Argentine writer wins €1m prize

A million-euro literary prize just went to a short-story collection, not a blockbuster novel. On April 8 in Barcelona, Argentine writer Samanta Schweblin won the first Premio Aena de Narrativa for *El buen mal*. (aena.es) (elpais.com) That prize is new, and it is huge by Spanish-language publishing standards. Aena says the winner gets €1,000,000 and each finalist gets €30,000, with the award set up as an annual prize for books published in 2025 in Spanish and Spain’s co-official languages. (aena.es) This was not an open manuscript contest where writers mailed in unpublished drafts. Aena says a preselection team scanned books already published in 2025, the jury built a finalist list in March, and the winner was chosen at the April 8 gala in Barcelona. (aena.es) Schweblin won with six stories about ordinary lives getting knocked sideways by something strange. Aena’s description of *El buen mal* says its characters are “vulnerable and deeply human” people pushed into pain, guilt, tenderness, and uncertainty when the unexpected breaks in. (aena.es) That fits the lane Schweblin has been building for years. The International Literature Festival Berlin says she favors abrupt openings and open endings, and Penguin Random House places her work in the line of *Fever Dream*, *Little Eyes*, and *A Mouthful of Birds*. (literaturfestival.com) (penguinrandomhouse.com) She is not an overnight discovery from one lucky prize cycle. Penguin Random House says *Fever Dream* was a finalist for the International Booker Prize, *A Mouthful of Birds* was longlisted for the same prize, and her books have been translated into thirty-five languages. (penguinrandomhouse.com) Her career has also traveled well outside Argentina. Georgetown University says the Buenos Aires-born writer lives in Berlin, has published three short-story collections, a novella, and a novel, and has placed work in magazines including *The New Yorker*, *Granta*, and *Harper’s Magazine*. (americas.georgetown.edu) The finalist list shows what kind of field she beat. Aena names Héctor Abad Faciolince of Colombia, Nona Fernández of Chile, and Marcos Giralt Torrente of Spain among the finalists, alongside books rooted in war, memory, and family history. (aena.es) The prize is also doing cultural diplomacy with airport money. Aena says the award comes with reading and literary-dialogue programs meant to move authors and books between Spain and Latin America, which helps explain why the first winner being an Argentine writer based in Berlin fits the project so neatly. (aena.es) For Schweblin, the cash is obvious, but the timing may matter even more. A writer already translated widely, already Booker-recognized, and now attached to a brand-new €1,000,000 prize is likely to reach readers who do not usually buy short-story collections at all. (penguinrandomhouse.com) (aena.es)