The deadline for submitting manuscripts for the 2025 Literary Awards, organised by the Cerdanyola del Vallès Town Council and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), ended on 7 February.

The following is the composition of the jury for the current edition of the awards.

JURY OF THE XXXI PREMI DE NOVEL-LA ‘VALLDAURA-MEMORIAL PERE CALDERS’ OF 2025

Núria Balagué Mola (Barcelona, 1958) has a degree in Hispanic Philology and Italian Philology and a PhD in Documentation from the University of Barcelona. She has been assistant director of the Library Service of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Barcelona.

Joan Mañas López (Gualba, 1970) holds a degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and is the owner of the second-hand bookshop El Pergamí Vell. He has participated as a juror in several novel awards and is the author of the novel Arqueologia de l'amor, awarded the Just Casero de Girona Prize in 2006.

Arià Paco Abenoza (Igualada, 1993) holds a degree and master's degree in philosophy from the University of Barcelona. Since 2025, he also holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Arizona, where he has been an assistant professor for five years. He has published three novels: Mentir a les mosques (2020), Covarda, vella, tan salvatge (2022) and Teoria del joc (2025, Anagrama Novel Prize). He collaborates with various cultural media and podcasts.

Miquel Ribas (Barcelona, 1972). He has a degree in Cultural Anthropology and a master's degree in Audiovisual Scriptwriting. Professor of Social Sciences with extensive teaching experience, he has devoted his free time to writing various works of fiction for children, young people and adults. His two latest works are the historical novel Rei de Sicília, príncep de Sardenya and Ilha do Farol.

David Vidal Castell is a lecturer in the Department of Media, Communication and Culture at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), journalist and literary critic (ARA newspaper). Director and founder of the Master's Degree in Literary Journalism, Communication and Humanities at the UAB. Doctor in Communication (Alteritat i presència, 2002), the Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC) awarded him the prize for research in media and culture in 2005 for his essay El malson de Chandos and has received the Lleida Narrative Award (La fulla a punt de caure, 2007) and the Gaudí Award for the script of the film Petitet (2019).

JURY OF THE XXX PREMI DE POESIA ‘MIQUEL MARTÍ I POL’ OF 2025

Josep Gerona Fumàs (Sabadell, 1956) holds a degree in History and is a secondary school teacher in Sabadell. He currently combines his dedication to painting with writing in Catalan and Spanish. He is founder and member since 2001 of the group of poets from Sabadell Papers de Versàlia, a collective that works in different initiatives to promote and disseminate poetic creation. Their publications include: Mnemòsine amnèsica (2006), Quan deixaré de creure (2000), Àlbum de noses (2001), Trompar l'ull (2004), Hospital General (2007) i La vida original (2007).

Josep Domènech Ponsatí (Sant Feliu de Guíxols, 1966) is a poet and translator. As a poet he has published Cap a un dic sec (2004), Desdiments (2006), Apropiacions degudes & cia (2007), El Càcol (2015), Preqüela (2018), El coeficient de flotabilitat (2023) and Rotija (2024). In 2024 he was the joint winner of the XXIX Premi de Poesia ‘Miquel Martí i Pol’, organised by the UAB and the Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès, with his work Eixint de fer. As a translator from Portuguese he has published works by Clarice Lispector, Graciliano Ramos, Lima Barreto, Armando Freitas Filho and Hilda Hilst, among others. He has twice won the ‘Giovanni Pontiero’ Translation Prize, and once the ‘Jordi Domènech’ Poetry Translation Prize.

