Premio Planeta Celebrates 75th Anniversary With Record Submissions

One million euros and a milestone anniversary anchor the 75th edition of the Premio Planeta, which arrives with a record-breaking 1,424 submitted manuscripts, La Voz de Galicia reported on Oct. 14, 2026. The literary prize will be awarded on Oct. 15, 2026, during a gala dinner at the Fira Barcelona de Montjuïc pavilion, presided over by King Felipe and Queen Letizia.

The event moves to a larger venue in Barcelona this year to accommodate the multitudinous gathering celebrating the milestone. Founded in 1952 by José Manuel Lara Hernández, the contest carries the largest monetary prize in the Hispanic literary world alongside the Premio Aena, which launched with an identical one-million-euro purse for published works, according to RTVE.es.

Manuscript Disqualification and Artificial Intelligence Checks

Ten finalist works were initially selected for this year’s competition, but the jury ultimately disqualified one manuscript after discovering it had already been published before the award decision, La Voz de Galicia reported. Group Planeta president José Creuheras confirmed that the disqualification was unrelated to artificial intelligence, noting that all submissions undergo verification filters.

Todas las del premio han pasado un filtro y en el contrato con el autor hacemos que manifieste que no ha utilizado la IA, Creuheras stated, according to El Confidencial, adding that verification tools are employed despite not being infallible.

The Nine Finalist Novels and Their Plots

Jury member and 2022 winner Luz Gabás announced the final selection of nine competing works, which lean heavily toward historical fiction and police thrillers, El País reported. The finalists span diverse narrative styles and themes:

• La sombra de Isabel by Pedro Regalado Rodríguez, a biographical historical fiction examining Isabel I of Castilla and the exercise of power (La Vanguardia).
• Letraherido by Pepe M. Carrascosa, a metaliterary criminal puzzle involving a former police officer turned criminologist investigating deaths linked to Bookcrossing (La Vanguardia).
• Alba Naranja by Tamsilt El Hayani, an emotional family saga about stolen babies in Barcelona and a lineage of women of Turkish origin settled in Morocco (La Vanguardia).
• Los caminantes by Martín Guerrero, an intimate historical fiction following a young man in 1959 who falls in love with a French translator tied to franquista surveillance reports (La Vanguardia and La Voz de Galicia).
• Kintsugi o tres almas rotas by Hugalma de la Sierra, a contemporary fiction about mental health and second chances inspired by the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery (La Voz de Galicia and La Vanguardia).
• La noche de los faroles by Mencía Salazar, a coral historical novel set during the American Independence war featuring a Spanish spy (La Voz de Galicia and La Vanguardia).
• Los que faltan by Luz Ventura, a historical fiction about a family enduring hardship in a hostile environment (La Voz de Galicia).
• El jardín de Lennon by Jorge Herrero, a generational coming-of-age novel following journalism students investigating a supposed secret son of a Beatles member (La Voz de Galicia and RTVE.es).
• La mujer desnuda sale a las once by Bernardo Galeana, a police thriller alternating between past and present concerning an indigenous Zapotec artist and guerrilla fighter (El País and RTVE.es).

The Spanish Book Miracle and Publishing Figures

Ahead of the ceremony, Grupo Planeta executives highlighted the robust health of the domestic publishing market. Jesús Badenes, general director of the publishing division, pointed to the ongoing growth in the sector since 2013, noting a 56 percent increase in bookstore sales, with two-thirds of that rise occurring in the past five years, according to La Voz de Galicia.

Creuheras defended the prestige of the award against recent critical commentary by pointing to lifetime sales figures. Across its 75-year history, the Planeta imprint has recorded more than 47 million books sold, averaging roughly 625,000 copies per edition, La Voz de Galicia reported. He added that the publisher expanded its linguistic reach this year to five operational areas—adding French to Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and English.

No soy quien para decir si tiene más o menos prestigio que antes. Tenemos grandes nombres de la literatura contemporánea entre ganadores y finalistas. Las cifras de difusión del premio es la que nos avala y el número de personas que se acercan al Planeta crece. Yo me siento muy orgulloso.

José Creuheras