€1M fiction prize news
Publishing Perspectives reports that a €1 million fiction award—currently the world’s largest for a published work—was won by Samanta Schweblin, and organizers pledged another €1 million to acquire and promote finalists’ books. (publishingperspectives.com) The article frames the extra funding as a follow-up commitment to help bring shortlisted titles to more readers internationally. (publishingperspectives.com)
Samanta Schweblin has won a new €1 million fiction prize in Spain for *El buen mal*, a short-story collection chosen from books published in 2025. (aena.es) The award is the inaugural Aena Narrative Prize, created by Spain’s airport operator Aena for published narrative in Spanish and Spain’s co-official languages. The winner was announced at a gala in Barcelona on April 8, and each finalist receives €30,000. (aena.es) Aena’s official prize page lists five finalists: Schweblin’s *El buen mal*; *Ahora y en la hora* by Héctor Abad Faciolince; *Marciano* by Nona Fernández; *Los ilusionistas* by Marcos Giralt Torrente; and *Canon de cámara oscura* by Enrique Vila-Matas. The jury, chaired by Spanish writer Rosa Montero, selected the shortlist in March from books published in 2025. (aena.es) The extra money attached to the prize is not only going to the winner. Reporting in Argentina said Aena also committed to buying thousands of copies of the winning and shortlisted books for distribution to staff and local administrations, a move aimed at widening circulation beyond the gala itself. (batimes.com.ar) That detail helps explain why this prize has drawn attention across publishing, not only for its size but for its structure. Aena says the award was created to promote reading, support literary creation, and launch initiatives for literary dialogue in Spain and Latin America. (aena.es) Schweblin’s win also stands out because the book is a story collection, not a novel. Aena’s citation for *El buen mal* describes characters whose ordinary lives are interrupted by strange events, while Argentine coverage said the jury praised the book’s “haunting beauty” and its command of the short-story form. (aena.es) (buenosairesherald.com) Schweblin, 48, was born in Buenos Aires and now lives in Berlin, according to Argentine press reports on the ceremony. In her acceptance speech, she called the award “an embrace to Argentina’s literary tradition” and used the moment to criticize cuts affecting the University of Buenos Aires. (batimes.com.ar) (buenosairesherald.com) The prize has also brought criticism because Aena is a transport company with the Spanish state holding a majority stake. The *Buenos Aires Times* reported debate in Spain over whether a state-linked airport operator should be spending so heavily in the literary field, even as supporters welcomed the new funding. (batimes.com.ar) For now, the immediate result is unusually concrete by book-prize standards: €1 million to the winner, €30,000 to each finalist, and a separate push to put shortlisted books into more hands. In a publishing business that often celebrates prestige more easily than circulation, this award is trying to buy both. (aena.es) (batimes.com.ar)
