Caitlin Moran

(Brighton, UK, 1975) She is a columnist and music, film and television critic; she is also the author of several books that mock the commonplaces of feminism and shun all political correctness without ceasing to be or to act as a feminist momentarily. Among them ‘How to be a Woman‘, a worldwide bestseller that was awarded the British Book Awards Book of the Year and the Irish Book Award. She is also the author of ‘How to Build a Girl‘ (made into a film in 2019 with a screenplay co-written by her), ‘How to be Famous‘ and, most recently, ‘More Than a Woman‘. All are published in Spain by Anagrama. In 2010 she won the British Press Award for best columnist of the year and in 2011 for best critic and
interviewer.

Foto © Chris Floyd

José María Merino

(A Coruña, 1941) He is a writer and has been a member of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) since 2009. He spent his childhood and adolescence in León and studied law at the Complutense University of Madrid. He began his literary career with poetry, but his work stands out for his narrative and, above all, his short stories, a genre for which he is one of the leading representatives in Spain. His stories, generally of fantasy content, are collected in the volume ‘Historias del otro lugar‘ (Alfaguara, 2010). As a novelist, he was awarded the Premio de la Crítica in 1985 with ‘La orilla oscura’ (Alfaguara). He has also received the National Youth Literature Prize, the NH Prize and the Salambó Prize. Among others, he has also published the novels ‘Las visiones de Lucrecia’ (1996, Miguel DelibesPrize); ‘El heredero’ (2003, Ramón Gómez de la Serna Prize); ‘El lugar sin culpa’ (2007, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester Prize); ‘El río del Edén’ (2012, National Narrative Prize); and most recently, ‘La novela posible‘ (2022). He was awarded the Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas in 2021. He is a literary critic and writes articles in the magazines Leer and Revista de Libros, and in the newspaper El País.

Foto © Jeosm

Rodrigo Cortés

(Pazos Hermos, Orense, 1973) He wanted to be a painter, writer and musician; today, he does it all simultaneously by devoting himself to cinema. He was the director for Robert de Niro and Sigourney Weaver in ‘Red Lights’, Ryan Reynolds in ‘Buried’ and Uma Thurman in ‘Blackwood’. As a writer, Editorial Delirio published his two collections of “antiaforismos, breverías y bombas de mano”, ‘A las 3 son las 2’ and ‘Dormir es de patos’, and the novel ‘Sí importa el modo en que un hombre se hunde’. In 2021, Literatura Random House published his second novel, ‘Los años extraordinarios‘, and is now publishing his fifth book, ‘Verbolario‘, a satirical dictionary that has its origins in a section of the same name that Rodrigo Cortés has published since 2015 in the newspaper ABC, in which pages he also writes regularly. He discusses film, literature and music in two of the most popular podcasts of the moment: ‘Todopododerosos’ and ‘Aquí hay dragones’, alongside ArturoGonzález-Campos, Javier Cansado and Juan Gómez-Jurado.

Foto © Irene Medina

Jonathan Coe

(Birmingham, 1961) He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and obtained a PhD in English Literature from the University of Warwick, where he worked as a lecturer. The author of several novels – often related to politics, often with biting criticism and satire – he has published the titles ‘What a carve up! ‘, ‘The Rotters Club’ (“the most vibrant of the novels about the greyest years” for Rodrigo Fresán), ‘The Closed Circle’, ‘The Rain Before It Falls’, ‘The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim’, ‘Number 11’, ‘Expo 58’ (“the novel Graham Greene would have written if he had read more of a powerfully nostalgic Evelyn Waugh” for Laura Fernández), ‘Middle England‘ and, more recently, ‘Mr Wilder and Me‘. All of them
have been published in Spain by Anagrama.

Raquel Sastre

(1981, Murcia) She took her first steps in comedy at Paramount Comedy. Since then, she has written comedy sketches for ‘La hora de José Mota’ and scripts for ‘El hormiguero’ and ‘La que se avecina’. She has also participated in the programmes ‘Hoy por hoy’ broadcast by Cadena Ser, ‘Yu: no te pierdas nada’ and the popular scientific programme ‘Órbita Laika’. She is the author of the book ‘Risas al punto de sal‘ (Ed. Planeta, 2021), reflecting her experience as the mother of a girl suffering from Phelan-McDermid syndrome and autism spectrum disorder and demonstrating how humour helps her to endure what is involved in caring for her. Humour that also forms part of her performances at the scientific congresses she participates in. For instance, Naukas a science, humour and scepticism project she regularly participates in.

Javier Jaén

Javier Jaén was born the same year Joan Miró died, TIME magazine chose the computer as the machine of the year, and the A-Team was broadcast for the first time. He shares his birthday with Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Julio Iglesias and the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. He studied Graphic Design and Fine Arts in Barcelona, New York and Budapest. His professional career has focused on graphic design, editorial illustration, audiovisual projects, advertising, cultural communication, teaching and creating his own work. He has worked for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, La Vanguardia, El País, Random House Mondadori, Planeta, Vueling Airlines, Unesco and Greenpeace. His work has been awarded several prizes: American Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Print Magazine-New Visual Artists (2013), Gràffica Award (2010), The Society of Publication Designers (Gold 2018), Feroz Awards (2022) and Society for News Design (2022). He has participated in exhibitions in New York, London, Mexico, El Salvador, Tallinn, Seoul, Rotterdam, Paris and Rome. In 2022, he will present his first retrospective exhibition as part of the Ja! festival.

Foto © Joel Brooks

Rosa Belmonte

Born in Murcia and a law graduate, Rosa Belmonte was a lawyer before becoming a newspaper writer. She combined defending rapists with the keyboard until she was drawn to seeing things and writing about them. With humour. Watching television and telling about it (more of a chronicle than a critique), watching politicians and reporting on them, observing life and narrating it. Always linked to the Vocento group, she writes columns without frills, “with no other aim than to make a joke into a miniature revolution, as Orwell would say”. She is a columnist on Carlos Alsina’s programme ‘Más de uno’, on Onda Cero, analysing the current affairs of celebrity magazines with Josemi Rodríguez Sieiro, and is a member of La Cultureta. She also participates in the programmes ‘La mañana de Federico’ and ‘En casa de Herrero’ on esRadio, as well as in her publishing house Libertad Digital, and José Luis Garci’s programme Classics (Trece TV). She is the author of the book ‘Sobre nosotras. Sobre nada‘ (La esfera de los libros, 2021), co-written with Emilia Landaluce.

