The shortlisted works for the Planeta Prize claim the

The more than 800 manuscripts submitted to the LXXI Planet Awardwhich will be delivered this Saturday in Barcelona, ​​reveal the interest of current creators in female characters and in stories about “the empowerment of women,” explained Juan Eslava Galán, a member of the award jury, who also points out the growth they have experienced the historical genre and the black novel among the drafts that aspire to the award. Likewise, Eslava Galán continues, a “decline” is recorded with respect to the costumbrista stories and the narratives set in the Civil War. “The novel that is made”, defended the author of books such as Miss Y Wolf King, “It is always a reflection of the society of its time.”



Planet confirms “the good health” of the book

In addition to presenting some of the cardinal points of the LXXI Planeta Novel Prize, the president of the publishing group, José Creuheras, wanted to offer the media a hopeful panorama of the book sector and of the reading indexes of our country that confirm “the good health” that the industry enjoys.

In this way, Creuheras has recalled that, according to a recent survey by the Spanish Federation of Publishers, the percentage of regular readers has grown by two points in the last year, already reaching 66% of the population, “an increase that, above all, is concentrated in a very positive way” in the public under 14 years of age -future adult readers- who “in 77% regularly reads”, quantified the president of Grupo Planeta, who is pleased with the contribution of his stamps to these issues with the “44.5 million copies sold” in the history of the award, which currently stands as the best paid in the world.

“A society that reads is a better society”, said Creuheras, who in this analysis relied on data from his director of the Bookstore Area, Jesus Badenswho specified that in the last year the book has been consolidated in the “central space” of culture, with sales increasing by 16.6% in our country and between 15% and 20% in neighboring countries.

A comparison that is based on the contrast between the years 2019 and 2021 -skipping the anomalous situation that a 2020 pandemic left us- but that also is projected towards 2022 where they expect “a growth of between 3-4%”, data that had not been recorded “for many years”.

The head of this division has highlighted, especially, to comics, poetry and science fiction as “the publishing lines that have registered the greatest growth”, in addition to children’s and youth books. In the case of the Ninth Art, moreover, with figures: “around a 50% increase”. However, Badenes has pointed out “the brake” that the sales of books on learning courses (languages, cooking…) have experienced compared to “the strong growth” that they experienced during confinement.

Both the analyst and the president of Planeta have also insisted on pointing out the “fundamental” role of bookstores as “nexus between publishers and readers” (60% of books are sold in bookstores) and the indisputable preference of readers for the printed book (they represent 70%).

All in all, and despite this optimistic x-ray of the sector, the directors of the publisher have recognized that in the last year have had to deal with problems such as “the scarcity of paper” and “the lack of printing hours” and that, taking into account the context of economic recession, it will influence the book sector “as well as the rest of the sectors of society” although they do not envisage a rise in prices for next year.

The shortlisted works for the Planeta Prize claim the