'La caravana de los Errantes', by Raúl Gonzálvez, wins the 2022 Miquel Barceló UPC Science-Fiction Award
Honourable mentions
El darrer foc, by emeritus professor Joaquim Casal Fàbrega, from the UPC’s Department of Chemical Engineering, was awarded his second honourable mention to the best work by a member of the University. He received the first one in the 2010 edition.
The jury also recognised Purgatorio, by Josep Antoni Bonilla Hontoria; Aion: La línia del tiempo, by Daniel Pastrana Gallego; and Un ejercicio en solipsismo, by Álvaro Sánchez Elvira Carrillo.
In this last edition, the jury was composed of UPC professors and researchers, and members from outside the University, all of whom are related to science-fiction in several ways: Lluís Anglada, Josep Casanovas, Carme Gallego, Jordi José, Manuel Moreno and Joan Manel Ortiz.
Left to right: Josep Fernández, dean of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB); Àlvar Vinacua, vice-rector for Digital Strategy at the UPC; writer Raúl Gonzálvez del Águila, winner of the award; emeritus professor Joaquim Casal, winner of the honorary award to UPC members; Montserrat Guàrdia, president of the University’s Board of Trustees; and Jordi José, a UPC professor and president of the jury
Written by Raúl Gonzálvez del Águila, 'La caravana de los Errantes' won the 2022 Miquel Barceló UPC Science-Fiction Award, which is organised by the Board of Trustees. The award was presented at an event on 16 November. It was broadcast live on YouTube and featured a tribute to late professor Miquel Barceló, who taught at the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB) and first promoted the award. The event was attended by family members, teaching staff and administrative and service staff, who praised Barceló from several perspectives.
Jan 24, 2023
The jury of the 26th edition presented La caravana de los Errantes, by Raúl Gonzálvez del Águila, with the 2022 Miquel Barceló UPC Science-Fiction Award. There were 92 entries from Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, France, Italy, Peru and Venezuela. The award carries a 2,000-euro prize and the winner gets their work edited and published in digital and print by the UPC and Apache Libros, a publisher of science-fiction, horror and illustrated books.
A space opera that explores what makes us human
For hundreds of thousands of years, the civilisations that inhabit the galaxy have been ruthlessly exterminated by the dark Hive Minds. Forced to wander forever to avoid complete annihilation, the survivors find refuge only behind the Sewing, a strange singularity that hides the Caravan of the Wanderers (Caravana de los Errantes), a microcosm where thousands of galactic species live, hidden from the gaze of their enemies.
There, a thousand years after the entire human stellar civilisation was wiped out by the Hives, the descendants of the survivors, divided into seven branches, prosper. Archehumans, the most similar to the ancient humans who evolved on planet Earth, crowd into Donkey Belly, a motley city embedded in a planetoid that belongs to the powerful Xhorh.
Not the best of times for the chubby Onom Mweng and the crew of smugglers on the living ship Turtle. With the routes cut off by a violent religious crusade, they are on the edge, with no resources and almost no food for their ship. When one of the human servants of the Xhorh contacts them to propose a dangerous contract, they have no choice but to accept it, even if it means putting their lives on the line in an unpredictable journey to the Sewing.
La Caravana de los Errantes is a space opera that not only seeks the sense of wonder and action typical of the genre, but also explores what makes us human and how we overcome loss and death, an inescapable part of life.
Raúl Gonzálvez del Águila (Almeria, 1977) has always been linked to the world of science-fiction and fantasy, first as an aficionado, then as an editor and lately as a writer. His first short story was published in 1999, but it wasn’t until 2015 when he began writing on a constant basis. In 2019 he won the 31st Alberto Magno Science-Fiction Award with Venus elevado a V, a short science-fiction novel published by Editorial Cerbero.
In addition, Raúl Gonzálvez has self-published La balada de Kure-Kagira (2017), a sci-fi adventure novel, and La doncella de Hierro (2019), a uchrony set in 19th-century colonial Africa.
Several of his stories have been published in anthologies of the genre. Some of the most outstanding are Mi añorada Jerusalén, published in Visiones 2018 (Pórtico, AEFCFT); Nacimiento y muerte de la República Popular Socialista Soviética de Florida, published in Efeméride (Premium Editorial, 2020); and El viento: una historia de La Frontera, published in No son Molinos (Editorial Cerbero, 2017). The latter was selected as one of the best stories of the year and was republished in the anthology Fabricantes de sueños 2016-2017.
Remembering Miquel Barceló
The award ceremony took place in the lecture hall of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB) on 16 November and was broadcast live on YouTube. During the ceremony, a heartfelt tribute was paid to late professor Miquel Barceló, who taught at the FIB and in 1991 promoted the award, which bears his name as from this year’s edition. The award has become one of the most relevant contests of this kind in Spain. Proof of this, and of the growing interest in this literary genre, are the 2,300 works presented since its creation.
In addition to being a professor and a researcher, Miquel Barceló stood out as an editor, translator and writer, specialising in science-fiction. In fact, he was one of the leading figures of the genre in Spain. He was also a renowned science communicator in fields as varied as aeronautics, artificial intelligence, robotics and IT, among many others, working as a professor in several institutions.
In collaboration with other members of the University, Barceló promoted the UPC’s science-fiction collection in 1991. It currently consists of over 9,500 documents, including almost all the publications that appeared in Spain during the 1950s and 1960s. The collection, which has been very successful among the university community, has expanded over the years to include comics, films and TV series. All these materials are stored in the Rector Gabriel Ferraté Library, the Library of the Vilanova i la Geltrú School of Engineering (EPSEVG) and the Library of the Terrassa Campus. They can be consulted online through the Science-fiction in the UPC website.