Josep Antoni Aguilar Àvila (Xàtiva, País Valencià, 1979) is a lecturer in Catalan language and literature at the Universitat Catòlica de València ‘Sant Vicent Màrtir’. His research focuses on medieval Catalan chronicles: he has published a large number of articles and studies on Ramon Muntaner, Bernat Desclot and other historiographical texts from the 13th-14th centuries. His annotated edition of the Chronicle of Muntaner was awarded the ‘Ramon Aramon i Serra’ Prize of the LXXX Cartell de Premis Sant Jordi of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2011) and the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize of the Universitat de València (2012), and has been published in the ‘Biblioteca Filològica’ collection of the IEC (2015). On the literary side, he is the author of three collections of poems: Els rims de guerra d'Ezzelino da Romano (València: Denes, 2022), Quatre mots (Premi ‘Josep Grau i Colell’ 2023) and Ballar amb els espectres (XXIX Premi de Poesia ‘Miquel Martí i Pol’ 2024).

Juan Carlos Otero (Sabadell, 1968) is a secondary school language and literature teacher. He won the Jocs Florals de Cerdanyola del Vallès in 1991, 1992 and 1993. In subsequent years, he participated as a member of the jury for the same prize. His poetry publications include L'hàbil escomesa (Reus, 1991, runner-up for the Gabriel Ferrater Prize), La cort de les mudances (Algemessí, 1993), Dilapidàvem les hores felices (Terrassa, 1995, Calassanç Prize) and El buen veneno (Rubí, 2024). His forays into narrative are Terrores nocturnos y otras fábulas para jóvenes (Cerdanyola, 2005) and Quadern de la selva (Cerdanyola, 2008).

Laura Ortensi (Roses, 1991). Journalist, teacher, philologist, criminologist, young woman, poet and aspiring subsidiary. She has published the book of poems Matar la madre (Hinojo, 2021), which won the 22nd Joan Duch Poetry Prize for young writers. He has also recently participated in the essay Màtria o barbarie (Ángulo, 2024) and has just published La marca del anzuelo (Jefe de brote ediciones, 2024).

JURAT DEL XVII PREMI DE NARRATIVA BREU ‘CATERINA ALBERT’ DE 2025

Carmen Alcolea has a degree in Hispanic Philology (1996), a postgraduate degree in Foreign Language Teaching (1997) and a degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology (2013) from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. For two decades, she has been teaching Secondary Education and Baccalaureate. She is the author of a novel.

Carla Clúa Alcón (Tarragona, 1996) is a journalist with a master's degree in International Relations - European Studies. She has worked in various Catalan written and audiovisual media, although she currently lives in Genoa (Italy), where she works in the environmental communication sector. He has received several literary prizes, among which the following stand out: Premis Literaris de Constantí (2024), Premi Bolleré (2023), Premi Alt Urgell de Joves Autors - Homilies d'Organyà (2023) i Relats de Dones de Tarragona (2023, 2022 i 2021). In 2024 he won the XV Premi de Narrativa Breu per a Joves ‘Caterina Albert’, organised by the UAB and the Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès, with the work Pausa, sucre, Sevilla.

Martí Gironell i Gamero (Besalú, 1971), a Catalan journalist and novelist, holds a degree in Journalism from Pompeu Fabra University and in English Philology from the University of Barcelona. He has worked at Ràdio Besalú, Ràdio Olot, Catalunya Ràdio and TV3. He collaborates in the media such as El Punt Avui, La República and L'Illa dels Llibres. His books include El pont dels jueus (2007), which has been translated into several languages; La venjança del bandoler, which won the Nèstor Luján Historical Novel Prize in 2008, and La força d'un destí, winner of the Ramon Llull Prize in 2018.

Xusa Serra has a degree in Anthropology, a postgraduate degree in Thanatology and a master's degree in Nursing and Health Research. She is a nurse at the Unit of Support for Illness, Grief and End of Life at the General Hospital of Catalonia and is also a therapist at the Grief Group of the Association of Women for Equality of Cerdanyola del Vallès. She teaches the workshop ‘Ara sí que sé a les escoles’ and is the author of the book I, també em moriré?

Anna Pallejà Franquet (Tarragona, 2006). She has never stopped reading all kinds of books. What began as a secret diary has gradually become her great passion: writing. Nowadays, he combines literature, studies, music and family. Her work Tres missatges per oblidar-te, won the XIII Premio de Narrativa Breu per a Joves ‘Caterina Albert’, awarded by the Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in 2022.

