Julian Barnes Receives Princesa de Asturias Award as Leonor Presides Solo for the First Time
At Oviedo's Teatro Campoamor, the British novelist joined Patti Smith, Leo Messi and Studio Ghibli's Kenichi Yoda among this year's laureates, in a ceremony marking Princess Leonor's first turn presiding alone over the pre-award audiences.
The British novelist Julian Barnes was among the recipients of this year's Premios Princesa de Asturias, honored at a ceremony in Oviedo's Teatro Campoamor, according to El País. The paper reported that Princess Leonor presided over the traditional audiences with the laureates entirely on her own for the first time, handing each winner the insignia that formally confers the award.
Barnes shared this year's roster of honorees with figures from well outside literature: the musician Patti Smith, the footballer Leo Messi, and Kenichi Yoda, president of Studio Ghibli, among others, El País said. The paper described the gathering as spanning music, sport, animation and letters, with Leonor's expanded role in the audiences framed as a new milestone in her public duties.
A separate El País report on the ceremony itself characterized this year's edition as one built around themes of human unity, democracy and, in a nod to Messi's award, European football's style of play — a mix the paper summed up in Spanish as a celebration of the 'tiquitaca europeo.' The available reporting does not specify which category Barnes was honored in, nor does it detail his acceptance remarks.
For French-language readers who keep track of Barnes's work, the Princesa de Asturias recognition adds to a career already marked internationally, including his Man Booker Prize win for 'The Sense of an Ending' ('Une fille, qui danse' in its French edition). The source material gives no further detail on new or forthcoming work tied to this year's award.
Sources
This article was written from these reports.