Patrick Radden Keefe arrives in Barcelona looking for that conversation that inspires him

American investigative journalist and non-fiction author Patrick Radden Keefe spends his life traveling from one place to another, talking to whoever he meets, waiting for an idea for a new book to come to him. "I don't have a recipe, I wish I did, as if I were a Hollywood producer and only needed a girl and a gun," he said this Tuesday from the CCCB, where he will spend a few months for the first international residency promoted by the cultural institution.

He doesn't know how he stumbles upon stories, but he knows when. It's a slow process; he's not actively looking for new threads to pull, but rather they end up finding him. "I feel something in my gut, in my chest, and I think, there has to be something more," said Patrick Radden Keefe, a few minutes before facing an audience of 350 high school students to talk about journalism and the limits of truth.

One of those conversations happened last year when he was in London. He was told that a few years ago, a boy who was impersonating the son of a Russian oligarch had been murdered, and he immediately blurted out: "Really? Tell me more." This is the best indicator that he wants to dedicate months and months of his life to learning more about that story, which will be the subject of his new book.

The author of Say Nothing (Reservoir Books and Periscopi) and contributor to The New Yorker arrives in Barcelona with an open mind, aware of the history of this city and also of everything that has happened to it recently and what is happening now, without ruling out that something might be sparked by listening to the locals. However, he admitted that when he told the director of the CCCB, Judit Carrera, to let him know if she heard of any international residencies around here, he wasn't thinking about that. "It was more my epicurean instincts," he confessed, thinking about the beauty of the Catalan capital, its people, and food.

It was in September 2021, when he came to present Empire of Pain (Reservoir Books and Periscopi). At that time, the CCCB was not considering launching any international residency program, but it had not yet turned 30, as it has this year. Now, the cultural and exhibition center wants to take another step in its thought program, which brings together more than 350 personalities each year, with 30% international. "We want to generate a more unhurried, longer-term, and more sustainable relationship," Carrera emphasizes. The initiative has funding from the private Mir-Puig foundation and the support of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).

The project, which is now getting underway, is expected to last for the next three years, with the participation of up to nine international figures, both from the world of journalism, but also thinkers and creators from the Global South. Radden Keefe will be in Barcelona in June and July, offering different talks, such as this morning's with teenagers, but also open to the public. Then will come Brazilian journalist, writer, and documentarian Eliane Brum, Zimbabwean writer, film director, and activist Tsitsi Dangarembga, and indigenous writer, linguist, and researcher Yásnaya Aguilar.