Next Friday, April 12, at 7.30 pm, Antonio Loriguillo López will present his book "Anime complejo. La ambigüedad narrativa en la animación japonesa", at the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication of the Universitat de València (UV).

The book was published in 2021 and is number 43 of the collection on communication and ICT, Aldea Global, co-published by the Universitat de València, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Universitat Jaume I, and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

On the occasion of the recent recognition of the volume with the mention to the "Book where Asian Film, Media and Communication Sciences" in the IBP 2023 Portuguese/Spanish Language Edition granted by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), the author will give this conference, organized by the Consulate General of Japan in Barcelona, Tradiasia Project, Universitat de València, and with the collaboration of Casa Asia, GREGAL-UAB and InterAsia.

About the book

Recognizable to successive generations of viewers around the world for the charm of its character design and simple animation, "anime" arrives in the second decade of the new millennium as one of the ambassadors of Japanese culture, a consumer good manufactured by one of the most important mass culture production centers on the planet. 

But is it a formulaic art, devoid of narrative sophistication? This book proposes an approach to complex narrative in "anime", a key feature in its construction as a cultural identity through series such as Evangelion or films such as Ghost in the Shell. Is this narrative complexity the reaction of producers to the threat of the interactivity of videogames? Does it obey a strategy that uses narrative experimentation in the multi-screen era to focus on its multiple market niches? Or is it the definitive hybridization of previously opposed narrative modes: classicism versus art and essay? 

Through the historical poetics of narrative modes and the tools of filmic analysis of narratology, Antonio Loriguillo suggests a brief chronology of complex "anime" in which we see that its narrative obscurity is key to its establishment as another type of narration in the global commercial audiovisual.

About the author

Antonio Loriguillo-López is Associate Professor at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) and member of the ITACA research group at the same university, as well as the GREGAL research group (UAB) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He teaches in the degrees in Audiovisual Communication and in Video Game Design and Development, as well as in the Official Master in New Trends and Innovation Processes in Communication at the UJI. His research interests focus on post-classical storytelling in contemporary audiovisual and Japanese commercial animation. In this regard, he is the author of the monographs Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997): Guía para ver y analizar (Nau Llibres, 2020) and Anime complejo: la ambigüedad narrativa en la animación japonesa (Aldea Global, 2021).

You will find more information at:

From Tuesday 1 to Thursday 3 October, Feria de Barcelona will host the 42nd edition of the International Book Fair (LIBER), promoted by the Federation of Publishers' Guilds of Spain (FGEE).

LIBER is one of the main trade fairs for the export, exhibition and promotion of publishing in Spanish. The event will bring together publishers of all subject areas who will present their bibliographic collections and novelties, and companies with products and services related to the production, marketing and distribution of books, as well as digital content (ebooks, audiobooks, podcasts), and professional associations.

Some of the latest new publications from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), such as Pensar con el paladar. Una estética gustatoria, by Jèssica Jaques and Gerard Vilar; Las claves de la investigación científica, by Julio Mario Hoyos and Juan Carlos Moreno, or Innovación y liderazgo. El nacimiento del código de barras, by Gabriel Izard, will be on display at the fair. As usual, the UAB Publications Service will be present at LIBER through the stands of the Unión de Editoriales Universitarias Españolas (UNE) and Pujol y Amadó Export.

Eduard Roure Blàvia, author of the novel ‘El metall i els turons’, will take part in a unique activity that will combine nature and literature, next 21st September in his town, Torregrossa (Lleida). It is a walk around the village that will culminate with the presentation of the book by the writer.

The work, winner of the XXIX Premi de Novel-la ‘Valldaura- Memorial Pere Calders’ in 2023, organised by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Ajuntament de Cerdanyola del Vallès, explores the social conflicts and conflicting interests that exist in a village in the interior of Catalonia. Through a plot rich in intrigue and corruption, the author paints an in-depth portrait of the inhabitants of a tense territory. The walk, which is expected to last about fifty minutes, will start at 5.30 p.m., at Plaça 11 de setembre in Torregrossa, and will end at the Cabana de la partida de Paradell. The activity proposes to visit places that could be scenes from the novel, in a setting that evokes the conflicts described in the work. At the end, there will be a conversation with the author, where participants will have the opportunity to learn more details about the novel and share impressions with him in a privileged natural environment.

