Isabel Burdiel, full university professor at the Universitat, winner of the 2020 Valencian Literary Criticism Award

Isabel Burdiel has received the award for her biography of the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán. The late Josep Lluís Sirera, for the play 'Dinamarca', written with his brother Rodolf. And in the narrative category the prize went to 'Temporada de avispas', by Elisa Ferrer. In poetry, the award went to Fernando Delgado for his play 'La mar desnuda'.

The organization of the awards has two teachers from the University of Valencia: they are presided over by the critic José Vicente Peiró, professor of the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication, and Elia Saneleuterio Temporal, professor of the Faculty of Teaching, acts as secretary.

The composition of the juries for the different modalities is kept secret, every year, until the day of the ruling. They are made up of relevant journalists, writers and representatives of cultural institutions, press critics or university literary researchers, all of whom were born or live in the Valencian Community, except for the current president of the Spanish Association of Literary Critics. The Essay and Criticism Jury, formed by Francisco Agramunt, M.ª Ángeles Chavarría, José Ferrándiz Lozano, Santiago Fortuño, Begoña Jorques, Elia Saneleuterio Temporal and José Miguel Segura, has decided to award, unanimously, the biography 'Emilia Pardo Bazán', by Isabel Burdiel (Taurus, Penguin Random House Editorial Group, 2019), professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Valencia. The jury valued the originality of claiming one of the most important figures of Spanish literature who, despite being a canon, is almost unknown in many respects.

The committee of Dramatic Literature was composed by Rosa Sanmartín, Fátima Agut, Inma Garín, Marina Torrecilla, as well as by the professors of the Universitat de València Nel Diago, Enrique Herreras and José Vicente Peiró, who chaired it. This jury unanimously agreed to award the 2020 Valencian Literary Critics' Prize for Dramatic Literature to the work “Dinamarca” (Denmark) (Bromera, 2019), written as a duo by the former professor of Spanish Literature at the house, Josep Lluís Sirera, and his brother Rodolf Sirera. The work stands out for its dramatic complexity, for the quality in the construction of characters, its atmosphere and its structure; for the historical value of the plot and the ability to develop characters and situations. The jury wanted to highlight the value of another candidate work, Tirant, by the Universitat Paula Llorens, as an intelligent adaptation and update of a classic narrative.

The narrative jury, made up of Eduardo Almiñana, Ángel Basanta, José Luis Ferris, Gloria de Frutos, María García-Lliberós, Eric Gras and Carmen Velasco, agreed by majority to award the 2020 Valencian Literary Critics' Prize to 'Temporada de avispas' (Wasp Season) by Elisa Ferrer, published last year by Tusquets, for its aspirations for a generational novel, for its rich and beautiful prose and powerful intimacy: a psychological story that contrasts the author's youth and the maturity of the novel. Elisa Ferrer, who is currently studying for a Master's Degree in Secondary Education at our university, wrote this work in the United States thanks to the Master's Degree in Creative Writing in Spanish (The University of Iowa).

The Poetry Jury was formed by Juan Luis Bedins, Ricardo Bellveser, Helena Establier, Antonio M. Herrera, Juan Ramón Torregrosa and Rosa María Vilarroig, as well as the full University professor Jaime Siles, who won the prize in the previous edition. This jury decided, by majority vote, to award the 2020 Valencia Literary Critics' Prize in this category to Fernando Delgado for 'La mar desnuda' (The Naked Sea) (Pre-Textos, 2019), a book that represents the maturity of a writer who is both very complete and diverse, and who in this case shows us all his skill and mastery through some elaborate and powerful verses, with a great rhythm and musical sound.

Some of the professors of the Universitat de València who have previously won the Valencian Literary Criticism Award are Pedro J. de la Peña, Jenaro Talens, Arcadio López-Casanova, Elia Saneleuterio Temporal, Xelo Candel, Antonio Ariño, Jaime Siles and Adela Cortina.