EDEBÉ Children's Literature Award 2017:
THE IMMORTALby Ricard Ruiz Garzón
Judit is almost twelve years old and is passionate about drawing. She lives happily in the Swiss city of Geneva with her grandfather and her mother, although she would like to be able to see her father from time to time. One day, drawing in the park, she discovers that chess can be much more than she believed until then.
People as different as a child and his bearded father, a teenager full of piercings or an Iranian man wearing a white turban, meet there daily to play games. And Judit will find in them not only a hobby, but also a great source of inspiration.
The girl learns that chess games are actually very similar to life. Because every play matters and every piece, even the smallest, counts. And Judit is not one of those who give up.
La Inmortal is a story of tolerance, will and motivation that also hides a secret: who is the mysterious character who is telling us the story?
Set in this raw and materialistic present, in which illegal immigration and the fight against terrorism are mixed in unjust entanglements and misunderstandings, stories like that of Judit and Mr. Aliyat show that understanding is possible if all the players respect the game. .
Publication: March 2017
Fragment:
–Judit Polgár – the grandfather read – is a Hungarian chess player, perhaps the best chess player in history. She holds the title of International Grandmaster. She is an Olympic champion and the only woman who has managed to be among the top ten in the world. Her playing style is combative and imaginative, and she never gives up a game. Thanks to that, she has managed to turn around many complicated situations.
Judit moved the cursor with the mouse and looked for more photos. In many, Polgár came out smiling, behind the board, with his trophies. There was a whole series in which she appeared alongside the Russian champion Kasparov, whom she was the first woman to win, and others in which she dated her sisters Susan and Sofia, also famous players.
–So, there is a world chess champion who is a woman?
The grandfather pointed his little finger at his granddaughter, imitating Mr. Aliyat in the park.
–And her name is Judit, like you!
Ricard Ruiz Garzón
(Barcelona, 1973) is a writer, columnist and professor at the Ateneu Barcelonès Writing School and the Master of Publishing at the Pompeu Fabra University.
Winner of awards such as the Miradas 2006 for The Voices of the Labyrinth (Plaza & Janés / Debolsillo) and the Ramon Muntaner 2016 for Herba negra (Fanbooks, with Salvador Macip), he is the author of half a dozen books, including those in the Young series adult Guardianes de Sueños (La Galera, with Álex Hinojo) and children's albums The best gift in the world (Pirouette) and What a head! (Nandibu).
He has also served as an anthologist in works such as Tomorrow Still (Fantascy) or the imminent The Risk (:Rata_), and has participated in half a dozen volumes of stories.
From 1996 to 2016 he worked as a journalist and literary critic with his own sections in El País (Babelia), El Periódico (Books, iCult), SER (A vivir que son dos días), TV3 (Els Matins, Via Llibre), Time Out , What to Read, BTV, RAC-1, COM, Catalunya Ràdio and RNE.
@ricruizgarzon