Tita Berasategui: The question of flourishing

"Many people told me not to be a kamikaze, but my husband supported me blindly. I wanted to set up a small, quality, stimulating, very playful gathering that celebrated poetry in fusion with other disciplines, defending the small format and friendship among like-minded people. I wanted to create a kind of family." Tita Berasategui talks about how NUDO, "unleashed poetry festival," was born, while savoring a glass of red Rioja and allowing the radio to play in the background, without it hindering the conversation.

"I am satisfied ---she adds--- because I set up NUDO with my enthusiasm and my stubbornness. Here I have no family or professional network and, let's not kid ourselves, contacts help, they facilitate. I haven't had any of that." The event, which celebrates its fifth year, brings together "people who come, get emotional, enjoy, and repeat."

Tita is also at the helm of Trampa Ediciones, "a literary publishing house I set up with my friend Jon Botas," and writes poetry, in addition to being a visual artist ---with the alias Mara Carver--- and belonging to several artistic associations. "I could say that literature and art are the engine of what I do," she highlights. Although this Vitoria native living in Barcelona was not always the cultural activist and artist she is today. "I worked in medical editing and I wasn't happy. The frustration is enormous when you don't receive daily stimuli, and I wanted to do other things." And she did, of course.

--- Let's look back. Where did all that creative appetite come from?

--- I grew up surrounded by books. This always drew me to the world of culture, and especially, literature. What interests me most is to flourish and surround myself with good people.

For now, various projects are flourishing alongside her: "Trampa will be three years old and I think we are on the right track. We have just launched a very attractive collection, Interventions, with Letters to Women by Virginia Woolf as the first shot, and we will continue publishing poetry, narrative, and children's books. Little by little, it's a long-distance race. With NUDO, surprises are coming, my idea is to create satellite festivals throughout Spain, but I don't want to reveal anything yet."

Motherhood, courage, art

When asked about turning points, moments when everything changes and decisions that alter the course of life, Tita is clear: "It was motherhood. It may sound like a cliché, but it's when one rethinks what one does and what one wants. It's an extraordinary moment for change, as your life takes a 180-degree turn." Having Teo, her firstborn, led her to a long reflection that, with the birth of Frida, the second, crystallized into a decision: to leave her job and dedicate herself to what her body and soul asked for. "From that need to share my poetic and artistic creation, NUDO emerged. And, soon after, Jon proposed the idea of the publishing house."

This artist, who says she is writing a lot right now, had a lot inside her: "I have finished my second collection of poems and my first book in prose. In addition, I am developing a collection of children's stories and I also do collage weekly, which I love."

With collage, in addition to exhibitions, Berasategui carries out other activities such as the workshop Imatges, Lletres i Històries, which will be hosted on July 12 by the Trinitat Vella Library.

The city she never wanted to leave

"I studied in Madrid, I have lived in France and England and I have been in Barcelona for fifteen years. Love brought me here, to this city of Barcelona that I love, which has a light and vitality that captivate." Here, Tita has lived in many neighborhoods, alone, as a couple and with family. "And I like everything: cycling everywhere, feeling the proximity of the sea, but also of the mountains; the music of Standstill and Mishima to whom I owe the fact of wanting to learn Catalan; ravalear, multiculturalism, Catalan rumba, wandering aimlessly, diving in the Mediterranean…".

Her gaze lights up when she remembers two "memorable" concerts in Barcelona, which made her "never want to leave this city: Matthew Herbert's in Plaza del Rei, in 2000 or so, and Sonic Youth and Mogwai's, raining cats and dogs, at Primavera Sound in 2003. Epic."

But a frown of sadness appears on her face when another memory joins those, that of the Barcelona she arrived in in 2002: "People were much more open and tolerant, society more plural, and we are getting worse. Separatism is causing havoc at all levels, and in the city's cultural policy too, as it is becoming impoverished."

The glass of Rioja has come to an end and the patron, with her mind on that open city she says she longs for, asks for another.

--- Coming right up. Would you like something to go with the wine? There's a set menu, a portion, or a combo plate.

--- Go ahead! I love the daily menu! ---she replies, suddenly regaining her smile---.