Manuel Vilas

(Barbastro, Huesca, 1962) He is a poet and narrator. His poetry books feature ‘Resurrección’ (XV Premio Jaime Gil de Biedma), ‘Calor’ (VI Premio Fray Luis de León), ‘Gran Vilas’ (XXXIII Premio Ciudad de Melilla) and ‘El hundimiento’ (XVII Premio Internacional de Poesía Generación del 27). He is the author of the novels ‘Aire Nuestro’ mio Cálamo); ‘Los inmortales’ and ‘El luminoso regalo’, published by Alfaguara. He has also written the short story books ‘Zeta’ and ‘Setecientos millones de rinocerontes’, the chronicle ‘Lou Reed era español’ and the autobiography ‘América’. He conquered the public and critics with ‘Ordesa‘ (Alfaguara, 2018), his most personal book, translated into more than twenty languages. He was chosen book of the year by the cultural supplement Babelia. He was also awarded the Femina Prize in France for the best foreign novel. His novel ‘Alegría‘ was a runner-up for the Planeta Prize in 2019, and his latest book, ‘Los besos‘, has also been published by the same publishing house. He is a regular columnist in the press, especially in El País, and collaborates on Cadena Ser’s ‘A vivir’.

Foto © Nines Minguez

Javier Cansado

As one half of the cult comedy duo Faemino y Cansado, Javier Cansado (Madrid, 1955) is one of Spain’s greatest comedians. He participates in several television, podcast and radio programmes. Among these, his long-running participation in ‘Ilustres Ignorantes’, together with Javier Coronas and Pepe Colubi, and in ‘Todopoderosos‘ and ‘Aquí hay dragones‘, with Rodrigo Cortés, Arturo González-Campos and Juan Gómez-Jurado, are particularly noteworthy. He is also a regular contributor to ‘A vivir que son dos días’, Javier del Pino’s programme on Cadena SER. As an actor, he has participated in several Spanish films and series such as ‘Airbag’, ‘Torrente’ and ‘El fin de la comedia’.

Foto © B.P. ı El País

Carlos García Gual

(Palma de Mallorca, 1943) He has been a professor of Greek Philology at several universities, translated several classical Greek texts and is the author of books on ancient philosophy, Greek and comparative literature, and mythology. These include ‘Epicurus’, ‘La secta del perro’, ‘Los orígenes de la novela’, ‘Prometeo‘, ‘Sirenas. Seducciones y metamorfosis’, ‘La deriva de los héroes en la literatura griega’, ‘Audacias femeninas. Mujeres en el mundo antiguo’ and his famous ‘Diccionario de mitos’. He was an advisor for the Biblioteca Clásica Gredos and is a member of the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE). He has also been a literary critic and has published reviews in El País, Revista de Occidente and Claves de razón práctica.

Laura Fernández

(Terrassa, 1981) She is the author of six novels: ‘Bienvenidos a Welcome’ (Elipsis, 2008/Literatura Random House, 2019), ‘Wendolin Kramer’ (Seix Barral, 2011), ‘La Chica Zombie’ (Seix Barral, 2013), ‘El Show de Grossman’ (Aristas Martínez, 2013), ‘Connerland‘ (Literatura Random House, 2017) and ‘La señora Potter no es exactamente Santa Claus‘ (Literatura Random House, 2021), winner of the El Ojo Crítico de Narrativa 2021 prize. Her stories, it has been said, “have the punch of a Douglas Adams who had over-read Stella Gibbons or Evelyn Waugh, and the ambition to create a complex world like a Thomas Pynchon fan of Stephen King”. Laura Fernández is also a journalist and literary and music critic; in recent years, she has written mainly for El País. She has two children and a stack of Philip K. Dick books.

Gonzalo Torné

(Barcelona, 1976) He studied Philosophy and Aesthetics at the University of Barcelona. He is the author of the novels: ‘Hilos de sangre’ (Literatura Random House, 2010; Jaén Novel Prize), ‘Divorcio en el aire’ (Literatura Random House, 2013), ‘Años felices‘ (Anagrama, 2017) and ‘El corazón de la fiesta‘ (Anagrama, 2020). His works have been translated into several languages, and he has translated John Ashbery, Roger Scruton and William Wordsworth, among others. He is also a columnist and external editor for Anagrama, Salamandra and Paidós.

Ramón Barea

(Bilbao, 1949) He is an actor, author and theatre director. He began working in the seventies as a founder and actor in Cómicos de la Legua and Karraka, two independent theatre groups in the Basque Country. Barea also stands out as a playwright and theatre director. He has adapted and performed plays by great playwrights: Chéjov, Valle-Inclán, Fernando Fernán-Gómez or Juan Mayorga. In 2013, he was awarded the National Theatre Prize. He has participated in television series and has appeared in more than a hundred films directed by Julio Médem, Álex de la Iglesia, Imanol Uribe, Juanma Bajo Ulloa and Borja Cobeaga, among others. He has also been a producer and director and is one of the leading promoters of Pabellón 6, the space created in Zorrozaurre for creating and promoting the performing arts.

Foto © Irene Bau

Itziar Lazkano

(Portugalete, Vizcaya, 1957) is an actress and director. She is particularly outstanding for her theatrical work, touring the country with dozens of shows. She has also participated in countless television series, including ‘Vaya semanita’. She began her theatrical career in the late seventies as a member of the Basque independent theatre groups Cómicos de la Legua and Karraka, at the request of Ramón Barea, founder of both. In addition to acting, she promoted and introduced theatre in schools. Her first film venture was ‘El amor de ahora’ (1986), directed by Bilbao-born Ernesto del Río. Since 1995 she has been teaching speech and acting at the Centro de Estudios Musicales y Artes Escénicas and at the Escuela Oficial de Teatro de Basauri.

Eduardo Halfon

(Guatemala, 1971) He has published more than a dozen novels, including ‘El ángel literario’, ‘Clases de hebreo’, ‘Clases de dibujo’, ‘El boxeador polaco’ and ‘Mañana nunca lo hablamos’. The publishing house Libros del Asteroide has published his latest books in Spain and republished some of his earlier novels. His latest novels are ‘Monasterio‘, ‘Signor Hoffman’, ‘Duelo’, ‘Biblioteca bizarra’ and ‘Canción‘; and the most recent, ‘Un hijo cualquiera‘. His work has been translated into several languages. In 2011 he obtained a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2015 he was awarded the prestigious Roger Caillois Prize for Latin American Literature in France. His novel ‘Duelo’ was awarded the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France), the International Latino Book Award (USA) and the Edward Lewis Wallis Award (USA) and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award (USA). In 2018 he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Literatura de Guatemala, the most prestigious literary prize in his native Guatemala. He currently lives in Germany.

