Javier Padilla Moreno-Torres (Málaga, 1992) was awarded the Comillas Prize for History, Biography, and Memoirs, for his work, A finales de enero [At the End of January]

At the End of January tells the love story that united three prominent anti-dictatorship activists: student Enrique Ruano, who died in 1969 during a police interrogation, and labor lawyers Dolores González and Francisco Javier Sauquillo. Sauquillo was killed in the Atocha massacre of 1977, while González was left severely wounded.   Javier Padilla Moreno-Torres (Málaga, 1992) was awarded the Comillas Prize for History, Biography, and Memoirs, for his work, A finales de enero [At the End of January], which will be published by Tusquets next March. In their statement, the jury (chaired by José Álvarez Junco, and on which also preside Miguel Ángel Aguilar, Francesc de Carreras, José María Ridao, and Josep Maria Ventosa) praised the meticulous retelling of the anti-Franco student movement of the 1960s and its surrounding events, via the exciting and painful love story that interweaves the lives of Ruano, González, and Sauquillo.

  The Comillas Award was created by Antonio López Lamadrid in 1987. The winner of the very first award was editor and writer Carlos Barral, with his book Cuando las horas veloces [When the Hours are Fast]. At the time of its creation, the Comillas Award was a pioneer in the field of non-fiction. Lamadrid intended to encourage authors to write about topics and characters of great historical, political, and cultural interest.

Read more about this year’s prize here: ABC - CULTURA