Francesc Torralba, Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of La Salle-URL, is the winner of the 58th edition of the Josep Pla Prize for his work Anatomia de l'esperança [Anatomy of Hope]. The award, granted by the publishing house Destino since 1968, is one of the most prestigious literary distinctions in the Catalan language. The book by the philosopher, theologian and essayist, one of the most prominent voices in contemporary thought, will be published by the same publisher on 4 February.
Anatomia de l'esperança reflects on the need to preserve the human spirit when everything seems lost, and on how to confront a form of despair that the author does not deny, but rather acknowledges. Drawing on awareness and a wide range of references to other thinkers and writers, Torralba sheds light on hope as a vital stance and a guiding compass for moving forward. The jury that awarded Torralba the Josep Pla Prize for Anatomia de l'esperança is composed of Montse Barderi, David Bueno, Jaume Clotet, Manuel Forcano and Glòria Gasch.
Francesc Torralba is a Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of La Salle-URL, Full Professor at the Universitat Ramon Llull, Director of the ETHOS Chair of Applied Ethics at the URL, and author of more than one hundred books and 2,000 articles. He holds doctorates in Philosophy, Theology, Pedagogy, and History, Archaeology and Christian Arts, and is also Doctor honoris causa of the Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (Mexico). He is also President of several ethics committees, a member of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Vatican, and, among many other distinctions, recipient of the 2023 Ratzinger Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in theology. At La Salle-URL, Torralba teaches in undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programmes at the Faculty of Philosophy.