyage'' * 1964:

Gisela Elsner Gisela Elsner (2 May 1937 – 13 May 1992) was a German writer. She won the Prix Formentor in 1964 for her novel ''Die Riesenzwerge'' (''The Giant Dwarfs''). Early life Elsner was born in Nuremberg, Middle Franconia. In 1959, she went to Vienna ...

, ''Die Riesenzwerge'' (''The Giant Dwarfs'') * 1965: Stephen Schneck, ''The Nightclerk'' * 1966: cancelled * 1967: unassigned

After reinstatement

* 2011:

* 2012: Juan Goytisolo"Goytisolo Wins Formentor Literature Prize"
''Latin American Herald Tribune'' * 2013:

Javier Marías Javier Marías Franco (20 September 1951 – 11 September 2022) was a Spanish author, translator, and columnist. Marías published fifteen novels, including '' A Heart So White'' (''Corazón tan blanco,'' 1992'')'' and '' Tomorrow in the Battle ...

* 2014:

Enrique Vila-Matas Enrique Vila-Matas (born 31 March 1948 in Barcelona) is a Spanish author. He has authored several award-winning books that mix genres and has been branded as one of the most original and prominent writers in the Spanish language. He is a foundi ...

* 2015:

Ricardo Piglia Ricardo Piglia (November 24, 1941 in Adrogué, Argentina – January 6, 2017 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine author, critic, and scholar best known for introducing hard-boiled fiction to the Argentine public. Biography Born in Adrogué, Pigli ...

* 2016:

Roberto Calasso Roberto Calasso (30 May 1941 – 28 July 2021) was an Italian writer and publisher. Apart from his mother tongue, Calasso was fluent in French, English, Spanish, German, Latin and ancient Greek. He also studied Sanskrit. He has been called "a l ...

* 2017:

Alberto Manguel Alberto Manguel (born March 13, 1948, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine-Canadian anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, editor, and a former Director of the National Library of Argentina. He is the author of numerous non-fiction books such ...

* 2018:

Mircea Cărtărescu Mircea Cărtărescu (; born 1 June 1956) is a Romanian novelist, poet, short-story writer, literary critic, and essayist. Biography Born in Bucharest in 1956, he attended Cantemir Vodă National College during the early 1970s. During his sch ...

* 2019:

Annie Ernaux Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux (; born 1 September 1940) is a French writer, professor of literature and Nobel laureate. Her literary work, mostly autobiographical, maintains close links with sociology. Ernaux was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize ...

* 2020:

Cees Nooteboom Cees Nooteboom (; born 31 July 1933) is a Dutch novelist, poet and journalist. After the attention received by his novel ''Rituelen'' (''Rituals'', 1980), which received the Pegasus Prize, it was the first of his novels to be translated into an ...

* 2021:

César Aira César Aira ( Argentine Spanish: ; born 23 February 1949 in Coronel Pringles, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentinian writer and translator, and an exponent of contemporary Argentinian literature. Aira has published over a hundred short book ...

* 2022:

Lyudmila Ulitskaya Lyudmila Evgenyevna Ulitskaya (russian: link=no, Людмила Евгеньевна Улицкая, born February 21, 1943) is an internationally acclaimed modern Russian novelist and short-story writer who, in 2014, was awarded the prestigious A ...

Prix International

*1961:

Ficciones ' (in English: "Fictions") is a collection of short stories by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, originally written and published in Spanish between 1941 and 1956. Thirteen stories from ''Ficciones'' were first published by New Dire ...

'' (''Fictions'') & Samuel Beckett (''Trilogy'')"Converses de Formentor", conference brochure, 2008 (In Spanish)
*1962:

Uwe Johnson Uwe or UWE may refer to * Uwe (given name) * University of the West of England, Bristol * UML-based web engineering * University Würzburg's Experimental miniaturized satellites for space research UWE-1 and UWE-2 * Uwe - Wreck in Blankenese Blank ...

''Mutmassungen über Jakob'' (''Speculations about Jakob'') *1963:

Carlo Emilio Gadda Carlo Emilio Gadda (; November 14, 1893 – May 21, 1973) was an Italian writer and poet. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers that played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements o ...

''La cognizione del dolore'' (''Acquainted with Grief'') *1964:

Nathalie Sarraute Nathalie Sarraute (; born Natalia Ilinichna Tcherniak ( rus, Ната́лья Ильи́нична Черня́к); – 19 October 1999) was a French writer and lawyer. Personal life Sarraute was born in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (now Ivanovo), 300&n ...

''Les Fruits d'or'' (''Golden Fruits'') *1965:

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...

Herzog ''Herzog'' (female ''Herzogin'') is a German hereditary title held by one who rules a territorial duchy, exercises feudal authority over an estate called a duchy, or possesses a right by law or tradition to be referred to by the ducal title. ...

'' *1966: No prize awarded *1967:

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937 he published his ...

''Kosmos'' (''

Cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

'')

References

{{Reflist Awards established in 1961 Awards disestablished in 1967 Awards established in 2011 Fiction awards International literary awards Literary awards honoring unpublished books or writers Spanish literary awards