Txani Rodríguez

(Llodio, 1977) She is a journalist, scriptwriter and writer. She collaborates in a variety of media, especially with the newspaper El Correo, where she is a columnist and writes for Territorios, its cultural supplement, and the programme ‘Pompas de papel’ on Radio Euskadi. She has published the novels ‘Lo que será de nosotros’ (Erein, 2009), ‘Agosto’ (Lengua de Trapo, 2013) and ‘Si quieres, puedes quedarte aquí‘ (Editorial Tres Hermanas, 2016). Her most recent novel is ‘Los últimos románticos‘, published by Seix Barral in 2021, earning her the Euskadi Literature Prize and soon to be adapted into a film by David Pérez Sañudo. She has also written for children ‘Artzaina naiz eta zer ‘(Elkar, 2013) and is the author of the short story book ‘El corazón de los aviones’ (Elea, 2006), as well as five comic books for the Sauré publishing house, including ‘La carrera del sol’.

Foto © Miguel San Cristóbal

Katixa Agirre

(Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1981) She is a Basque writer, PhD in audiovisual communication and lecturer at the UPV/ EHU. She has published the short story collections ‘Sua falta zaigu’ (Elkar, 2007) and ‘Habitat’ (Elkar, 2009). After several children’s and young adult works, in 2015 she published her first novel, ‘Atertu arte Itxaron’ (Elkar, 2015), translated into Spanish as ‘Los turistas desganados’ (Pre-textos, 2017). In October 2018 she published ‘Amek ez dute‘ (Elkar), released the following year in Spanish by Editorial Tránsito as ‘Las madres no‘. This book will soon be adapted into a film by the filmmaker Mar Coll.

Maite Larburu

(Hernani, 1979) She is a professional violinist and singer-songwriter. She works for the Central European early classical music circuit. Between 2002 and 2018, she lived in Amsterdam, where she formed the duo Neighbor with Josh Cheatham. From there, she began writing songs and exploring other musical instruments. Neighbor released two albums: ‘Ura patrikan’ and ‘HAU’. In 2019, Maite Larburu released her first solo album, ‘Hezurren Azpian’. ‘KRAK‘ is her fourth album, released at the end of 2021.She has also worked in the Arratsean programme on Euskadi Irratia and in the daily newspaper Berria.

Jimina Sabadú

(Madrid, 1981) She is a scriptwriter, writer and director. She has worked in television (La 2, Paramount Chanel, Paramount Comedy), radio (M80, La SER, Punto Radio, M21…), press (El País, El Mundo, Letras Libres, Fotogramas, El Estado Mental…) and cinema (La Máquina de Bailar). She began as a columnist for the journal Mondo Brutto. She has lectured in Literature at the Camilo José Cela University and currently teaches Scriptwriting at Septima Ars. She was awarded the Lengua de Trapo prize in 2010 for ‘Celacanto’ and has published two more fiction books: ‘Los supervivientes‘ and ‘Las palmeras‘. ‘La conquista de Tinder‘ (Turner, 2021) is her latest book.

Foto © FANT

Alberto Olmos

(Segovia, 1975) He is a writer and journalist. His first novel, ‘A bordo del naufragio’ (Anagrama, 1998), was shortlisted for the Herralde Prize. He has subsequently published eight novels, including ‘Trenes hacia Tokio’, ‘Tatami’, ‘Ejército enemigo’, ‘Alabanza’ and ‘Irene y el aire’. He is also the author of the short story collection ‘Guardar las formas’ (Random House) and the essay ‘Vidas baratas: elogio de lo cutre‘ (HarperCollins). He has been awarded the Ojo Crítico RNE prize for narrative and was a runner-up for the Ribera de Duero short story prize. In 2020 he was awarded the 1st David Gistau Journalism Prize. ‘Cuando el Vips era la mejor librería de la ciudad‘ (Círculo de Tiza) is a collection of his best articles published in El Confidencial. He currently writes for The Objective.

Foto © Asis G. Ayerbe

Mercedes Cebrián

(Madrid, 1971) She is a storyteller, poet and journalist. Her most outstanding works include the poetry collections ‘Muchacha de Castilla’ and ‘Malgastar’, and the chronicle book on gastronomy ‘Burp. Apuntes gastronómicos’, the essay ‘Verano azul: unas vacaciones en el corazón de la Transición’, the short story books ‘El malestar al alcance de todos’ and ‘La nueva taxidermia’, and the novel ‘El genuino sabor‘. The latter three have been published by Literatura Random House, as well as her latest book, ‘Cocido y violonchelo‘. Her stories, poems and essays have been published in Revista de Occidente, Letras Libres and Gatopardo. She is currently a collaborator in different media, including El País, La Vanguardia and The Objective.

© Lisbeth Salas

Rodrigo Fresán

(Buenos Aires, 1963) He has lived in Barcelona since 1999. His first book, ‘Historia Argentina‘, chosen by critics as the narrative revelation of 1991, was published in Spain by Anagrama, first in 1993 and, in a revised and expanded version, in 2009. His books ‘Esperanto’, ‘La velocidad de las cosas’, ‘Mantra’ (New Talent Award Fnac 2002), ‘Jardines de Kensington’ (Lateral Narrative Prize 2004, shortlisted for the José Manuel Lara Foundation Prize), ‘El fondo del cielo’ and the three-volume collection ‘La Parte Contada’,
comprising ‘La parte inventada’ (Best Translated Book Award 2018, USA), ‘La parte soñada’ and ‘La parte recordada’. His latest novel is Melvill. In 2017, Fresán was awarded the Prix Roger Caillois in France for his entire oeuvre as an “atypical, transgressive and inescapable writer”. He also works as a translator and writes as a cultural journalist for the Argentinian newspaper Página 12, the magazine Letras Libres and the cultural supplement of the newspaper ABC.

Diego San José

(Irún, 1978) He is a film and television scriptwriter specialising in comedy. He began his career writing for the comedy programmes Vaya Semanita, El Intermedio and La noche de José Mota. In 2009 he ventured into cinema for the first time with Borja Cobeaga, with whom he wrote ‘Pagafantas’ and, later, ‘No Controles’ (2011), ‘Ocho apellidos vascos’ (2014), the box-office hit comedy in the history of Spanish cinema, and its sequel, ‘Ocho apellidos catalanes’ (2015); as well as ‘Fe de etarras’ (2017). Also in cinema, he has participated in the screenplays of ‘Tenemos que hablar’ (2016) and ‘Súperlopez’ (2018), a film he was nominated for a Goya for Best Adapted Screenplay. His latest outstanding work is the series ‘Vota Juan’ (2019), and its sequels: ‘Vamos Juan’ (2020) and ‘Venga Juan’ (2021), also directed by him. In 2022, he was a collaborator on the programme ‘Miradas’ by Angels Barceló aired on Cadena Ser.

