Premandsa wins tender to publish Fiter i Rossell amid publishers' boycott

Premandsa has won the ministry’s tender to publish the Fiter i Rossell prize and will publish the winning book this year and again next year. The Fiter i Rossell, the oldest and best‑endowed fiction prize in the country (€10,000 from the government), has been at the centre of a dispute between the ministry and several Andorran publishers.

Earlier this year four local publishers — Medusa, Trotalibros, Anem and Editorial Andorra — publicly rejected the ministry’s proposal to let a local house edit future editions. They argued the prize and the wider awards ecosystem are obsolete, that the Fiter i Rossell lacks prestige and impact, and that simply changing the publisher would not revive it. Some other presses, including Masegosa and Marinada, expressed willingness to participate in a rescue operation.

The ministry opened a call to select the publisher for this year’s edition. The 2024 prize was awarded to Catalan writer Àlex Garrido for El diable irlandès; when he accepted the award on 20 November he did not yet know who would publish the book. Five publishers submitted proposals and the ministry selected Premandsa, a press with only limited recent experience in narrative publishing.

Under the terms of the contract, the winning publisher must provide an editorial service including linguistic and stylistic proofreading, produce at least 300 paper copies, issue a digital edition, and publish the winning book in April in time for Sant Jordi. The ministry will share promotion responsibilities, agree to cover part of the editing costs “by mutual agreement,” and will buy 120 copies — a clause inherited from earlier agreements with Pagès.

The agreement runs for two cycles, covering Garrido’s El diable irlandès and the winner of the 2026 Nit Literària, giving the ministry two years to reassess and reorient the prize. In a September meeting with authors, editors and booksellers, Culture Minister Mònica Bonell noted widespread sector pessimism about the prize and calls to rethink and, if necessary, prune the awards system and redirect funds to translation programmes, creation grants and promotion. Bonell said she does not favour starting from scratch and still hopes to restore the Fiter i Rossell’s prestige.

Premandsa, which in its 20 years of existence has not published a novel in recent times, will handle the next two editions under the new interim arrangement.