Valentín Carrera has been crowned the first winner of the newly created Altaïr Prize for Travel Literature thanks to his non-fiction book The world from belowThe work, with its rich narrative and rigorous documentation, reconstructs the life story of the Galician Benedictine monk Rosendo Salvado, from the halls of Rome to the remote landscapes of Western Australia.
The new award, promoted by the Barcelona bookstore Altaïr together with the publishing house Folch&Folch, bursts onto the European literary scene with the aim of to place travel literature at the center of the cultural debateThe ruling, made public on Monday, January 12, 2026, recognizes a work that understands travel not only as physical displacement, but as an experience of knowledge, empathy, and critical reflection on the world.
Monday, January 12, 2026, 11:48
The jury has selected Carrera's work as the winner of the first edition of Altaïr Prize for Travel Literature for his ability to turn into a story a very particular historical odyssey: the journey of the Benedictine missionary Rosendo Salvado, who in 1846 founded the New Norcia mission in Western Australia, still active today.
En The world from below. Rosendo Salvado's Australian odysseyThe author constructs a text that combines exhaustive documentation with an accessible, almost living chronicle-like tone. Through this work, The journey is presented as a meeting of eyes between Europe and OceaniaBetween 19th-century ecclesiastical Rome and the Australian Aboriginal territories, Salvado carried out a unique work as a missionary, musician, anthropologist, and defender of indigenous peoples.
The ruling was announced as part of an initiative that the bookstore itself defines as an attempt to give more public space to travel books: the aim is for the genre to cease being a niche and become a mainstream phenomenon. a central literary territory, capable of engaging with the major contemporary social, political and cultural debates.
An award created to celebrate travel literature
El Altaïr Prize for Travel Literature It was launched by the historic Altaïr bookstore, based in Barcelona, and the Folch&Folch publishing house, which specializes in cultural and journalistic projects. Its stated objective is to gather quality manuscripts from all over the world that approach the journey as an act of critical observation, empathy and discovery, far from the mere tourist postcard.
According to its promoters, the award aims to revive a deeply rooted tradition in Europe, where travel literature has served for centuries as a tool for understanding other realities and, at the same time, for rethinking one's own identityIn this first edition, the commitment to a book that links Galicia, Rome and Western Australia reinforces the international dimension, but with a clear anchor in the European context.
The award ceremony is scheduled for April and aims to become a key event for authors, publishers, and readers interested in the genre. The competition's philosophy is clear: to value texts that go beyond the mere description of landscapes and that they dare to delve into issues such as colonialism, cultural diversity, globalization, or environmental conflicts.
The organizers emphasize that travel, understood as a literary act, necessarily involves putting oneself in another's shoes. Therefore, one of the award criteria is that the works present a sensitive and respectful look at the communities portrayed, something that Carrera's book more than fulfills when addressing Salvado's relationship with the Australian Aboriginal peoples.
The collaboration with Folch&Folch also strengthens the editorial dimension of the project, aimed at giving continuity to the award-winning titles and weaving a catalog that serves as map of new travel voices in Spanish and in the European sphere.
The jury's verdict: a model travel book
The jury for this first edition was made up of Pep Bernadas, Ernest Folch, Marc Cerrudo, Patricia Almarcegui, Cèlia Cernadas and Agus MoralesFigures with extensive experience in the world of books, journalism, and travel studies. Their verdict has been unequivocal: The world from below In his opinion, it is "the perfect example of what a travel book should be."
In their assessment, the judges highlighted the lexical and linguistic richness of the work, as well as the “depth of the research” and the author's ability to connect very different historical and geographical contexts. The narrative links what was happening in Australia at the height of colonization with what was happening in Europe, so that the reader perceives Salvado's journey as a connecting thread between two worlds.
Carrera's ability to "create a personal itinerary" based on the figure of Salvado has also been highlighted: the book not only follows the missionary's trail, but also incorporates the author's own reflections, musical, political and cultural references, as well as a constant interplay of voices which broadens the perspective. This combination, according to the jury, generates a significant emotional impact on the reader.
The work has been described as a text of “impressive lexical richness” that, in addition to providing data and context, manages to convey the physical and sensory sensation of the journey: the seascapes, the Australian climate, the sound of the eucalyptus trees, or the atmosphere in European monasteries are evoked with a polished yet approachable prose.
For the jury, one of the book's greatest strengths lies in its ability to "search for the most remote names" and recover stories, characters, and places practically forgotten by conventional historiography, fitting them into a a story that can be read both as a historical chronicle as well as travel literature.
Valentín Carrera: writer, journalist and traveler
The award winner, Valentín CarreraHe was born in Ponferrada (León) in 1958 and defines himself as a writer, journalist, and traveler. His academic and professional career is marked by constant curiosity: he holds a degree in Philosophy from the University of Santiago de Compostela, a doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Salamanca, and a diploma in European Communities from the Diplomatic School of Madrid.
Over the past few decades he has published more than thirty booksHis work includes essays, chronicles, and travelogues, and he has directed or produced more than two hundred documentaries and international co-productions. Much of his audiovisual work has been broadcast on Spanish and European television, with a particular presence on Televisión de Galicia (TVG).
Among his most recent projects, the television series stands out. Rosendo Salvado. Adventure and mission of a Galician in Australiawhich served as the seed of the now award-winning book. In it, Carrera already explored the itinerary of the Galician missionary and his relationship with the aboriginal peoples, combining historical reconstruction and a contemporary perspective. The transition from documentary format to book has allowed him to delve even deeper into sources, archives and testimonies.
In addition to his dedication to travel literature, Carrera specializes in topics of ecology and climate changeThese interests run throughout his work, where it is common to find reflections on the environmental impact of progress, the responsibility of travelers, and the need to rethink the relationship between human beings and territory.