Jorge Guerricaechevarría

(Avilés, 1964) He is a scriptwriter. Known for his work alongside Álex de la Iglesia – ‘Acción mutante’, ‘El día de la bestia’, ‘Muertos de risa’, ‘La comunidad’, ‘Perfectos desconocidos’, ‘800 balas’, ’30 Monedas’ -, and with Daniel Monzón (‘Yucatán’, ‘Celda 211’, ‘Las leyes de la frontera’). He also co-wrote ‘Carne trémula’ in conjunction with Pedro Almodóvar and ‘Quien a hierro mata’ with Juan Galiñanes. He has been nominated several times for the Goya Awards as a screenwriter, which he eventually won in the best adapted screenplay category for ‘Celda 211’, based on the novel of the same name by Francisco Pérez
Gandul.

Aloma Rodríguez

(Zaragoza, 1983) She graduated in Hispanic Philology. She has published ‘París tres’ (2007), ‘Jóvenes y guapos’ (2010, Narrative Prize of the University of Zaragoza), ‘Solo si te mueves’ (2013) and ‘Los idiotas prefieren la montaña‘ (2016); all of them published by Xordica. Her latest book is ‘Siempre quiero ser lo que no soy‘ (Milenio, 2021), gathering a series of disturbing, sad and humorous stories that “portray the unexpected and exciting strangeness of everyday life” and that can be read as a novel. Some of her stories have been included in different magazines and anthologies. She regularly writes for Heraldo de
Aragón and Letras Libres and is also a collaborator on Radio 3. She is a French translator and was Ahora’s editor and head of the culture section.

© Carola Melguizo

Imanol Ituiño

(Bilbao, 1989). After dropping out of Electronic Engineering, fleeing it without anyone being able to help him, he studied Audiovisual Communication at the UPV/ EHU. While there, he excelled in his handling techniques of the thirty-one and duplex and shot a few short films, which earned him a few prizes. He has always been a bit of a filmmaker. Nowadays, Imanol Ituiño de Miguel, still better known today as Imanol Ituiño de Miguel, does a lot of magic at different events and venues: dinners, weddings, theatres, halls, parties, cocktail parties, openings and funerals; although this last niche market has yet to be explored (well, a niche… nothing could be easier said). In 2013 he filmed ‘Ilusión: un documental de la magia‘, in Bilbao. In 2017 he leaped into theatre, writing and directing the play ‘Rámper: vida y muerte de un payaso’, and establishing the company Cancamisa Teatro. In 2020 he debuted his first theatrical magic show, ‘El mago en la botella y otras historias de magia’ (The magician in the bottle and other magic stories), demonstrating his fondness for long titles.

Jesús García Calero

(Segovia, 1965) He is a journalist and a graduate of the Complutense University. He has been working for the newspaper ABC for almost thirty years, most of which he has been responsible for the Culture and Entertainment sections. He is currently the director of ABC Cultural. A member of the Association of Investigative Journalists (API for its acronym in Spanish), he specialises in information on Heritage, especially in the underwater environment, a subject Calero is a leading authority on in Spain. He is also the author of the book ‘Don Juan contra Franco‘ (Plaza y Janés, 2018).

Foto © Jeosm

Pedro Barea

(Bilbao, 1942) He is a theatre critic and professor at the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the UPV/ EHU, teaching subjects related to radio as a means of narrative and sound expression and drama on radio and television. From a very young age, he has been involved in theatrical and cultural activities in Bilbao. He regularly writes criticism and theatre information for the newspaper El Correo and its cultural supplement, Territorios, and participates in radio and television programmes to discuss theatre. In addition to publishing his work in specialised magazines, he has written, among others, the following
books: ‘Radio, redacción y guiones’ (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 1992); ‘La estirpe de Sautier: la época dorada de la radionovela en España (1924-1964)’ (Madrid, El País-Aguilar, 1994) and ‘Teatro de los sonidos, sonidos del teatro: teatro-radio-teatro, ida y vuelta’, linking theatre and radio storytelling.

Juan Bas

(Bilbao, 1959) was a scriptwriter for comedy radio soap operas, comics (El Víbora, Cimoc…) and television series (Farmacia de guardia, Turno de oficio…). He has published, among other books, collections of short stories ‘Páginas ocultas de la historia’ (1999), written with Fernando Marías, and ‘La taberna de los 3 monos’ (2000). The novels ‘Alacranes en su tinta’ (2002), ‘La cuenta atrás’ (2004), ‘Voracidad’ (2006, Euskadi Literature Prize), ‘Ostras para Dimitri’ (2012) and ‘El refugio de los canallas’ (Alrevés, 2017; Dashiel Hammett Prize 2018). His work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Russian, Bulgarian, Norwegian and Basque. He is an op-ed columnist for El Correo. In 2010 he conceived and currently runs, with Carolina Ontivero, the Ja! festival. His latest novel, published this year by Alrevés, is ‘Una cuestión de alcohol’.

Ignatius Farray

Ignatius Farray is the most original comic at present. Known for his role as ‘Loco de las coles’ on La hora chanante, for his characteristic muted scream and for sucking the nipples of his audience, Ignatius Farray is an extreme stand-up comedian, with a sense of humour that rejects the limits and distances itself from all conventions. He collaborates on several radio and television projects such as La vida moderna (La Ser) and the program Late Motiv with Buenafuente. He is also the star of the acclaimed series El fin de la comedia, produced by Comedy Central in collaboration with Movistar+, which narrates his life in a humorous way.

Gloria Fuertes

Gloria Fuertes (1917-1998). Born in Madrid. She learned to invent before she learned to write. Over years and years of crying and laughing, her poems began to fall out of her body. In addition to eighty books, she published in newspapers and magazines and appeared a lot on TV. Today, she is a very tall tree. On the centenary of her birth, we dedicated an extensive retrospective exhibition to her memory in 2017.

Antonio Resines

Luis Marías

Khalid Albaih

Milena Busquets

Luis Olmo

Eduardo Mendicutti

Enric González

Jon Sistiaga

Santiago Lorenzo

Benet Casablancas

Enrique Portocarrero

El Gran Wyoming

Julian Barnes

Emmanuel Carrère

Jean Echenoz

Luis Goytisolo

Isabel Coixet

Joan Manuel Serrat

Lionel Shriver

Paco Roca

Diego San José

Andoni Egaña

Maialen Lujanbio

Ricardo Pérez

Juan Villoro

Robert Crumb

Santiago Segura

Fernando Trueba

José Luis Cuerda

Kiko Amat

Ignacio Echevarría

Julián Lacalle

Mariscal

Nazario

Luis Antonio de Villena

Diego Manrique

Fermin Muguruza

Gari

Roberto Moso

Manuel Rodríguez Rivero

Ismail Kadaré

Pepe Viyuela

Tibor Fischer

Bernardo Atxaga

Jon Juaristi

David Safier

Andrés Trapiello

Jorge M. Reverte

Lorenzo Silva

Cristina Fallarás

Boris Izaguirre

Valérie Tasso

Carlos Giménez

Andreu Martín

Arantza Furundarena

Francisco Ibáñez

Julio Rey

David Lodge

Joaquín Berges

Pedro Reyes

Frédéric Beigbeder

Mercedes Abad

Luis Magrinyà

Manuel Jabois

Carmen Posadas

Albert Boadella

Tatiana Pigariova

Juan Carlos Eguillor

Nuria Barrios

Luisa Etxenike

Martin Amis

Montero Glez.

