The winning work is focused on analysing 151 unknowns letters, or that they have been reproduced marginally years ago. Llorente edited and sent them to a total of 24 authors (twenty Catalans and four Majorcans). Among the conclusions, Rafael Roca claims that Llorente felt a great admiration and esteem for the Catalan history, language and culture. And he thought that the Valencians and Balearics were an integral part of them. Not in vain, he defined his mother tongue as “the common language that is spoken from the Pyrinees to Elche”.

As Roca explains, among some of his bests Catalan and Balearic friends are included important writers as Joan Maragall, Àngel Guimerà. Jacint Verdaguer, Marià Aguiló, Víctor Balaguer, Narcís Oller, Francesc Pelai Briz, Jaume Collell, Francesc Matheu, Francesc Miquel i Badia, and others.

Finally, the desire to foster human and cultural relationships between Valencian Country and Catalonia were one of his vitals. As far back as 1909, he wrote a postcard to Àngel Guimerà in that he claimed that Catalonia were “his second mother” and he wanted: “Long live for Catalonia and Valencia together!”.

Nevertheless, in words of Rafael Roca, “it is also obvious that Llorente did not share all of his actions and demands that the Catalan writers of the time were carried out. In other words, he did not agree with all that in Catalonia was thought, said and made. But, doubtless, he considered that there were more much things that joined the inhabitants of one and other part of Sénia than things that separated them.

Rafael Roca (Alaquàs. l’Horta, 1971) is teacher of Department of Catalan Language of the Universitat de València and secretary of the Faculty of Language Studies, Translation and Communication at the same University. Furthermore, he is member of Inter-university Institute for Valencian Language Studies (IIFV), academic related in Valencia of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona (RABLB), and takes part of the Societat Verdaguer of Literary Studies (SV), of the Literary Study Group of Vuit-cents (GELIV) and the Higher Institute of Scientific Research (IVITRA). He is also a member of the editorial committee of the journal Saó, and also secretary of the editorial office of two philological publications of academia: Scripta. Magazine International of Medieval and Modern Literature and Culture and the Valencian Journal of Filology.

As a historian of Literature, his investigations have been focused on the analysis of the authors and cultural institutions of the 19th century. Among his books should be emphasized: Escrits polítics (1866-1908) de Teodor Llorente (IAM, 2001), Poesies valencianes de Constantí Llombart (AVL, 2006), Teodor Llorente, líder de la Renaixença valenciana (PUV, 2007) – Ferran Soldevila prize of Biographies and Historical Research (2006)–, La Renaixença i la Ruta del Cister (Cossetània, 2008), El valencianisme de la Renaixença (Bromera, 2011) – Mancomunidad de la Ribera Alta essay prize (2010)–, La Renaixença valenciana i el redescobriment del país. El Centre Excursionista de Lo Rat Penat (1880-1911) (Denes, 2011), the critical edition of Obra Valenciana Completa de Teodor Llorente (AVL, 2013), and the volume Poesies i proses valencianes (IAM, 2016), also of Llorente.