Eurostars Hotels invites clients to enjoy reading ‘The barber of Antananarivo’.

January 23, 2008

The book, a series of adventures narrated in the first person by the physician, sportsman and diplomat, Josep A. Pujante, is distributed free in all the rooms of establishments of the chain belonging to the Hotusa Group

Eurostars Hotels has begun to distribute throughout the over 4,000 rooms belonging to their establishments, copies of the book ‘The Barber of Antananarivo’ by Josep Antoni Pujante. This piece of work has won the third edition of the Eurostars Hotels Travel Narrative Prize, the competition organized by the Hotusa Group - with the collaboration of the publishing house RBA Libros and BarcelonaUniversity - who will shortly be announcing the conditions for the fourth edition of the event.

‘The Barber of Antananarivo’ is the story of a personal challenge that the author set himself after crowning the seven highest mountains on the five continents and the two polar regions: that of climbing the peaks of the seven largest islands in the world. The winning narration of the third edition of the Eurostars Hotels Travel Narrative Prize is focused on three of his most exciting ascents, written in the first person and following the general pattern of adventure tales.

The book begins with a meeting, in

New Zealand, between the author and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb the Everest. Thus, Josep Antoni Pujante describes his intense experiences in Antananarivo, in Madagascar, where he makes the acquaintance of the barber who lends his name to the title of the book, which also includes the story describing expeditions to the equatorial island of New Guinea, where he makes his way towards the Carstensz Pyramid, amidst an impenetrable jungle and tribes of cannibals; and the northern island of Greenland, in the Arctic Circle, where Pujante makes the ascent via the unexplored and practically unmapped Gunnebjorns Fjeld.

In the light of the quality of the book and as already experienced with the last winner of the competition, ‘Crónicas de Ida y Vuelta’ (Chronicles of Return Journeys), which was published in an extended edition for distribution in bookshops under the title ‘Pasajes a América’ (Voyages to America), RBA Libros will conduct a promotional launching of a book that, apart from the three stories related in the edition distributed via Eurostars Hotels establishments, will include other expeditions carried out by J.A. Pujante in different parts of the world throughout his lifetime.

This literary competition, with a monetary value of 18,000 euros, is one of the hotel chain’s firm commitments with the world of art and culture and has become a reference in travel literature. The enterprise, now fully consolidated in its third edition, is complemented with the announcement of two photographic awards: the Grand Marina Photography Prize, which in 2007 reached its seventh edition and the Eurostars Hotels Photography Prize, as well as exhibitions by local artists on show each month in establishments belonging to the chain.

The panel of judges in this latest edition of the competition, in which 36 manuscripts were presented, comprised personalities such as writers Angela Vallvey (Los estados carenciales[States of Deficiency], Nadal Award, 2002; A la caza del último salvaje[Hunting the last Savage], published in twelve different languages and which will shortly be adapted as a movie) and Alfredo Conde (Los otros días [Other Days], Nadal Award, 1991 and Xa vaio Griffin no vento, National Narrative Award, 1986); Hotusa Hotels director, Ana Sanjurjo; Head of the Department of Spanish Language of Barcelona University, Adolfo Sotelo Vázquez and General Manager of RBA LibrosS.A., Joaquim Palau.

The first two editions of the competition were won by ‘Crónicas de Ida y Vuelta’ (Chronicles of Return Journeys), the first book by journalist, Héctor Oliva, who takes stock of the adventures experienced by three travellers from Catalonia to America, at different periods but sharing a sole objective, that of furthering progress and their love of adventure; and ‘Crónicas de Selva’, by the Colombian author, Eladio de Valdenebro, the story of twenty-five days of an expedition, apparently scientific, carried out by three young Colombians in search of unknown plants in the Choco jungle.

Written by Eurostars · Filed Under Narrative