Ramiro Pinilla

Jacques Carelman

Miguel Noguera

David de Jorge

Mikel López Iturriaga

Montero y Maidagan

José Antonio Pérez

Tom Sharpe

Jorge Herralde

Michel Houellebecq

Gallego & Rey

Luis Alberto de Cuenca

Felipe Benítez Reyes

Fernando Marías

Pablo Martínez Zarracina

Lola Beccaria

Rafael Reig

Fernando Iwasaki

Kirmen Uribe

Jesús Zulet

Xabier Lapitz

He began his professional career as a writer at SER’s Radio San Sebastián and later became news director at the station’s stations in the Basque Country. During that time, both on radio and at ETB, he worked with the journalist Iñaki Gabilondo and was a correspondent for the Colpisa and Servimedia agencies. In September 1998, he was appointed deputy editor of the newspaper DEIA. He has directed and hosted radio programmes such as Boulevard ‘Radio Euskadi’ or Egun Euskadi’ Onda Vasca. He currently directs and presents the daily programme En Jake on ETB-2. He is a journalist for Grupo Noticias and Orain.eus.

Juan Pablo Villalobos

(Mexico, 1973) has investigated subjects as diverse as the ergonomics of toilets, the side effects of drugs against erectile dysfunction and eccentricity in the Latin American literature of the first half of the 20th century. Anagrama has published all of his novels, which have been translated into more than a dozen languages: Fiesta en la madriguera, Si viviéramos en un lugar normal and Te vendo un perro. His last novel is No le digas a nadie que me crea, which earned him the 34th Herralde Novel Prize.

Javier Pérez Andújar

(Sant Adrià de Besòs, 1965), holds a degree in Hispanic Philology from the University of Barcelona, and is the author of Los príncipes valientes, Todo lo que se llevó el diablo, Paseos con mi madre, Catalanes todos and Diccionario enciclopédico de la vieja escuela. Thanks to his collaborations in the Catalan edition of El País he received the 2014 Premi Ciutat de Barcelona for media. He currently writes reports on the Catalonian Parliament for the same media outlet.

Luis Landero

(Alburquerque, Badajoz, 1948) was a professor of literature at the Madrid School of Dramatic Arts and visiting professor at the University of Yale (United States). He became known with Juegos de la edad tardía (Critic´s Prize and National Prize for Narrative), a novel that was followed by Caballeros de fortuna, El mágico aprendiz, El guitarrista, Hoy, Júpiter, Retrato de un hombre inmaduro, Absolución, El balcón en invierno (Booksellers of Madrid Book of the Year Prize and the Dulce Chacón Prize) and La vida negociable. All his works are published by Tusquets. He also wrote the literary essay Entre líneas: el cuento o la vida, and he compiled his short pieces in ¿Cómo le corto el pelo, caballero?

Asier & Javier

Asier Sanz (1969) and Javier Gamboa (1965), cartoonist and script writer respectively, form this pair of graphic humourists. They define themselves as “two human beings that are lucky enough to devote themselves to laughter and to be from Bilbao”. They have published in Diario 16, Diario Metro, Deia and El Jueves, among other outlets. In 2013 they published the comic strip “¡Sálvese quien podamos” and won the 6th Caragoler International Graphic Humour Competition. They collaborate in the newspaper Bilbao. 

Pilar Adón

Velibor Čolić

Born in 1964 in the small Bosnian town of Modriča, deserted the Balkans War in 1992. Before being conscripted he was a journalist and writer. He also talked about music on the radio. After fleeing, he was captured but he managed to escape and he sought refuge in France, where he currently lives. He left behind his family, home and all of his manuscripts, which were destroyed by the war. In 1994 the French publisher, Le Serpent à Plumes published his extraordinary first book, Los bosnios (Periférica, 2013), which made him the centre of attention of critics. In 2016 Gallimard published Manual de exilio, recently translated into Spanish bythe publishing house Periférica, where Colic recounts with humour, brazenness and wisdom how he escaped from Bosnia and arrived in France as a refugee, going from being a normal citizen to a forced exile. 

François Le Diascorn

Maite Esparza

Maite Esparza has been a practising journalist and vocational communicator for more than twenty years, she has done television as a reporter, writer of programs and documentaries and as a presenter on ETB, Gestmusic, Canal Natura, Canal Beca, Canal Meteo and Canal 4 Navarra. She began telling stories in the press in the now defunct newspaper Navarra Hoy and has combined work in the audiovisual medium with stages as an editor of books and the web on GeoPlaneta and as a freelance editor of the Routard Guide and other travel guides, as well as the author of informative works. She enjoys writing, she has published a book of short stories and each week she produces a column in the Diario de Noticias de Navarra and contributes to a magazine show on Radio Euskadi. Although the profession does not make things easy for her, from time to time she is still in love with it.

Almudena Cacho

Almudena Cacho is a journalist. She currently directs and presents the program Más Que Palabras, on Radio Euskadi, a channel on which she has also been the outstanding voice on news and programs since the 90´s. She has directed special programs from abroad and has participated as a speaker in seminars and professional congresses in the communication sector, most recently at “Ideas to change the world”. She has published articles in the daily press –Qué Nervión and El Correo– and provides her voice for dubbing on feature films, television series and documentaries. In theatre, she has been part of the Basque group Pakidermo during several seasons.

Félix Linares

(Bilbao, 1947) began his professional career at Radio Popular, where for eighteen years he participated in different cultural programmes. At the same time he worked on TVE and on various supplements for Egin and El Correo. In 1984 he joined Radio Euskadi and two years later ETB. Since 1987 he has presented and co-directed the literary programme Pompas de papel and since 1995 he has hosted the film programme La Noche de…

Borja Cobeaga

(San Sebastián, 1977). Among many other projects, he worked as scriptwriter for the famous comedy program on ETB-2 “Vaya semanita” and was co-writer with Diego San José, of the big commercial success “Ocho apellidos vascos”. He is the director of the feature films Pagafantas (2009), No controles (2011) and Negociador (2014). He is currently creating the television series Fe de etarras.

Tricicle

In 1979 the actors Joan Gràcia, Carles Sans and Paco Mir founded the gestural theatre company Tricicle, where humour is the main base of their shows. Fourty years later, they have accumulated success and recognition with an extensive and varied curriculum —Manicomic, Exit, Slastic, Terrific, Entretrés, Sit, Garrick, Spamalot, Bits and Forever Young, along with their work in television, advertising and radio. They are currently on tour with the show Hits which as the name suggests, contains the greatest hits of Tricicle. They state that this is their farewell tour, and it will end this year at Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao on 1 October .

