2026 were delivered this afternoon in an event that brought together authors, editors and representatives of the cultural field. This was the second edition of the awards, whose winners were announced in December 2025. The ceremony, as in the first edition, was held at the Royal Tapestry Factory of Madrid, whose gala was attended by the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, and Queen Letizia, who presided over the event. “You have to arrive at Zenda happy and curious,” said the queen at the inauguration. “It is a territory in which we feel that literature is with us,” he noted, “thanks to those who gave birth to Zenda, a free and plural territory 10 years ago.”
Among that group is , creator and promoter of the literary portal Zenda. The writer recalled that Zenda was born “cross-sectional to left and right: with the conviction that it is so recommendable Counterattackby Ramón J. Sender, as Madrid, from court to Czechby Foxá.” Pérez-Reverte, together with the Queen, presented the Honor Award to Enrique Vila-Matas, in recognition of a body of work that has marked literature in the Spanish language in recent decades.
When accepting the award, he declared: “A writer is a guy who takes off his gloves, rubs his hands, hangs up his coat and dares everything.” “It is not about fighting digital idiots thoroughly, but rather listening to them to build a better world; a world where idiots do not enter,” he noted during his speech. The winner remembered when they asked him to change the color of a fireplace in one of his stories and he refused. And he paid tribute to the “old spirit of literature; nothing that has much importance, but that is precisely why it is so interesting.”
They planned the gala, which in a forum published in The World On Monday, he accused the RAE (of which he has been a part since 2003) of no longer honoring its motto: “Neither fixes, nor cleans, nor gives splendor,” in what many have seen as an attack on its director, Antonio Muñoz Machado. “Anything goes, and any bold cathet can prevail, if he perseveres, over Cervantes, Galdós or García Márquez,” the author lamented in his article.
José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of Madrid, presented the Zenda Narrative Prize to after recommending The three musketeers. “I didn’t like to read and my grandfather didn’t like to talk. For example, he didn’t talk about the Paterna wall where his father was shot,” said Cerdá, author of Gifts (Alfaguara), a work that recreates the pompous funeral procession of José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1939 and which also won the National Narrative Prize. “It is worth talking, reading and writing,” he concluded.
Felix Bolaños (who recommended The Hare with Amber Eyes) presented the Poetry Prize to Complete Poetry 1988-2022 (Tusquets), an edition that brings together more than three decades of poetic writing. In her speech, Maillard referred to the fact that “the poetic voice is the most common, because it arises from the depths of humanity. The poet’s prize is knowing that this voice can guide us to the depths where there are no differences. Hopefully from there we can open channels for listening,” declared the poet.
“This is an award for biography, a genre that has not had as much popularity as others,” said Anna Caballé, Zenda Essay Prize winner for Intimate Atlantisthe book that Julia Navarro recommended, who gave her the Prize, and which is a biography about Rosa Chacel. “But no two lives are the same, and they must be vindicated.”
In the First Feature category, the recognition went to Esther López Calderón for Someone, who dedicated his award “to those who deal with the internal fire that pushes them to write a book.” And the Translation award went to José María Micó (for his entire career), who received his award from Miguel Rellán, who recommended The summer of Cervantes.
Libros del asteroide (founded in 2005 in Barcelona), received the Zenda Editorial award. Luis Solano, its editor, received the award from Isabel Días Ayuso, who recommended Pantaleón and the visitors; and Lorenzo Silva, who recommended The Scythian Empire.
The Zenda Novel Award went to Alberto Olmos for Hotel Z, while the Essay distinguishes María José Solano for Oceans and libraries. In Non-Fiction, the award went to Álvaro Colomer for The call. On the other hand, the Zenda Journalism Prize recognized Ander Izagirre for journalist with bootshighlighting a career focused on reporting and chronicling.
In addition to the 10 Zenda Awards, the Zenda Edhasa Special Award was presented. Luis Alberto de Cuenca and María José Solano (co-editor of Zenda Edhasa) presented the award to the soldier and historian Manuel Ángel Cuenca. Letras corsarias, from Salamanca, won the award for best bookstore. Santander 1936 was the book recommended by Ana Patricia Botín, and The devil’s dictionary by Javier Cercas. Together they presented the award to Ebiblio, the public digital lending service. Jordi Martí, Secretary of State for Culture, collected the Zenda Innovation award.
The award for children’s or youth book was given by Óscar Puente (who recommended The world of yesterday), along with José María Merino and Luis Mateo Díez and the award went to Najat el Hachmi for The secrets of Nur (Destination). What the award dedicated “to girls who learn to read in places where they are not allowed to, and who put down roots in places where no one wants them to.”
The musical performance of the intermission was given by , leader of the band Hombres G, and pianist Basilio Martí. The event, like the first installment, ended in a massive party. With this second edition, the Zenda Awards reinforce its commitment to literature that is diverse in genres and perspectives, consolidating itself as one of the cultural events at the beginning of the literary year in Spain. As Pérez-Reverte himself said: “Transversal from left to right.”
