Queen Letizia enjoyed her annual appointment with youth literature, at Madrid’s Real Casa de Correos, as she handed out the “El Barco de Vapor” and “Gran Angular” prizes. Her appearance came as she continues to recover from an accident at home which left her with a broken bone.
Her Majesty arrived at the venue in the evening of Tuesday, 7th May, and was welcomed by dignitaries, including the Minister of Education, and the President of the Community of Madrid.
She was then escorted inside the hall, where she listened to the opening remarks about the awards scheme, which was born in 1978 as a creation of the SM Foundation.
Focus on importance of books for children
The prizes were created “to promote the creation of childhood and YA literature that foments pleasure in reading, as well as pass on, through literary quality, human, social, cultural or religious values that can help build a dignified world”, according to the Foundation themselves.
For this 46th edition, the El Barco de Vapor prize went to Pedro Caldas for his book titled “The legend of the samurai and the blue butterfly”, an adventure novel that showcases the perfect mix of intelligence and humour. The book also features pictures by Javier Andrada, and has been published both in hard back and paperback formats.
The Gran Angular Prize went to David Lozano for his volume titled “Intruso” (“Intruder”), a YA novel set in a fictional world, that tackles difficult topics like bullying, teenage crimes and abuse, with an original focus and an agile narrative nonetheless. The book is already out for sale in paperback.
Both authors were rewarded with a 35,000 euro prize – the usual sum for the recipients of these two awards. This amount, incidentally, represent the highest sum of money awarded to childhood and young adult authors in the whole of the Spanish speaking world.
Praise from Queen Letizia
After the two authors received their awards and gave interviews in which they talked about their works, Queen Letizia offered a few words, saying: “If what we’re doing is to go back to the origins, as we heard multiple times here today; if what our hosts are proposing us is to turn off our screens for a moment and turn on our minds, I believe that all of us here today are left with the slow, encouraging and hopeful gesture that is to sit down, take a book and start reading”.
Later, Her Majesty held an informal conversation with the two awards recipients, together with the rest of the authorities present.
For the occasion, Queen Letizia sported a suit with a mix of Spanish and British flavour, coming from the new collection that Victoria Beckham designed for Mango. She paired with it a pair of tennis shoes – an unusual item for a queen we’re used to see in heels.
Accident leads to broken bone for Queen of Spain
Unfortunately, this change will be implemented for the next few weeks, as King Felipe’s wife recovers from a small domestic accident which left her with a broken bone.
The Spanish Royal Household confirmed that on Saturday, shortly before leaving for Zaragoza, where King Felipe renewed his pledge to the Spanish Flag at the Military academy attended by his eldest daughter, Queen Letizia bumped her right foot on a table. This resulted in a fracture of the proximal phalange of the central toe. To help with the healing, doctors have opted for therapeutic syndactyly, meaning that they have bandaged the fractured toe to a healthy one, in order to promote the stabilisation of the fractured bone.
The Queen of Spain is expected to maintain her agenda unaltered throughout the four to six weeks that this fracture is expected to heal, with the only difference being the shoes that she will opt to wear.
Her Majesty will undoubtedly feel more comfortable in flat shoes, as this right toe fracture comes on top of her diagnosis of Morton’s neuroma in her left foot – a condition often lined to wearing high heels or shoes with tight toe boxes, which leads to the formation of fibrous tissue on the intermetatarsal plantar nerve. The condition is benign, but can cause some pain and discomfort.
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