Marta Robles

Writer and journalist, Marta Robles has a long trajectory in press, radio and television. She is the author of several essays, biographies and novels and in 2013 she won the Fernando Lara Prize with Luisa y los espejos. Her last book is A menos de cinco centímetros, published by Espasa.

Miguel Zugaza

(Durango, Bizkaia, 1964) holds a degree in History of Art from the Complutense University in Madrid. In 1994 he was appointed deputy director of the Reina Sofía National Art Museum where he remained until 1996. Since 2002 he was held the role of the director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, where he launched a significant modernisation of its activity and infrastructures. In January 2002 he was appointed director of the Prado National Museum, a role that he held until March 2017, when he returned to the director role at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao.

Mursego

Mursego is the musical project of Maite Arroitajauregi (Eibar, Gipuzkoa, 1977). A graduate in cello from the Vitoria School of Music, she is a composer and performer. In addition to the cello, in her compositions she uses a loop station, whistle, cymbals, slide whistle, theremin, tambourine, ukelele, autoharp, rhymes, hand clapping and voice. Although her main training was in classical music, she has also been influenced by pop and rock music groups such as Pixies, Sonic Youth, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Víctor Jara and Mikel Laboa. She has also composed the soundtrack for different film projects.

Harkaitz Cano

(Lasarte, 1975) holds a degree in law, but he soon turned to writing. Among his books, it is worth highlighting El turista perpetuo, Twist and Jazz y Alaska en la misma frase, all published by Seix Barral. He has twice obtained the Euskadi Prize for Literature and has won the Critics Prize the same number of times. Influenced at the beginning by film noir, dirty realism and pop culture, his themes and style, lightly enveloped in a redeeming irony, have been gradually refined in his last few works. Having defined himself at times as a “frustrated musician”, he collaborates regularly with several singers and artists from the Basque scene.

Edurne Portela

D. in Hispanic Literature from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (USA). She was a tenured professor of literature at Lehigh University (Pennsylvania) until 2015. In 2016 she published in Galaxia Gutenberg El eco de los disparos: Cultura y memoria de la violencia, an essay that vindicates culture as a tool for settling the past of violence in the Basque Country. In September 2017, Galaxia Gutenberg published his first novel Mejor la ausencia, an investigation into the post-industrial Euskadi of the 1980s. Together with José Ovejero, he made the documentary Vida y ficción (2017). He publishes regularly in the main Spanish newspapers and contributes to several programmes on Radio Nacional de España and Cadena SER.

Javier Cercas

(Ibahernando, Cáceres, 1962) is the author of novels such as Soldiers of Salamis, The Anatomy of a Moment, The Impostor and the recently published El monarca de las sombras. All his works are published by Literatura Random House. His work also includes an essay, La obra literaria de Gonzalo Suárez; and three miscellaneous volumes: Una buena temporada (1998), Relatos reales (2000) and La verdad de Agamenón (2006). His books have been translated into more than thirty languages and have obtained several national and international prizes. 

Joyce Carol Oates

Born in Lockport, New York, in 1938, Joyce Carol Oates is one of the great figures in contemporary American literature. A prolific author, she has published more than fifty novels and has a varied production of stories and essays. Some of her most outstanding books are The Gravedigger´s Daughter; Little Bird of Heaven; A Widow’s Story: A Memoir; Blonde; Carthage; Faithless: Tales of Transgression, and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories, all published in Spain by Alfaguara. A strong contender for the Nobel Prize for years now, she divides her time between writing and the courses she teaches at the University of Princeton, in New Jersey. Her latest novels are Jack of Spades: A Tale of Suspense. (Alfaguara, 2016) and A Book of American Martyrs (Alfaguara, 2017).

Mercedes Cebrián

Mercedes Cebrián was born in Madrid in 1971. She is the author of the book of short stories and poems ‘El malestar al alcance de todos’ and of the book of poems ‘Mercado Común’, both published by Caballo de Troya; as well the two nouvelles included in ´La nueva taxidermia´ and the novel ´El genuino sabor´, both published by Literatura Random House. Cebrián is a regular contributor to the newspapers El País, La Vanguardia and Público, and in several cultural magazines such as Eñe, Gatopardo, Revista de Occidente and The Massachusetts Review. She has translated Georges Perec and Alan Sillitoe into Spanish. Mercedes Cebrián is the guest editor of the publisher Caballo de Troya in 2018.

Patricia Esteban Erlés

(Zaragoza, 1972) is a lecturer and columnist for the Heraldo de Aragón. So far, she has published three books of stories: ‘Manderley en venta’, selected for the V Setenil Prize as one of the ten best books of stories published in Spain in 2008, ‘Abierto para fantoches’ and ‘Azul ruso’, by Páginas de Espuma. In 2012, with the same publishing house, she published the book of flash fiction, ‘Casa de Muñecas’ (Doll House) illustrated by Sara Morante. She recently published ‘Las madres negras’ with Galaxia Gutenberg, which earned her the Dos Passos First Novel Prize. 

Barry Barrez

Barry Manley (Cork, 1961) or Barry Barrez, his performing name, is a lecturer, writer and stand-up, as well as a singer and musician; he plays the accordion and the Irish whistle. He has spent eight years performing monologues in Basque, after more than four decades living in the Basque Country, where he arrived at the age of 22 without knowing either Basque or Spanish, in order to give English classes. The texts of his shows are inspired by his native land, the history of Ireland and Cork as well as Basque customs and the Basque language. Barry Manley is also the author of the novel “New Europeans” and has collaborated in several programs of the EITB (Basque television service).

Mamen Moreu

Mamen Moreu was born in Huesca in 1985 and has adopted Bilbao as her city. She published her first comic strips in the satirical magazine El Jueves in 2009, a collaboration that she maintained intermittently up until 2016. Since then she has published a weekly page, Dolores and Lolo and collaborates on the website of this magazine. In 2014, she published her first graphic novel, ‘Resaca’ with Astiberri, which earned her a nomination for Best New Author at the 2015 Barcelona International Comic Fair. She has also just published her second long work with Astiberri, ‘Desastre’. Moreu combines her work as a script writer and cartoonist with other illustration projects, she gives talks about comics and runs drawing workshops.

Pablo Berger

The Bilbao native Pablo Berger began his film career in 1988 with the short film ‘Mamá’, thanks to which he obtained a grant to study film directing in New York. During his time in the United States, he directed the short film ‘Truth and Beauty´, nominated for an Emmy Award, taught classes at the New York Film Academy and directed courses at the universities of Cambridge, Princeton and Yale. With ‘Torremolinos 73’, his first feature film in Spain, he triumphed at several international festivals. His second film ‘Blancanieves’, a silent movie filmed in black and white, obtained ten Goya awards, including best film and director. His latest work is the comedy ‘Abracadabra’. 

