The Barcelona writer Josan Hatero, with the novel “La guerra de Nico”, and Daniel Hernández Chambers, with “Reyes de la montaña”, are the winners of the XXXII edition of the Edebé Prize for Children and Young Adult Literature, respectively.
The two works have prevailed among the total of 313 originals (176 in the children's category and 137 in the young adult category) that aspired to the award, a benchmark in Spain and whose financial award is 30,000 euros for the young adult work and 25,000 for the children’s category.
“La guerra de Nico” denounces the absurdity of war from the point of view of an 11-year-old boy who, due to an administrative error, is called to the front. Even though he and his mother try to clarify it, the military ignores their explanations. This is how Nico becomes an involuntary witness to a devastating situation. A work that is much more than a pacifist plea: it raises, from the innocent and curious perspective of the boy, questions such as the value of human life, the price one pays when becoming an adult and the danger of following orders and preconceived ideas without questioning them.