Despite being born in El Bierzo, his connection to Galicia is very strong: he trained in Santiago and has worked for years on projects exploring Galician identity, emigration, and cultural exchanges between Europe and other continents. This hybrid perspective—between Castile and León, Galicia, and the world—is evident in his approach to travel as encounter between peripheries rather than as a narrative from a dominant center.
Rosendo Salvado: a universal Galician in Australia
The true protagonist of The world from below es Rosendo Salvado (Tui, Pontevedra, 1814 – Rome, 1900), a Benedictine monk whose biography alone could fill several volumes. A highly talented organist and pianist, a contemporary of Franz Liszt, he also distinguished himself as an anthropologist, homeopath, and humanist, in an era when such multidisciplinary profiles were uncommon.
Educated in Galicia and later in Rome, Salvado embarked in the mid-19th century on a journey that would take him across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. In 1846, he arrived in Western Australia and, a year later, participated in the founding of the New Norcia mission, a few kilometers from present-day Perth. This settlement would become his great life's work and still stands today, as material evidence of that encounter between Europe and the aboriginal world.
What distinguishes Salvado from other colonial missionaries of his time is his attitude toward the indigenous peoples, especially the Yued and the Noongar. Rather than imposing a cultural rupture, he defended the protection of their language, customs, and rights. He was openly opposed to slavery, a supporter of women's equality and a critic of the more aggressive policies of the colonial authorities.
In the book, Carrera rescues this figure as a humanist ahead of his time, who strove to build bridges instead of barriers. Salvado acted as a mediator between worlds, facilitating dialogue between the Aboriginal communities and the European political and ecclesiastical structures. His work allowed New Norcia to develop as a relatively unique mission, with a more integrative approach than many other 19th-century missionary experiences.
Salvado's life, which spans virtually the entire 19th century, anticipates current debates on globalization, human rights, and intercultural relations. According to Carrera, Narrating that trajectory also involves critically reviewing The colonial history, showing lights and shadows, achievements and failures, without falling into either naive idealization or simplistic judgment.
A journey between Europe and Oceania told from below
The title of the book, The world from below, encapsulates a key idea: to look at history and the journey from the perspective of those who have almost never had a voiceCarrera reconstructs Salvado's journey not only through official archives and ecclesiastical documentation, but also by paying attention to the traces of the aboriginal communities and the indirect testimonies that have been scattered in letters, chronicles and anthropological studies.
The narrative is structured as a great journey that connects Rome, epicenter of ecclesiastical powerwith the arid lands of Western Australia. Along this journey, the author interweaves historical, political, and cultural references that help to understand how Oceania was viewed from 19th-century Europe and, at the same time, how Europe was perceived from the confines of the colonial empire.
The jury emphasized that one of the book's greatest merits is its ability to "give voice to these voices" and connect "what was happening in Australia with what was happening in Europe." The reader thus witnesses a constant dialogue between two continents: European industrial and political transformations, tensions between Church and State, the intellectual currents of the time and, in parallel, the reality of the aboriginal peoples subjected to colonial pressure.
Carrera frequently resorts to sensory images To bring that journey closer to the contemporary reader, he describes the crossing of seas and oceans, the winds that lash the Australian coasts, the sounds of nature, and the music that accompanied Salvado, a trained organist. All of this shapes a prose that, without abandoning rigor, seeks to allow the reader to "walk" those landscapes in their imagination.
In this sense, the book functions as a kind of double bridge: on the one hand, Connect Spain and Europe with the history of Western AustraliaOn the other hand, it links the 19th century with very current concerns, such as respect for cultural diversity, the memory of indigenous peoples and the need to critically review the colonial legacy.
Altaïr's commitment to a critical and empathetic journey
The choice of The world from below As a winning work, it fits perfectly with the philosophy of Altaïr Prize for Travel LiteratureFrom Barcelona, the bookstore and publishing house behind the award insist that travel should be understood as an "act of empathy and reflection" that invites us to look at the world from perspectives other than our own.
The call for entries for the prize is aimed at manuscripts that propose precisely that perspective: critical, sensitive and openIt is not simply a matter of recounting itineraries or describing exotic landscapes, but of questioning the effects of displacement, both on those who travel and on the societies that receive them. Within this framework, Carrera's work offers a particularly relevant reflection on the role of the Church, European empires, and missionaries in shaping territories like Western Australia.
Furthermore, the fact that the prize originates in the European context has an added meaning: it encourages authors from the continent to revisit their own stories of travel, colonization, and emigration, and to rethink the ways in which that experience has traditionally been told. The figure of a Galician in Australia It thus becomes a symbol of the European diaspora and of the complex web of relationships that were woven between the Old Continent and the rest of the world.
The award organizers also emphasize the importance of keeping travel literature alive in a context where information circulates instantly through screens and social media. In the face of this immediacy, they advocate for... books that require timeresearch and development, and which allow for deeper exploration less visible stories which, however, have helped to shape the world today.
With this first edition, Altaïr and Folch&Folch lay the foundations for a competition that aspires to consolidate itself and attract authors from different backgrounds, always with a common denominator: a way of writing about travel that puts the focus on the respect, listening, and complexity of the contexts that are visited.
The recognition of Valentín Carrera and his work The world from below This marks a first milestone for the Altaïr Travel Literature Prize and opens the door to a series of titles in which travel, more than just an adventure, becomes a tool for understanding the past and present. Through the figure of Rosendo Salvado and the reconstruction of his Australian odyssey, the book invites us to look at the connections between Spain, Europe, and Oceania in a new light, reminding us that great travel stories can also be told from the ground up, from the margins, and from the voices that have been relegated to the background for too long.
