It is the world's richest prize for Hispanic literature, and the world's second-richest prize for literature of any kind (after the Nobel Prize). That said, and despite the fact that it has been awarded since 1952, the Premio Planeta de Novela remains virtually unknown to readers here in the USA. (Image below left via Librería Solar del Bruto; image below right via Culturamas:)
Like the older and richer Nobel Prize for Literature, the Premio Planeta de Novela has endured its share of controversy over the years. The most damaging criticism has been that the publisher which awards the prize, Grupo Planeta, too frequently awards the prize to its own stable of authors, with more unknown authors often able to do no better than runner-up. (Financially, though, even the runner-up prize is pretty darn impressive. Although a runner-up has been recognized since the prize was established in 1952, a monetary award to the runner-up was not made until 1974. The runner-up currently receives €150,250; the main prize award is €601,000.)
The controversies associated with the award have been such that two authors, Miguel Delibes and Ernesto Sábato, actually declined the award altogether in 1994.
That said, the award has nonetheless managed to recognize a number of important recent works of Hispanic literature:
Regrettably, although most of the winners and runners-up are readily and inexpensively available in the marketplace, many have yet to be translated from the original Spanish. A complete list of the winners and runners-up will be found here....
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