"As a child, I would lock myself in my room to write stories, poems, even a diary with national and international news that I would then sell for ten pesetas," Raquel Gámez smiles at a freshly served tortilla skewer and a glass of red Somontano, before adding: "You see, mine goes way back."
Award-winning and acclaimed writer in Catalan with several short story and crime novel titles to her name (the prison drama A la seva pell, No diguis res or Els CIE o la il·legalitat institucional), hers is, now, living that dream she already nurtured as a child: "It happened last year, that's when I decided to abandon everything and dedicate myself exclusively to what I'm passionate about, to reading and writing." A very brave step.
--- What satisfaction, to be able to live from what one really likes.
--- Yes! What comforts me most is to keep learning and moving forward. That feeling, that of discovery, is not comparable to anything.
She assures that she is currently involved in the final touches "of a new novel that will be published next year, in addition to another one for which I am correcting a first draft." She takes a second of silence before drawing a knowing smirk on her face and announcing: "There is also another project that I am particularly excited about, but which I cannot yet reveal. You know ---she winks---, because of bad luck."
The long road to writing
Before being able to dedicate herself completely to writing and to literature-related jobs, such as teaching creative writing, Raquel has worked in different fields. "Due to my academic background, I have been linked to social projects, as a teacher or as a social educator," she explains.
--- And what about getting into the crime novel genre?
--- I have been studying the crime genre for nine years.
A little less than a decade in which it cannot be said that she has been still, as evidenced by the five titles she has published with publishers such as Crims.cat or Llibres del Delicte, and her participation in four short story anthologies. "I am also the author of Assassinat de Cambra, an activity of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) that they proposed to me on the occasion of the inauguration of the Renaissance and Baroque collection. It is still scheduled, in case anyone feels like going."
And, after this postscript, Raquel Gámez momentarily concentrates on her tapa and her drink, before scanning an elliptical space that transports her to a remote past, more than two decades ago, remembering her beginnings. "Back then I worked wherever I could to pay for my degree. Waitress, administrative assistant, flight attendant, instructor, real estate agent, crochet teacher, and even a gogó dancer."
"What times!" she exclaims, before finishing her red wine and ordering another, with her tapa, "because I don't usually like combo plates and I find menus to be excessive."
A Barcelona revisited with nostalgia
"I was born and lived for more than twenty years in this city with which I have a strange relationship. Nostalgia always makes me return. It's like a necessity: to get lost in its streets, to step on its panots de flor. But when I return home, then I know why I left. I know it's no longer the Barcelona where I grew up," argues the writer with a slight thread of sadness accompanying her voice, which becomes more aggressive when the Zona Franca foreigners' internment center crosses her mind. "They should close it! ---she declares with a slap on the bar's formica. That one and all the others!"
After a few sips, however, Raquel chooses to focus on what she loves and misses about the city, which is fundamentally located at a very specific point: the Plaça Reial. "It's one of my favorite places. I used to be a regular, both day and night. At first I went to listen to jazz and ended up dancing swing. Since I got into the habit of waking up at six-thirty to write, I only go occasionally. But... the interesting characters there are!"
--- Of course, almost everything interesting that has happened to this city in the last two hundred years has happened in that square. And yes, the variety and color of the characters who have passed and pass through there are amazing.
--- Of course ---she laughs, finishing her second drink. Imagine, I even ended up married to one of them!