"The truth is that I used to be more of a night owl. Especially in my youth, when we would finish partying at a churrería or on the beach, watching the sun rise. Sometimes in a bar in the center whose street I don't remember where they served a delicious cap-i-pota. When it came to studying or writing, I also preferred to do it when the city sleeps, as I can concentrate better. But now it's harder for me to go out at night, the occasion has to excite me." The writer and social worker Núria Queraltó reflects at the bar on a nocturnal past while savoring "a very cold beer" at vermouth time and letting herself be captivated by the beats of Ray Charles's Never had enough of nothing yet.
"I am a woman who has reached maturity content and grateful for what I have lived, learned, and laughed. I have cried and laughed a lot, and I have also cried from laughter. My priority has always been to find meaning in the things I have been doing; for me, it is an indispensable requirement for happiness. That's why I studied Social Work. That's why I read and that's why I write: to try to explain the world to myself or to imagine other possible ones. Reading and writing open windows, like traveling," she explains, with her new novel, Matriu (Voliana), fresh out of the oven.
"This is a very special book for me, because I dedicate it to my mother and I have cooked it very slowly. Basically, it is a character novel about a family saga of three generations of women, but the background of the plot are those things that are often silenced in families and, by not talking about them, become taboos that can haunt subsequent generations, like a kind of ghost."
The writer was marked by the sudden death of a friend at 20: "It put me face to face with death for the first time"With several published titles, both her own work and collective, Núria values the relational aspect of writing, transcending the primary impulse to tell the world and addressing "the fact of meeting people who end up becoming friends: authors, editors... fantastic people." She is particularly satisfied with preserving friendships treasured in different times and situations. "The bonds that persist through the years make me feel proud." And it shows in his messes in which she is involved: "This 2024 will be the fifth consecutive year in which I will continue to be part of the jury of the Castell de Canyelles Literary Contest. And I have become involved in a collective book project of short stories that is in a very initial phase. I have always been especially excited to participate in collective books!".
Good reasons for being
The need to find meaning in things is not something innate in the parishioner, but rather dates back to a very specific and difficult moment in her life. "At 20, the sudden death of a friend deeply affected me. It put me face to face with death for the first time and revealed to me the urgency of finding meaning in living. I remember thinking that, since I'm here, I want to do something useful. Suddenly, I had gone from being a cap de trons to needing to have a purpose in life."
That change in life coordinates ended up taking her to the other side of the ocean. "I left my job and studies and went for two years to a marginalized neighborhood in Santo Domingo, where I worked in adult literacy, for those who have no voice or vote, using Freire's method of the word that generates other words. When I returned here, I decided to resume my studies and pursue Social Work, convinced that in this field I had found my place in the world. If that friend hadn't died, perhaps my path would have been different. Who knows."
Queraltó's new novel, Matriu (Voliana), addresses those things that are silenced in families and become taboosYears passed and the crisis arrived, and with it, the healthcare cuts of 2012. "At that time, I had been working for eight years in a mental health service that ended up closing. And that happened to me at a very bad age and with a wasteland of job offers ahead. There were people who told me I would never work again... you always find people willing to cheer you up!" she laughs. And then she reinvented herself again. To find a meaning to wake up in the mornings. A purpose that, deep down, is none other than to live without conforming to the inertia of an inane existence. "I took refuge in photography and in writing haikus, two of my hobbies, and I was lucky enough to have my first book published, Haiku Gaze, of haikus illustrated with my photographs." That happened in 2013. Later would come more books and the return to job stability –-which "cost me dearly"--- and, with it, a normality of days and hours with good reasons for being.
To have the sea nearby
"I was born in Barcelona and, except for the time spent in the Dominican Republic, I have always lived in Sants. I believe this is one of the most beautiful and complete cities in the world. We have La Rambla, the alleys and venues of Raval, the Gothic Quarter, Modernism, incredibly beautiful buildings, the panots, Barceloneta, El Born, the life of neighborhoods like Gràcia or mine, Sants, rich in associationalism and cooperativism," says the local, who briefly interrupts her panegyric to highlight "the presence, just a few steps away, of the mountain and the sea. For me, that is indispensable, to live in a place with the sea. To know that, if I need to, I can reach its shore by walking."
Annoyed by "real estate speculation, tourist overcrowding that expels residents from their homes, structural injustices that fill the streets with homeless people, deficient care of public spaces, plagues of bed bugs and cockroaches, dirt, neglected parks, luxury cruises, and scooters that speed down the sidewalk rubbing your nose," the writer nevertheless highlights the positive aspects. "I love the neighborhood festivals, the decorated streets, the batucadas, the groups of gegants, dimonis, castellers: all the richness of popular culture preserved through time." But, above all, what she loves about Barcelona is "the capacity for citizen mobilization at different moments in its history: the La Canadiense strike, the tram strike, the great demonstration against the Iraq war, the indignados movement, the popular self-organization of October 1st...", she enumerates, finishing her beer. Noon has arrived and the notes of Ray Charles's Sticks and stones enliven the atmosphere of the Bar.
—And you don't say anything about the gastronomy? Without going any further, here we have everything and exquisite, in case you want to eat something after the beer: menu, portions, combined dishes, tapas, sandwiches…
Núria Queraltó has the measure of the situation perfectly taken. "I don't finish a whole menu. A portion is boring. A combined dish would have to be balanced and have grace, which are virtues that do not characterize combined dishes...".
---Conclusion?
---Conclusion: Some good tapas!