From Mataró, writer, screenwriter and playwright Pere Anglas has won the 2026 Nèstor Luján Historical Novel Prize for El sastre de Barcelona (The Tailor of Barcelona). The novel is set between 19th-century Cuba and Barcelona, and centres on identity, ambition and survival.
Columna Edicions organises the award, which it describes as the first and only historical novel prize in Catalan. The prize was established in 1997, two years after the death of journalist and writer Nèstor Luján. For more on the publisher, see Columna Edicions.
El sastre de Barcelona begins in Cuba in 1852. Luis Massó starts life on sugar cane plantations near Santiago. He is the son of a Black enslaved woman, freed as a child into a world still shaped by slavery. Under the guidance of a French tailor, he learns a trade that gives him dignity and a way to resist his place in society.
Antonio López, the future Marquis of Comillas, is building a commercial empire linking Cuba and Barcelona. That empire is tied to colonial business and the shadow of slavery. The lives of Luis and Antonio become connected through an unequal relationship that crosses oceans, social class and prejudice.
When Luis arrives in Barcelona, he finds a city of factories, workers' revolts, bourgeois salons and fortunes made from colonial ventures. His skill as a tailor opens doors, but his skin colour keeps him on the margins. The novel also follows his friendships, forbidden passions and hope for a better life, while Paris remains his ideal of freedom and dignity.
Anglas is also the author of L’ombra de l’amor (2019), set in Barcelona's Paral·lel district in the early 20th century, and Fins on arriba la memòria (2023), which was a finalist for the Ramon Llull Prize in 2021 and focuses on republican women during the Civil War. He has also written and premiered the plays Carles i Belisa (2014), L’home inacabat (2017) and La boira (2020).
As a theatre director, Anglas has staged several of his own texts. He has also worked as a screenwriter on series and programmes for TV3 and other Spanish national television channels. For more Catalonia-wide culture coverage, see our news page.