Letters

Barcelona Historical Novel: the artist as a fictional character

This edition of Barcelona Novel·la Històrica does not focus only on the city, but on the geniuses of art of all time, creators of eventful lives and with immortal works, turned into protagonists of fictions that draw from reality

november 04, 2018 - 19:28
The cycleBarcelona Historical Novelopens this Monday, November 5, and for five days, a space for reflection and dialogue about authors and works that have taken the figure of renowned artists around whom to build a fictional plot. In the words of the cycle's curator, Fèlix Riera, "the new edition of Barcelona Historical Novel proposes to bring us closer to authors who have decided to take as central characters in their novels artists who have marked our cultural and social reality through their work. Both Pablo Picasso and Josep Pla, Nicolas Poussin, Camille Claudel, Salvador Dalí, El Bosco, Frida Kahlo or Leonardo Da Vinci have been protagonists of novels that offer us a new way of approaching their personal and artistic circumstances." From today, November 5, until the 10th, debate tables are scheduled among creators around such influential figures of contemporary art as Frida Kahlo (image on this year's promotional poster), Picasso, Dürer, Josep Pla or the Gala-Dalí duo. The colloquiums of the inaugural session will take place in a space like the Fundació Tàpies, which allows "to explain authors and creators located within the scope of museum references," according to Riera.This edition of Barcelona Novel·la Històrica does not focus only on the city, but on the geniuses of art of all time, creators of eventful lives and with immortal works, turned into protagonists of fictions that draw from reality. Once again, the authors of these novels that play with history participate in the event, willing to reveal the secrets of literary creation. Thus, this Monday 5, the cycle kicks off at 6:30 p.m. talking about creation, in a panel with José María Ridao, writer and diplomat, and Victoria Cirlot, writer, philologist and translator; all moderated by Fèlix Riera, curator of Barcelona Novel·la Històrica. From there, the program includes:
  • Monday, November 05 · 7:30 p.m.
    Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, Antonin Artaud and visionary art
    Fundació Antoni Tàpies. Aragó, 255
    Participants: Jordi Soler, novelist, and María José González Madrid, Doctor in Art History
    Moderator: Valerie Miles, editor, writer and literary researcher
  • Tuesday, November 06 · 4:45 p.m.
    LITERARY ROUTE WITH MARTÍ GIRONELL
    Meeting point: In front of La Pedrera. Passeig de Gràcia, 92
  • Tuesday, November 06 · 5:30 p.m.
    Picasso. In strange hands
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Francesc Miralles, author of El secret de Picasso; Esteban Martín, author of El pintor de sombras, and Elías Gaston Membrado, president of the Picasso Center
    Moderator: Victoria Combalía, art critic and advisor
  • Tuesday, November 06 · 6:30 p.m.
    Josep Pla, the last page written
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Xavier Pla, philologist and author of Josep Pla. Ficció autobiogràfica i veritat literària, and Xavier Bru de Sala, writer and columnist
    Moderator: Gisela Chillida, art critic and independent curator
  • Tuesday, November 06 · 7:30 p.m.
    Dürer dreaming
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Speaker: José María Ridao, writer and diplomat
    Presenter: Rafael Jorba, journalist
  • Wednesday, November 07 · 5:30 p.m.
    Truman Capote on the Costa Brava
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Speaker: Màrius Carol, journalist and writer
    Presenter: Fèlix Riera, curator of Barcelona Novel·la Històrica
  • Wednesday, November 07 · 6:30 p.m.
    Gala-Dalí
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Carmen Domingo, author of Gala-Dalí, and Ricard Mas, art historian and critic, author of Dalí i Barcelona
    Moderator: Martí Gironell, writer and journalist
  • Wednesday, November 07 · 7:30 p.m.
    Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera seen by Carlos Fuentes
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Basilio Baltasar, writer, editor and journalist, and Dunia Gras, Doctor in Hispanic Philology
    Moderator: Aurelio Major, editor, translator and poet
  • Thursday, November 08 · 4:45 p.m.
    LITERARY ROUTE WITH MARTÍ GIRONELL
    Meeting point: In front of La Pedrera. Passeig de Gràcia, 92
  • Thursday, November 08 · 5:00 p.m.
    Gaudí
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Armand Puig, theologian and writer, author of La Sagrada Família segons Gaudí. Comprendre un símbol, and Esteban Martín and Andreu Carranza, writers and authors of La clau Gaudí
    Moderator: Blanca Busquets, writer and journalist
  • Thursday, November 08 · 6:00 p.m.
    AWARD CEREMONY FOR THE BARCINO INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE
    Barcelona City Council. Saló de Cent Plaça de Sant Jaume, 1
  • Thursday, November 08 · 7:30 p.m.
    Writing painting
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Melania G. Mazzucco, Italian writer; Eduard Márquez, writer, and Eva Díaz Pérez, journalist and writer
    Moderator: Care Santos, writer
  • Friday, November 09 · 5:30 p.m.
    MIRÓ
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Josep Massot, journalist and writer, author of Joan Miró. El nen que parlava amb els arbres, and David Cirici, author of El lladre del Guernica.
    Moderator: Llucià Homs, cultural consultant
  • Friday, November 09 · 6:30 p.m.
    Rembrandt's canvas
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Leonardo Padura, writer, in conversation with Carme Riera, writer
  • Friday, November 09 · From 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
    Cronos, festive event with readers and writers
    Biblioteca Jaume Fuster. Auditorium. Pl. de Lesseps, 20-22
    Participants: Màrius Serra, writer, and more than ten authors
  • Saturday, November 10 · at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
    LITERARY ROUTE WITH MARTÍ GIRONELL
    Meeting point: In front of La Pedrera. Passeig de Gràcia, 92

LEONARDO PADURA, BARCINO INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL NOVEL AWARD

One more year, the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council is the setting for the presentation of the Barcino International Historical Novel Award, an award that recognizes the literary value of the work of an author who has cultivated the historical novel. This year, Leonardo Padura, one of the most relevant contemporary authors in Latin America, is the winner. In this sixth edition, the jury is made up of Enric Calpena, writer; Sergi Doria, journalist; Óscar López, journalist; Care Santos, writer, and Fèlix Riera, in his capacity as commissioner of Barcelona Novel·la Històrica. Previously, Lindsey Davis, Santiago Posteguillo, Simon Scarrow, Christian Jacq and Arturo Pérez-Reverte had received this award.
Leonardo Padura (Havana, 1955), before receiving the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature in 2015 for his entire body of work, had achieved international recognition with the series of detective novels starring detective Mario Conde: Pasado perfecto, Vientos de cuaresma, Máscaras, Paisaje de otoño, Adiós, Hemingway, La neblina del ayer and La cola de la serpiente. He is also the author of La novela de mi vida, El hombre que amaba a los perros (Critics' Award in Cuba), Herejes (City of Zaragoza Historical Novel Award), the short story collection Aquello estaba desando ocurrir, and the novelization of the screenplay for Regreso a Ítaca.

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