The xabiero, José Mata, opts for the 2022 Planeta Prize

With the work, 'El avionazo, una historia de Frida y Marilyn', the writer from Xàbia, José Manuel Mata Muñoz, is one of the 10 finalists of the prestigious Planeta Prize 2022. Mata's novel has been selected among the more than 800 presented, specifically, 846 originals, "a record of participation" , as indicated by Grupo Planeta.

According to the author, 'El avionazo, una historia de Frida y Marilyn' It takes place in a space-time line, "without entering science fiction, in which Frida Kahlo and Marilyn Monroe have a common link: The Plane, a painting by Frida that has disappeared for posterity." The author puts himself in the shoes of these two women who have become cultural fetishes "to give a new approach to their lives, beyond biography, entering the subjective and the sensual, thus humanizing these two great figures already inserted for always in the universal ideology".

José Mata, finalist in the Planeta Prize 2022

The Planeta Awards ceremony, where the name of the winner who will receive a million euros as a prize, will be announced, will be this coming Saturday, October 15, in Barcelona. During the 71st edition of these awards, which last year went to the novel The beast, by Carmen Mola (pseudonym), the 10 finalists will be present, including José Mata.

The final works

• El avionazo, una historia de Frida y Marilyn, by Jose Manuel Mata Muñoz
• feathers and sand, by Álex Oneida (pseudonym)
• The nila of the castle of almond trees in bloom, by Fernando Preto Rodríguez (pseudonym)
• Magdalena, the look of the heart, by Ho Hanan (pseudonym)
• my wife's lover, by Gabriela Hausmann (pseudonym)
• More than seven thousand kilometers, by Alma Browncross (pseudonym)
• the city of illusionsby Manuel Millan Sanchez
• UpstreamAsh Leaf (pseudonym)
• The weaknesses of the Führer. History of a Breed: German Shepherds, by Iñaki Carrera (pseudonym)
• the harpist, by David Galindo Martinez.