Juan Carlos Ortega

He began working at RNE with Javier Sardá at the age of 18; since then he has been a regular collaborator on radio and television, it is worth highlighting his participation on El lobo estepario with Jesús Quintero, on La radio de Julia with Julia Otero and La ventana with Gemma Nierga, and his interventions on television shows Crónicas Marcianas and Channel 4, with Ana García Siñeriz and Boris Izaguirre. He currently collaborates with Pepa Fernández on the RNE program No es un día cualquiera and with Andreu Buenafuente on Late Motiv on Movistar+. He also has a slot on Cadena Ser, Las noches de Ortega. In 2016 he was awarded the Premio Ondas for his professional trajectory.

Forges

Antonio Fraguas (Madrid 1942-2018). He worked at TVE until 1973. That year he began his long and prolific professional career devoted to graphic humour. He collaborated in magazines such as Diez Minutos, Hermano Lobo, Por Favor and El Jueves. From 1995 he published a daily joke in El País. He participated in radio programmes and directed two films and four comedy series for television, publishing El libro de Forges in 1972. Thousands of titles would follow. He received important awards in recognition of his terrible work. Forges was an artist of the highest level, also a linguistic creator, whose excellent humour will long endure among us.

Berta Fraguas

She is the second daughter of Antonio Fraguas “Forges”, and has developed her professional career in the non-profit sector. Since 1994 she has headed up the educational foundation United World Colleges, working at the same time in consulting for Foundations and other third sector entities. In 2014, her father, Forges, commissioned her to select the jokes that would be used to create “El libro de los 50 años de Forges” (The Book of 50 Years of Forges). To do so, she spent months immersed in an archive of more than 80,000 cartoon strips. 

Javier Gomá

Javier Gomá was born in Bilbao in 1965. He holds a doctorate in Philosophy and a degree in Classical Philology and Law. In 1996 he began to work with the Juan March Foundation, and in 2003 he was appointed its director, a role that he currently holds. He obtained the National Essay Prize in 2004 for his first book, Imitación y experiencia, which, along with Aquiles en el gineceo and Ejemplaridad pública, forms a trilogy devoted to the experience of life. He has compiled his essays and lectures in Ingenuidad aprendida and in Todo a mil.  He writes in newspapers, magazines and cultural supplements and collaborates on the “24 hours” radio news program on RNE (Spanish National Radio). 

Fernando Savater

Fernando Savater has been a professor of philosophy for more than thirty years. He has written more than fifty works, including political, literary and philosophical essays, narrative works and theatre, as well as hundreds of articles in both Spanish and foreign press. Some of his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He holds several honorary doctorates awarded by universities in Spain, Europe and America, as well as different honours. ‘Ética para Amador’ (Ethics for Amador), ‘Política para Amador’ (Politics for Amador) and ‘Las preguntas de la vida’ (The Questions of Life) in which he has attempted to attract young people to philosophy, have become true best sellers.

Jacinto Antón

(Barcelona, 1957) has spent his entire professional life at the Culture section of the daily newspaper El País, where he has specialised in a wide array of subjects such as archaeology, Egyptology, theatre and history. In 2009 he received the National Prize for Cultural Journalism awarded by the Ministry of Culture. On TVE (Spanish TV) he produced the program ‘El reportero de la historia’ (The reporter of history) and on La Ser he stars in the radio program ‘El antropólogo inocente’ (The innocent anthropologist) and he has a slot on the radio show ‘A vivir que son dos días’ of Javier del Pino, on Cadena SER. He has published the books ‘Pilotos, caimanes y otras aventuras extraordinarias’ and ‘Héroes, aventureros y cobardes’ with RBA.

Alfonso Mateo-Sagasta

Carlos Areces

Born in Madrid in 1976. He studied Fine Arts in Cuenca, where he met Ernesto Sevilla, through whom he got involved in a project that revolutionised television comedy: ‘La hora Chanante’ and subsequently ’Muchachada Nui’ and ‘Museo Coconut’. In 2008 he was part of the cast of the Álex de la Iglesia film ´Plutón B.R.B. Nero´. Since then, he has been a regular actor of this director (‘Balada triste de trompeta’, ‘Las brujas de Zugarramurdi’, ‘Mi gran noche’) and he has appeared in many other Spanish comedies (Torrente 4 and 5, ‘Los amantes pasajeros’, ‘Negociador’). Areces is also a cartoonist and is part of the “subnorpop” music group Ojete Calor.

Soledad Puértolas

(Zaragoza, 1947), holds a degree in Journalism, and has lived in Norway and California, where she obtained an M. A. in Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and she is a member of the Royal Spanish Academy. Among her books, translated into several languages and mainly published by Anagrama, we can cite ‘El bandido doblemente armado’, ‘Una enfermedad moral’, ‘Queda la noche’ (Planeta Prize 1989), ‘Una vida inesperada’, ‘Gente que vino a mi boda’ and ‘Historia de un abrigo’. With La vida oculta (The Hidden Life), she won the 1993 Anagrama Essay Prize. 

Mircea Cărtărescu

(Bucharest, 1956) is a poet, narrator and literary critic. He is considered the most important Romanian narrator at present and is a strong candidate to become the first author who writes in Romanian to obtain the Nobel Prize in Literature. His works, all published in Spain by the publisher Impedimenta, notably include the collection of poems ‘The Levant’, the volumes of stories ‘Nostalgia’ (that opens with his famous short story ‘The Roulette Player’), ‘Beautiful Strangers’ and the autobiographical stories ‘The Brown Eye of Our Love’. ‘Solenoid’ is his latest novel and, according to the critics, his most mature work until now. In 2018 he is going to receive the Prix Formentor Literature Award.

Sílvia Abril

She is Yoko Ono, Kim Kardashian, Victoria Abril… and Shrek´s Daughter. She is an actress (‘La que se avecina’, ‘Torrente’, ‘Cuerpo de élite’), comic (‘Homo Zapping’, ‘Tu cara me suena’), dancer (with Chiquilicuatre on Eurovision), presenter (‘Caiga quien caiga’) and chef (‘Celebrity Masterchef’). ‘Late Motiv’, the program that she collaborates on with her husband, Andreu Buenafuente —‘Huevosfuertes’—, also describes her as “A mutant being that dances, sings, pesters, smells, and even presents gadgets. A whirlwind of vitality. A genre in herself for which a definition has not yet been invented”.

