Writer Antonio Monegal (Barcelona, 1957) was awarded the 2023 National Essay Prize this Thursday.He was deemed worthy of a prize of 30,000 Euros awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports for his work titled ‘Like the air we breathe: A sense of culture’.
The jury was chaired by María José Gálvez Salvador, Director General of Books, Comics and Reading of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. He emphasized his work “for excellence of style and creativity”. Also because it focuses on “the broad concept and integrative nature of culture that allows us to understand and define what we are and what we do: a phenomenon that gives meaning to our society.”
Additionally, the jury emphasized: “Antonio Monegal stands in the face of those who criticize the elitist nature of culture, clear, fresh and direct expressionWe support it as a vital resource, a basic need in which we must invest because we cannot afford to live without it.
According to Acantilado publishing house, which published this book, Monegal “interprets culture as follows: activity that is inherently political and indissoluble as the common good of our place and intervention in the world, but above all as the first necessity to face the challenges of existence”.