Isabel Allende, the Chilean-American author, has secured Spain’s €1 million (£843,000) Premio Planeta, one of the highest-paying literary awards globally, using the pseudonym Luz Ventura. She won the prize with her new book, La hora antes del alba, a sequel to her iconic debut novel, The House of the Spirits, originally published in 1982.
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The 75th edition of the award took place in Barcelona, with King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia in attendance. The new novel continues the story of Alba, the granddaughter of Esteban Trueba and Clara del Valle, as she navigates the aftermath of imprisonment and torture under Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile. Allende remarked that this book will conclude the narrative universe of The House of the Spirits.
During the ceremony, Allende described the win as “like winning the Nobel.” She shared that she had avoided competitions before to steer clear of the humiliation of losing, adding, “At my age, there is very little to lose.” She was inspired to write the sequel after receiving decades of inquiries from readers about Alba’s fate. Allende also noted the parallels between her novel's political backdrop and today’s rising extremism.
Allende fled Chile following the military coup in 1973, which toppled the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, her cousin. Under Pinochet's regime, around 40,000 individuals were tortured, and over 3,000 were killed. She expressed renewed fears regarding the threats to democracy and the rise of authoritarianism.
With over 80 million books sold and translations in more than 40 languages, Allende is a prominent figure in the Spanish-language literary world. The Premio Planeta allows entries under a pseudonym and specifically welcomes unpublished manuscripts. Although Allende submitted the manuscript under Luz Ventura with the fictitious title, Los que faltan, experts like Prof. Duncan Wheeler from Leeds University suggest the judges may have recognized her distinct writing style.
The Premio Planeta has occasionally faced criticism regarding its winners. In 2021, it was controversially awarded to a thriller presented as authored by Carmen Mola, later revealed to have been written by three male writers. The award, sponsored by Planeta, a major publishing group, requires that the winning book be published by them, marking a significant achievement for them as Allende has previously been published by Plaza & Janés, part of Penguin Random House.
Despite the option for pseudonymous submission, the prize has a history of favoring established authors, including notable figures like Juan Marsé and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. José Creuheras, president of Planeta, commented on the prize's evolving prestige and the growing interest in it, pointing out that numerous well-known contemporary writers have graced the list of winners and finalists.
The runner-up for this year's award was Spanish writer and screenwriter Sergio Hernández, whose historical novel La añoranza received €200,000.