Joan Barril reaches the promised land in 2010

Barcelona (CNA).- Joan Barril has won the thirtieth edition of the Sant Joan Prize for Catalan literature. The prestigious award along with 60,000 euros prize money went to the journalist for his novel “Les terres promeses” (Promised Lands), a novel based on the Cuban Revolution. The story opens with a money laundering operation involving Barcelona and the Cayman Islands before allowing Santiago Castro, the hypothetical younger brother of Fidel and Raul Castro, to take centre stage. The publishing company Edicions 62 will put out the novel this autumn.

“Les terres promeses” won the award after fending off the challenge from 57 other finalists. Robert Miranda, a building contractor who travels to the Cayman Islands to launder money at the end of 1958 just before the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro's entry into La Havana,  is the main character at the story’s beginning. After Castro's victory, his character fades allowing the hypothetical younger brother of  Fidel and Raul to take over as the main figure in the novel. Joan Barril said that thanks to this character, the novel can talk of the possibilities for change and even a revolution within a society. The publishing house Edicions 62 plans to release the novel in late October.