Las Trobades & Premis Mediterranis Albert Camus will celebrate its tenth edition in May with a special anniversary programme
From 8 to 10 May, Menorca will once again host the Camusian conferences dedicated to critical thinking with debates and lectures, as well as the presentation of the Albert Camus and Incipiens Awards
Launched in May 2017 to promote Albert Camus's thinking as a global reference point for rebellion, justice and humanism, helping us to reclaim a Mediterranean space that can be a cultural benchmark on the global agenda, the meetings held in Menorca around the figure of the French Nobel Prize winner with Menorcan origins will celebrate their tenth edition this year.
They will do so with a special programme that goes beyond a commemoration and is once again conceived as a space for sharing, celebrating and continuing to build community around deeply Camusian values such as justice, solidarity and fraternity.
From 8 to 10 May, there will be debates and conferences with artists, thinkers and journalists, along with other events such as exhibitions, concerts and recreational activities that will become embedded in the cultural life of the island but will also be complemented by a parallel programme of activities in other Spanish and international locations such as Barcelona, Madrid, Palma and Athens, among others.
Fraternity, the motto for 2026
In a global context marked by fragmentation, conflict and identity withdrawal, this year's programme aims to focus explicitly on the concept of fraternity, understood not as an abstract idea, but as a living practice where bonds can be forged, collective work can be carried out and shared spaces can be built through culture, thought and creation.
That is why the fraternity proposed is open and relational, far removed from any exclusionary approach, incorporating the recognition of difference and responsibility towards others. Inspired by the humanist thinking of Albert Camus, this edition is committed to a poetics of connection and care, inviting us to celebrate the collective, to uphold diversity and to reaffirm our shared commitment in the face of injustice, finding in Menorca a space for encounter and common celebration.
It is precisely this spirit of community that we want to reinforce in this edition during the three days of programming planned on the island, conceived as a time of celebration where activities will follow on organically and dialogue with each other. A fraternity that is also expressed in the way the project itself works, consolidating existing collaborations and opening up new alliances that allow us to go further.
Camus and Incipiens Awards Ceremony
The event will also coincide with the presentation of the awards named after the French-Algerian journalist, writer and thinker from a Menorcan family, originally from the town of Sant Lluís, the 5th Albert Camus Mediterranean Award, which in its four previous editions has been won by the Lebanese visual artist of Palestinian origin Mona Hatoum (2018), French philosopher Edgar Morin (2020), French writer Mathias Énard (2022) and Chilean multidisciplinary artist Alfredo Jaar (2024).
It will also be the setting for the presentation of the 4th Premi Mediterrani Incipiens, which has already been awarded to Algerian photographer Abdo Shanan in 2020, Egyptian photographer Rehab Eldalil in 2022, and photographer Mohamed Maddy in 2024. The award was created with the aim of promoting and supporting projects in the field of journalism – graphic, photographic or written – by emerging authors born or resident in any of the countries bordering the Mediterranean.
In this sense, the tenth edition reinforces its collective vocation by adding new partnerships, such as the collaboration with the Jiser organisation in the Premi Mediterrani Incipiens, with the aim of expanding networks, accompanying emerging creative processes and giving greater visibility to young projects in the Mediterranean area.
Agora of Camusian thought
Each edition of the Trobades & Premi Mediteranis Albert Camus has become an agora of Camusian thought thanks to the participation of more than 150 world-class guests from the fields of literature, art, journalism, film and other disciplines. Over the last ten years, Menorca has welcomed personalities such as philosophers Nuccio Ordine, Achille Mbembe and Josep María Esquirol, writers Erri de Luca, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Laura Fernández and Leila Guerriero, filmmakers Abderrahmane Sisako, Elia Suleiman, Oliver Laxe and Paula Ortiz, cartoonist Patrick Chappatte, dancer María Pagés, choreographer Germaine Acogny, stage director Marta Pazos, journalists Lluís Foix, Jesús Maraña, Rosa María Calaf and Olga Rodríguez, playwright Dris Ksikes, singer Sílvia Pérez Cruz and even the daughter of the famous writer, Catherine Camus, among many others.
The Trobades & Premis Mediterranis Albert Camus awards are supported by the writer's family and the Société d'Études Camusiennes in France, and were born from an idea by Miguel Ángel Moratinos —former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and defender of Mediterranean culture— who promotes its organisation together with the Town Council of Sant Lluís in Menorca, the town where Camus' grandmother was born, the Balearic Government, the Island Council of Menorca, the Town Council of Maó and the sponsorship of the Fundació de Foment del Turisme de Menorca.
