The world of Spanish literature is once again setting its sights on David Uclés. The writer from Jaén, who had already shaken the publishing scene with his successful chronicle of the Civil War, has won tonight the Nadal Novel Prize 2026.
His winning work, entitled ‘La ciudad de las luces muertas’, represents not only his definitive consolidation, but also his resounding leap to Planeta publishing house after his successful time at Siruela.
A prestigious jury for a unique voice
The novel, which will hit bookstores on February 4, unanimously convinced a high-level jury made up of names such as Víctor del Árbol, Care Santos and Inés Martín Rodrigo. The experts defined Uclés as an exceptional creator, highlighting his ability to remind us that hope and light always resurface through imagination.
The award, in addition to the historical prestige it carries (being the oldest literary prize in Spain), has a prize of 30,000 euros.
What is “La ciudad de las luces muertas” the work of Uclés about?
La ciudad de las luces muertas’ is a total immersion in magical realism: the plot takes us to a reinvented Barcelona, a city where time is blurred and fictional architectures coexist with real ones. In this universe, the city is plunged into absolute darkness, a phenomenon apparently triggered by a young Carmen Laforet.
The work functions as a majestic tribute to the figures that shaped the cultural identity of Barcelona. Among its pages parade characters of the stature of Mercè Rodoreda, Montserrat Roig and Ana María Matute, along with figures as diverse as Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Roberto Bolaño or Freddie Mercury himself.
Uclés intertwines reality and fantasy in surrealistic passages, such as a Salvador Dalí dedicated to varnishing the streets of Barcelona to recover its splendor or a curious meeting between the greats of the Latin American “boom”.
The triumph, obtained by triumph and perseverance
For David Uclés, this award has a taste of personal revenge and perseverance. As he confessed when he collected the statuette, he entered the contest uninterruptedly for a decade (2010-2020) without success, even throwing in the towel. However, last summer he decided to give his most dreamlike manuscript one last chance.
“Without the literature of Laforet, Rodoreda and Roig, this novel simply would not exist,” said the author, underlining his desire for readers to rediscover these references. At the age of 35, Uclés is now in his fourth narrative project after the overwhelming success of ‘La península de las casas vacías’, which has already accumulated 40 editions and almost half a million copies sold, confirming him as one of the most solid and surprising authors of his generation.
