Presentation of the programme of the Albert Camus Mediterranean Awards 2022
The full programme of activities that will accompany this year's Albert Camus Mediterranean Awards has been announced. The purpose of the awards is still to contribute to creating a space for collective reflection and critical resistance under the Camusian gaze, now more necessary than ever, according to the organisers, in order to be able to calmly confront the global upheavals that we are facing in these times.
In this sense, during the weekend of the 14th and 15th of May, various events are planned to take place in the municipalities of Sant Lluís and Maó that will combine conferences, talks, presentations and debates, the main theme of which will be one of the French writer's phrases from his book 'Letters to a German friend', which reads: "I have chosen justice to remain faithful to the earth", a declaration of intentions.
Undoubtedly, the main course will be the announcements by the juries of the winner of the III Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus, which recognises the personal career and work of a contemporary creator or thinker, witness and actor of his time, as was the French-Algerian writer of Menorcan origin, and the II Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus Incipiens, dedicated to highlighting journalistic works that reflect the spirit of Camus. Both awards will take place on Saturday morning in Sant Lluís.
Among the various speakers who will take part in these two days of Camusian activities will be the winner of the previous edition of the Incipiens Prize, the Algerian photographer Abdo Shanan, who will present 'A little louder', the book of images that arose from that prize. Another guest will be the director of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), Judit Carrera, who will chair the jury and who will hold a conversation with the Moroccan playwright Ahmed Gazzali under the title 'The artist in times of war at the service of those who suffer history'. On Sunday, a Camusian morning will be held at Es Claustre de Maó, which will serve as the presentation of the winners of the Awards and will reflect on artistic creation against the disorders of the world through a conversation led by the journalist Laura Fernández.
As a novelty, this edition of the Premis Mediterranis will be attended for the first time by the writer's own family, as his daughter Catherine Camus will attend the screening of the film 'Les vies d'Albert Camus' by Georges-Marc Benamou on Saturday afternoon. This will probably be an unprecedented visit by a member of the Camus family since, as is well known, the 1957 Nobel Prize winner for Literature never got to know the municipality of Sant Lluís, where his maternal grandmother, Catalina Cardona, was born, or Ciutadella, where his grandfather, Esteve Sintes, was from. The screening of the film will be preceded by a conference given by Anne Proteau, current president of the Societé des Etudes camusiennes, whose title also reflects the current moment: "To live is not to resign oneself".
As an aperitif prior to the two-day event, on 23rd April, Book Day, a public reading will be held in Maó of 'The First Man', the last novel by Albert Camus, which is a moving account of his childhood in Algeria and his Minorcan origins.
The Trobades & Premis Mediterranis Albert Camus are supported by the writer's family and the Camusian Studies Society, and were born from an idea of Miguel Ángel Moratinos - former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and defender of Mediterranean culture - who promotes their organisation together with the Sant Lluís Town Council and the sponsorship of the Fundació Foment del Turisme.