Source: https://femllavor.blogspot.com/

The 84th edition of the Fira del Llibre de Madrid will be held from 30 May to 15 June. The Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona is exhibiting some of its new publications for the 2024-2025 academic year at the stand of the Unión de Editoriales Universitarias Españolas (UNE).

This year, the fair revalidates the strategic space of the Plaça de la Ciència i les Universitats which, from 2023, improves the presence of university publishers and research centres.

On this occasion, the UAB publishing house will present titles such as Pensar amb el paladar. Una estética gustatoria, by Jèssica Jaques and Gerard Vilar; Feminismo no es sexismo. Conversations on gender and inequality, by María Jesús Izquierdo and Marc Barbeta, and Economía circular. El camino hacia la sostenibilidad, by Joan Rieradevall and Carles Gasol.

El País dedicates an article to the fight against climate change in Africa led by the young people of generation Z in recent years. The article highlights, among other current issues, the constant alarm that the continent has been suffering since the seventies, and mentions the examples that Johari Gautier lists in his book África: cambio climático y resiliencia. Retos y oportunidades ante el calentamiento global, published in 2022 by the UAB Publications Service.

You can consult the article at the following link:

Doctors Joan Rieradevall Pons and Carles Gasol Martínez will talk about their book ‘Economía circular. El camino hacia la sostenibilidad’, on Thursday 5 June, at 6 p.m., at the Mundana space in Barcelona (Calle Aribau, 34).

Coinciding with World Environment Day, the authors will talk with the co-founders of the shop, Anna and Jaume Colomer, about the policies, indicators, tools and innovation strategies that reduce the environmental impact of consumption, and which are carried out in this space located in the heart of Barcelona's Eixample.

The event is part of a programme that the space has organised for 4 and 5 June, which also includes other activities such as special sales, with the presence of fashion and accessories designers Cristina Korres and Joan Sales (Dino JSJ).

A sustainable pairing

Since its founding in June 2019, Mundana as been committed to responsible sales and consumption, with durable products that are not governed by trends. Its founders have conceived the shop as a meeting place ‘for those who make and for those who are looking for products outside the usual circuits’. In this way, the space at Calle Aribau 34 is a refuge offering a selection of icons that transcend time, and new interpretations of the most everyday standards. Origin aside, Mundana believes in a sustainability linked to the use and maintenance of the products, fleeing from those articles that the trend makes perish too early.

A perfect pairing with the book ‘Economía circular. El camino hacia la sostenibilidad’, which proposes the circular economy as one of the decisive strategies for achieving sustainable development. In the book, professors of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering Joan Rieradevall Pons and Carles Gasol Martínez present case studies, indicators, tools and strategies for innovation, prevention and minimisation of resources, as well as examples of circular eco-design and global improvement of products and services to demonstrate that a completely circular future is possible.

The UAB Publications Service has been responsible for publishing the book, which is available in paper format for a fee and free open-access electronic format.

Dialogue on the book ‘Circular Economy. On the road to sustainability’.

Day: Thursday, 5 June

Time: 6 p.m.

Place: Mundana (Calle Aribau 34, 08011 Barcelona)

Please confirm your attendance at: info@mundanalife.com

The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the City Council of Cerdanyola del Vallès have announced a new edition of the Literary Awards for 2025. The original works can be submitted from Friday 13 December via the form on the competition's website.

The cultural event, which aims to promote the dissemination of original and unpublished works written in the Catalan language, will be held once again this year with the following types of prizes and financial awards:

• XXXI ‘Valldaura-Memorial Pere Calders’ Novel Prize, worth 3,000 euros. 
• XXX Prize for Poetry ‘Miquel Martí i Pol’, with a prize of 1,000 euros. 
• XVI ‘Caterina Albert’ Short Narrative Prize, with a prize of 500 euros. 

