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Digest of authors in the Galician Literary Agency

Rúa Méndez Núñez, 24, 2º36940 Cangas do Morrazo

SPAIN

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A NOSA CINZA (‘Our Ashes’)

This is one of the most widely read titles in Galician literature, perfectly de-picting the entire post-war generation. It belongs to the genre of the bildungs-roman (novel dealing with education and development), narrating theupbringing of a Galician boy, portraying his childhood memories until the so-cial movements of 1968. Friendship, sex, religion and learning experiences in general are depicted herefrom an existentialist viewpoint.This modern classic in current Galician narrative is now into its 16th edition andis a must in Galician schools.

CÁRCERE VERDE (‘Green Jail’)This splendid adventure book, so indebted to the endless well of Joseph Con-rad, was republished in 1990, 1991 and 2004 by the Galaxia publishing house,and later, in Spanish, by Ediciones SM, Madrid, between 1993 and 1994. It wasalso translated into English with the title Emerald Jungle.

This novel deals with the ambition of men who are blinded by shining dia-monds to such an extent that they hallucinate, leaving behind any awarenessof their human dignity, imprisoned in a real labyrinth of plants. This book alsosets out to tell a story that attracts the attention of the reader, and success-fully achieves just that.

ALÉN DA DESVENTURA (‘Beyond the misfortune’) A novel of intrigue and adventures, set in the Age of Enlightenment, deservingthe Blanco Amor Award in 1998. This is certainly a great work and one morestep in the process of recovering collective memory.

LA HABANA FLASHA chronicle of a journey to present day Cuba whose main characters are theGalician people living on the island. They are, more often than not, the realcharacters of this vigorous, seductive report on a country living in contradic-tory, complex times.

Xavier Alcalá

PUBLISHERSGalician: Galaxia, Sotelo Blanco, Ediciós do Castro, Xerais, Ir Indo, Laiovento, A Nosa TerraSpanish: Ézaro, Anaya, Nowtilus, SM

Born in a non-Galician town, Ciudad Real, he is Galician by adoption.One of the most representative figures in Galician literature. Being atelecommunications engineer with a PhD in computer science, he com-bines his professional work with his literary career, which started backin 1966. He has translated Treasure Island (Xerais, 1985) by R.L. Ste-venson and A study in scarlet studio (Xerais 1986) by Arthur ConanDoyle, into Galician.

He has worked as a columnist since 1971 and is the author of short sto-ries, novels and travel books, with more than fifty titles, including Anosa cinza, republished 16 times since 1980.

His narrative work reached its crowning glory around 2005, with thestart of a trilogy marked by a return to the constants of his narrative:claiming historical memory, concern for social outcasts and minorities,travel as well as emigration novels, drawn together in a single, exten-sive plot entitled “Evangélica memoria”: Entre fronteiras (2004), Nascatacumbas (2005) and Unha falsa luz (2007).

Further information about the writer: http://xavieralcala.org/

NA PRAIA DOS LAGARTOS (‘On Lizards Beach’)The Arume Award for children’s poetry was presented to her on 14th Decem-ber, 2003, at the head office of the Xosé Neira Vilas Foundation. Out of thetwenty-one works received, the jury selected the book of poems, Na praia doslagartos, by Helena Villar Janeiro. The jury highlighted “the tenderness thatemanates from its content, the choice of topics and how they are dealt with,very much in keeping with the world of children”. The book shows a warm ap-proach to the Galician character, in a kind of poetry that gives off spontaneityand a real lexical mastery, gracefully and musically composed.

The poet in this fantastic work does away with the border between reality andfiction in the search for a marvellous universe where each poem goes with anillustration closely linked to the content.

O SOUTO DO ANANO (‘The Dwarf’s Grove’)This book depicts a natural, highly amusing space, inhabited by birds, butter-flies, the clouds, the snow, the snail and the lizard.

It is also the place where our memory lies, connected with tales, fairies andthe mysteries the children are eager to unravel. The dwarf, the most magi-cal inhabitant of the woods, observant and attentive, is always willing to payattention to the wonderful things brought by the passing of the days andnights.This book, easy to read for children, was published in 2007 in Spanish by Al-faguara, has beautiful illustrations by Marta Álvarez.

A CAMPÁ DA LÚA (‘The Moon Bell’)A set of nineteen poems with a strong narrative component and a brief, mu-sical verse. By means of urban figures, it shows elements of the world of chil-dren, of author literature and oral tradition. In this manner, witches jumpthe traffic lights, the king wears a paper crown and trains wear ties and hatsof smoke. Stories of animals such as the trapeze squirrel, the vain duck, DonHonorato the cat or the green parrot are sometimes useful to play down chil-dren’s experiences such as thirst, fear or illness, as part of a learning process.

Princesses, dwarfs and fairies never fail to show up in this wonderful worldof “once upon a time”. These princesses, formerly enchanted snakes, accom-pany princesses in beautiful blue weddings.

So this book is one more example of the literary mastery of Helena Villar Ja-neiro.

Helena Villar Janeiro

PUBLISHERSGalician: Galaxia,Ir Indo, Xerais, Alfaguara, Sotelo Blanco, Espiral Maior, Edelvives Spanish: La Galera, BruñoBasque: ElkarCatalan: La Galera

Helena Villar studied School teaching in Lugo, and later graduated inArts and Humanities in Madrid. She is considered as one of the most im-portant Galician writers of the 80’s.From the mid-80’s to the turn of the 90’s, her work focused on childrenand teenagers, covering all genres.

