A viaxe de Gagarin (‘Gagarin’s Journey’) Wins the 2014 “Ánxel Casal” Award

 

On 13th March 2015 the AGE (Galician Association of Publishers) celebrated “Publishing Night 2015” at the Pazo da Cultura in Pontevedra. During the event, the awards for the best books of 2014 were presented. Click here to read a chronicle of the event on the Brétemas blog by Manuel Bragado (in Galician).

The Ánxel Casal Award for best work of fiction went to A viaxe de Gagarin by Agustín Fernández Paz, published by Edicións Xerais. Click here for the complete list of award winners.

This is the second award for AFP’s fictional book on Gagarin: it also won the Fervenzas Literarias Award for Best Work of Fiction in 2014.

There is abundant information about A viaxe de Gagarin on the website dedicated to the book. The author created the Blog Gagarin to include the extensive documentation used to write the novel for those who are interested in reading more about the process.

 

Fervenzas Literary Awards

In the 2014 Best of the Year category, AFP was chosen Author of the Year and A viaxe de Gagarin (Gagarin’s Journey) won Best Adult Narrative.

Following the tradition of the past eight years, in January 2014 the Fervenzas Literarias website published its awards list in various categories, as voted for by the website’s readers.

The awards named Agustín Fernández Paz Author of the Year and his latest novel, A viaxe de Gagarin (Gagarin’s Journey) was selected as Best Adult Narrative.

As a result of this double award Faro da Cultura, the literary supplement of the newspaper Faro de Vigo, published an extensive interview with the author, which can be read or downloaded here in Galician.

There is abundant information about the Gagarin novel in the Book Reviews section of the website pages dedicated to the book. For readers interested in the documentation the author used to write the novel, there is complementary information on the special blog.

Trasalba Award 2014

(The image shows a view of the Pazo de Trasalba from the entrance door)

The Otero Pedrayo Foundation has chosen the author Agustín Fernández Paz for the 2014 Trasalba Award. His solid and well-known literary career, his unwavering commitment to the Galician language, and his active participation in the teaching reform movement are a few of the reasons given by the organisation to explain their selection of the author as the representative of Galician culture. Fernández Paz will receive the award at the Casa Grande de Cimadevila in Amoeiro at a ceremony on 29th June 2014 to celebrate the 32nd edition of the Trasalba Award. Previous recipients include: writers such as Méndez Ferrín and Xosé Neira Villas; educators such as Antía Cal Vázquez; geographers and historians such as Augusto Pérez Alberti and Xosé Manuel Barreiro Fernández; and artists such as Milladoiro and Cristina Pato.
The literary event will take place in the auditorium of the house museum, with a laudatory speech from the writer Francisco Castro. There will also be a presentation of Fernández Paz’s new collaborative book Agustín Fernández Paz. Na casa da esperanza (‘In the House of Hope’).

The publication of the 30th edition of Winter Letters.

The novel Winter Letters by Agustín Fernández Paz has reached its 30th edition in “Fóra de Xogo”, the young adults’ collection from Edicións Xerais. To highlight this event, the publisher has released a book trailer by David Rodríguez. The images used belong to the graphic novel which Antonio Seijas created based on Fernández Paz’s novel.

Originally published in 1995, Winter Letters had a magnificent reception by male and female readers from the very beginning. This favourable reception continued in other languages. The Catalan translation (Cartes d’hivern. Edicions Bromera) inaugurated a new collection, “El Naveg@nte” (‘The Navig@tor’), and was later republished in “Gran Angular” (‘Wide Angle’), also with several editions. Moreover, the novel has been translated into Basque (Neguko gutunak. Elkar), into Portuguese (Cartas de inverno. Contemporánea Editora) and into Breton (Tasmant en ti. Sav-Heol). 

It was also well received by the critics. In 1996 it won the Rañolas Award for best young adults’ book of the year. The Catalan edition was a finalist in the Young Protagonist Award, which is awarded by readers’ votes. Finally, the magazine CLIJ. Cuadernos de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil (‘Children’s and Young Adults’ Literature Notebooks’) selected it in 2000 as one of the best books published in Spain in the 20th century.

Addendum: the 31st edition of Winter Letters and the 23rd of Cartes d’hivern was published in January 2014.

Booktrailer do libro «Cartas de inverno» de Agustín Fernández Paz realizado por David Rodríguez.

Candidate for the ALMA award

Agustín Fernández Paz put forward as nominee
for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2014

On 10th October at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the nominees for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2014 were announced. This award was created by the Swedish government in 2003 in homage to Astrid Lindgren and her universal work.

In the list of ALMA nominees, Agustín Fernández Paz features as the author nominated by Spain. Alongside him are the illustrators Arnal Ballester and Elena Odriozola, as well as the Municipal Reader programme and the Spanish International Centre for Children’s and Young Adults’ Books.

Fernández Paz was previously nominated for this significant award in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013. This year he is competing with 238 nominees from 64 countries.