Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf awarded 2024 Catalonia International Prize

Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf has been awarded the 36th Catalonia International Prize.

The government praised "the extraordinary literary value of his work, steeped in a profound sense of ethics, which highlights the cultural diversity of identities, languages, and countries."

The Catalan executive recognizes Maalouf for "his contribution to restoring dialogue between cultures and for his critical reflection on Europe’s role in the world as a defender of human rights."

The award ceremony will take place on December 2 at the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona.

A bridge between civilizations

Maalouf's work, set against the backdrop of the Mediterranean, is a celebration of diversity and a deep reflection on the human condition, the government said in a press release on Tuesday.

"His writing forms a bridge between civilizations and is an attempt to restore the bridges of a broken dialogue." 

Author of works such as 'The Rock of Tanios' and 'Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way', Maalouf received Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2010.

Amir Maalouf

Amir Maalouf, aged 75, was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1949. Although his native language is Arabic, he writes in French, having lived in France since 1976, when he went into exile during the Lebanese Civil War.

He was elected a member of the Académie française in 2011, the first person of Lebanese heritage to receive that honour.

In 2020, he was awarded the National Order of Merit by the French government.

Catalonia International Prize

The Catalonia International Prize, awarded annually since 1989, recognizes individuals or institutions that have made significant contributions in the fields of culture, science, and the humanities."

This year, 74 candidates were nominated for the award, which comes with a prize of €80,000.

The Catalan president Salvador Illa will preside over December's award ceremony, where Maalouf will be presented with a copy of the sculpture 'The Key and the Letter' by Antoni Tàpies.

Last year, the US economist Joseph Stiglitz was awarded the Catalonia International Prize, with other recent winners including Belarusian-Ukrainian writer Svetlana Alexievich, US philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, and Kenyan writer and activist Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

In 2020, four women linked to the fight against Covid-19 were awarded the prize: doctors Dania El Mazloum and Anzhela Gradeci, the head nurse at Igualada hospital, Tijana Postic, and BioNTech co-founder Özlem Türeci.

Other former awardees include philosopher Karl Popper, oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, politician Václav Havel, writer Doris Lessing, and activist Malala Yousafzai.

South African Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, who passed away aged 90 in December 2021, was awarded the prize in 2014. In his acceptance speech he urged for dialogue between Catalonia and Spain and for the Spanish government to allow Catalan residents to vote for their future.