Some of her more outstanding works from this period are Patapau(1984) and Viaxe á Illa Redonda (1987), with which she won the secondprize in Barco de Vapor Awards.

In 2004, she published single-handedly another book of child poetry, Napraia dos lagartos, earning her the Arume Award.

Throughout her literary career she has been awarded a good deal ofprizes in recognition of her work in the fields of poetry, narrative andjournalism. Of particular note are the White Ravens of the Internatio-nale Jugendbliothek of München by Ero e o Capitán Creonte (1990) andA canción do Rei (1994).Helena Villar Janeiro was founder of the PEN Clube de Galicia, and isnow the president of the Rosalía de Castro Foundation.

SOLIMÁNThe tale, told with an ironic yet tender glance, of the lives of the young pe-ople who grew up straddling the sixties and the eighties, addicted to their re-membrances in a present that is better although less exciting.This novel remembers the lives of two young thirty year old men, Álvaro andRomán, who were boys when the 23rd February aborted coup occurred inSpain. Their childhood is linked to that of Lucía, a girl with whom they sha-red so much around a cypress tree, in the council house patio in the village ofUntía, a literary space particular to the author.A moving novel about the memory of recent childhood, written with greatelegance and passion that deserved him the Rubia Barcia Award granted by theTown of Ferrol, in 2003.

A-ZA-Z is a book involving Londoners, written from theviewpoint of an emigrants’ son. A series of tales, withan underlying thematic unity, making up “crumbs ofmemories”, the vivified memory of the work of the Ga-lician emigrants who, thirty five years ago, took to theBritish capital. As far as Xesús Fraga is concerned,“London is a great village made up of much smallerones, not necessarily geographically coinciding withthe A-Z maps, where the Galicians are yet another ofthe many tribes living on the north and south sides ofthe Thames”.

A-Z is, therefore, vital as a guide, giving a description of the London of the Galician emigrants whohave settled in the city, as well as of the visitors’ city who find in it an ephemeral paradise.His translation into Spanish is entitled A-Z. Emigrants in London.

Xesús Fraga

PUBLISHERSGalician: Edicións XeraisSpanish: Tropismos

Xesús Fraga is a Londoner by birth and Galician by adoption. He studiedEnglish Studies and graduated in journalism. He has been working as ajournalist since 1996 and his work is originally written in Galician.

This year, 2008, he has been awarded the “4th Prize for journalist ar-ticles for language standardization, by the Carballo Town Council” inwhich he looks into the importance of standardizing language from theviewpoint of the latest generation of current musical groups singing inGalician as something completely normal, without having to take onthe responsibility of being patriotic or saving their language. He hasalso authored several translations, such as Lolita (Ed. Factoría K de li-bros) and Arthur & George (Rinoceronte Editora) by Julian Barnes. Inthe worlds of the well-known writer, Manuel Rivas, “Xesús Fraga is theGalician Chekhov who came to us from London”.

A COVA DAS VACAS MORTAS (‘The Dead Cows’ Cave’)Awarded the Caixa Galicia Foundation Prize for young people’s literature, in2006, this is a daring work that sets out to steer away from the more conven-tional themes and establish a significant story in the country. Starting from thepresent misfortune of its protagonist, the story takes us back to a recent pastand to another prior to that, spanning the lives of three generations in the fa-mily. It ends with a defence of the human being’s freedom to forge his or herown destiny.This work comprises a suggestive story that will arouse the reader’s curiosityfor being well constructed and for the intelligent dosing of real elements at theservice of fictional needs.Its success is evident: 4 months after it was first published it is currently intoits 2nd edition.

SALITRE (‘Saltpetre’)This work, widely accepted and distributed among theyounger public, is now heading for its 5th edition.This is one of the school reference texts, both for its sub-ject matter and for its rhythmic swiftnessThe translation into Spanish is published in the EspacioAbierto collection by the Anaya publishing house.Cabaret Voltaire is an audacious technical display, drawingtogether different literary genres, an unusual point of viewinvolving a certain degree of risk and a harmoniouslytuned, rhythmical structure.

CABARET VOLTAIREIt stands out for an elegant ability to create atmospheres, and slowly, almostwithout us realizing it, we submerge into the plot, where the seed of curio-sity grows, like in the good detective stories.It is not what is being looked for that is important, but rather the ups anddowns of the characters.A novel that is bound not to leave the reader indifferent, as occurred with thejury that awarded him the García Barros Prize in 2005.

Santiago Jaureguízar

PUBLISHERSGalician: Xerais, Sotelo Blanco, Galaxia, Tambre, Tris Tram, BaíaSpanish: Anaya

This versatile author, born in Bilbao, works as a journalist in the cultu-ral section of the daily newspaper El Progreso, in Lugo. His creative,innovative spirit led him to be one of the pioneers in the world of blogson Galician and European literature: www.cabaretvoltaire.com.He takes part in numerous conferences and congresses on Galician li-terature and Internet, including participation at the Portuguese OrfeoCultural Centre in Brussels (2004), at the University of Cáceres (2004),at the Casa de Galicia in Madrid (1999), at the Universidade Nova deLisboa (2005), at the Universidade do Minho (2005) or at the Frei Uni-versitat in Berlin (2005).

He is a member of the Technical Commission of Cultural Journalism atthe Regional Council of Galician Culture. Member of the jury and win-ner of numerous literary prizes, some related to the audiovisual sec-tor for having written and adapted scripts.

He combines his journalistic and literary work with his participation incongresses and giving conferences on Galician literature and literatureon internet.