The deadline for submission of original works is Friday 7 February 2025. As usual, the method of submission will be via an online form on the website of the awards, where you can also consult the rules for each award and follow the news of the evolution of the contest.

The winners of this new edition will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held in May.

The winning books of 2024 

The winning works of the 2024 edition, Ilha do Farol, by Miquel Ribas Figueras; Ballar amb els espectres, by Josep Antoni Aguilar Àvila; Eixint de fer, by Josep Domènech Ponsatí; and Pausa, sucre, Sevilla, by Carla Clúa Alcón, have been published by the UAB Publications Service and can now be purchased in print and electronic format on the website of the university publishing house (the short narrative work is only available in open access electronic format).

Desinformación y poder. Alquimias de la persuasión is the latest title in the ‘Aldea Global’ collection, which is co-published by the university publishers: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Jaume I, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat de València. The book is the work of Raúl Rodríguez Ferrándiz, Professor of Semiotics of Mass Communication at the University of Alicante, who specialises in post-truth politics, disinformation, conspiracy theories and ‘fake news’.

In Desinformación y poder. Alquimias de la persuasión, the author dismantles the slogan ‘information is power’, to open our eyes to a current media society where truth has become the true value that is traded on the market: it is privatised, viralised and monetised without any relation to the facts. This book provides a brief introduction to ‘trumpology’, the Cambridge Analytica case and computational propaganda, the Pizzagate case and the role of Wikileaks, but also refers to those who contribute to polarisation by attacking immigration, feminism or LGTBI rights. It discusses the content (in)moderation strategies of Facebook and X, and the advertisers who fund, often unwittingly, pseudo-media that spread misleading news or promote hate, the conspiracies that lied with the ‘plandemia’ story when the virus arrived, and now continue to deny climate change or scare with the Great Replacement. It analyses our penchant for rumours and novelistic lies and for sharing them for a handful of ‘likes’. Finally, a coda is dedicated to the DANA that hit the province of Valencia and Trump's second victory in the US elections.

The work has been selected by the Unión de Editoriales Universitarias Españolas (UNE) to star in the twenty-sixth episode of its podcast ‘Libros para comprender’. The episode is a conversation with Raúl Rodríguez Ferrándiz and Maite Simón, author and editor of PUV (Publicaciones de València), respectively. The programme can be listened to on the main podcasting platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube Podcast and iVoox) and also seen on YouTube Podcast, through the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1daLMPUbjk.

On Thursday 13 February, at 7 p.m., the book will be presented at the Documenta bookshop in Barcelona (Carrer de Pau Claris, 144), with the following speakers: Virginia Luzón Fernández, Professor of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising and Vice Rector of Communication at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; Catalina Gayà Morlà, Serra Hunter Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communication and Culture at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and member of the Board of Aldea Global; and Raúl Rodríguez Ferrándiz, Professor of Semiotics of Mass Communication at the University of Alicante and author of the book.

On Tuesday 15 October, at 1pm, the Faculty of Law of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) will host the presentation of the InnovaDret Group, as part of the University's Innovation Week.

The conference will include a talk entitled ‘Teaching innovation as the backbone of the Law degree’, given by Dr. Josep Cañabate Pérez, coordinator of InnovaDret; a debate focused on the work in the Service Learning (ApS) modality; and the presentation of the first volume of the book series ‘InnovaDret’, published by the UAB Publications Service last June.

The book is entitled Innovació docent i aprenentatge jurídic. Desafiaments i oportunitats del nou model docent del grau de Dret and gathers the works presented by the professors of the research group in the periodic seminars that have been developed in the same Faculty. The work focuses on teaching innovation within the new model of the Bachelor's Degree in Law and aims to share experiences and tools to improve teaching practice.

More information about the conference at: https://webs.uab.cat/setmanainnovacio/activitats-2024/innovadret/