Jeanette Winterson

Born in Manchester and the adopted daughter of a couple with scarce financial resources, Jeanette Winterson grew up in an environment where there was a lack of books and an abundance of religious fervour. She left home at the age of sixteen in order to study at Oxford and experience her first love affair with a girl. At the age of twenty-four she enjoyed great success with the publication of “Oranges are Not the Only Fruit”, which was followed by, among others, “The Passion”, “Sexing the Cherry”, “Written on the body” and “Lighthousekeeping”, the novel with which Lumen began its library devoted to the most notable works by the author. In 2012 she published her extraordinary memoir “Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?”, followed by “The Daylight Gate”, “The World and Other Places” and “The Gap of Time”. “Christmas Days” is her latest book.

Álex de la Iglesia

The Bilbao director, producer and scriptwriter Álex de la Iglesia became known as a cartoonist, in the mid-eighties, while studying Philosophy at the University of Deusto. After several projects as an artistic director, he directed the legendary short film ‘Mirindas asesinas’, whose originality and talent seduced, among others, Pedro Almodóvar, the producer, via “El Deseo” of his first feature film, ‘Acción mutante’. Since then, Álex de la Iglesia, has produced truly iconic films in contemporary cinema such as El día de la Bestia (The Day of the Beast), Perdita Durango (Dance with the Devil), La comunidad (Common Wealth), Balada Triste de Trompeta (The Last Circus), Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi (Witching & Bitching) and Perfectos desconocidos. He has also published two novels, ‘Payasos en la Lavadora’ and ‘Recuérdame que te odie’. 

Dani de Pablos

https://danidepablos.com/

David Herranz

Festival photographer since the first edition. Lacking other talents, he uses photography as a way to access events and concerts, gastronomic plans and film sets. That has worked for him for more than 20 years.

Enrique Redel

Marian Ochoa de Eribe

Iñigo Astiz

He is a journalist at the newspaper Berria. He has published a book of poems Baita hondakinak ere, which is based on the show Hondakinak, a project that the author carried out in collaboration with Mikel Ayerbe. He has translated Ariel by the American poet Silvia Plath into Basque, and included some of his own poems in its publication.

Alicia San Juan

Holder of a degree in Journalism, she has devoted most of her career to television and radio. She worked at Radio Euskadi for several years, producing and editing programmes, magazines and cultural programmes. She currently collaborates with Consonni, the resident group at Azkuna Zentroa since 2018, as the presenter of the cultural podcast ‘Voces en el jardín’ (Voices in the Garden). She is a member of the music group Chico y Chica.

Txani Rodríguez

(Llodio, 1977) is a journalist, script writer and writer. She collaborates in different media outlets such as the newspaper El Correo and the programme ‘Pompas de papel’ (Paper Bubbles) on Radio Euskadi. She has published the novels ‘Lo que será de nosotros’ (What will become of us) (Erein, 2009), ‘Agosto’ (August) (Lengua de Trapo, 2013) and ‘Si quieres, puedes quedarte aquí’ (If you want, you can stay here) (Ed. Tres Hermanas, 2016); the book aimed at children ‘Artzaina naiz eta zer ‘(Elkar, 2013); the book of stories ‘El corazón de los aviones’ (The Heart of Aeroplanes) (Elea, 2006) and five comics for the publisher Sauré, notably including ‘The Race of the Sun’. 

Sabina Urraca

Basque by birth, but raised in Tenerife, she has lived in Madrid for fifteen years. She has worked as an insurance salesperson, waitress, scriptwriter, reporter, television and advertising creative, presenter and marijuana trimmer. She collaborates as a journalist with the newspaper El País, in magazines such as Vice, Tribus Ocultas, El Estado Mental and Cinemanía, and on the programme ‘Hoy por hoy’ on Cadena SER radio station. She is also the author of the novel ‘Las niñas prodigio’ (Wonder Girls), published by Fulgencio Pimentel in 2017, and she participated in the anthology ‘La errabunda (Primer tratado ibérico de deambulología heterodoxa)’ (The Wanderer; First Iberian Treatise on Heterodox Walking), published by Lindo & Espinosa in 2018. When you search for Álvaro de Marichalar on the internet, it isn´t uncommon to find a photo of him next to one of Sabina Urraca. They didn´t had a love affair, Blablacar was to blame.

Elisa Victoria

She was born in Seville in 1985. Among other things, her working life has included collecting Chabel dolls, selling pizzas and burgers wearing a red hat, studying Philosophy and synthesisers of the eighties. She is the author of the books ‘Porn & Pains’ and ‘La sombra de los pinos’, both published by the publishing house Esto no es Berlín. ‘Vozdevieja’ is her first and very promising novel. Published in 2019 by Blackie Books, it is into its third edition and has been acclaimed by critics and authors such as Elvira Lindo. She has also collaborated with publications such as Tentaciones, Tribus Ocultas, El Estado Mental, Vice and Primera Línea and has participated in different anthologies (‘Hijos de Mary Shelley’ (The Children of Mary Shelly), ‘Erotismo desviado’ (Wayward Erotism), ‘Frankenstein resuturado’ (Frankenstein Re-stitched).

Íñigo Domínguez

Born in 1972, he is a journalist at El País and collaborator on JotDown and on the program ‘A vivir que son dos días’, on Cadena SER radio station. He previously worked as a correspondent in Rome for almost 15 years for El Correo and the other newspapers of the Vocento group. With Libros del K.O. he has published ‘Mediterráneo descapotable. Un viaje ridículo por aquel país tan feliz’ (Convertibe Mediterranean. A Ridiculous Journey around the Very Happy Country), ‘Crónicas de la mafia’ (Mafia Chronicles), and its sequel, ‘Paletos salvajes. Crónicas de la mafia II’ (Savage fools. Mafia Chronicles II),which was published in the same year. He received the Cirilo Rodríguez prize in 2015, and Salvador de Madariaga prize in 2016 for journalism. For Domínguez, “there is not much to add without further increasing false expectations”. When he was young he won a hot air balloon trip in a writing competition and thought that writing could serve a purpose: it gave perspective”.

Iván Repila

(Bilbao, 1978) is a writer, publisher and cultural manager. He is the author of the novels: ‘Una comedia canalla’ (A Rogue Comedy) (Libros del Silencio, 2012); ‘The Boy Who Stole Attila´s Horse’ (Libros del Silencio, 2013; Seix Barral 2017), which has been translated into several languages; ‘Prólogo para una guerra’ (Prelude for a War) (Seix Barral, 2017) and ‘El aliado’ (The Ally) (Seix Barral, 2019), as well as the stories published in the newspaper El Correoand in the anthologies ‘El Quijote a través del espejo’ (Don Quixote Through the Looking Glass), ‘Historias de San Mamés’ (Stories from the San Mamés) and ‘Ilustrofobia’. He also teaches literature in reading and creative writing workshops, he has a regular column in the newspaper Bilbao and is the co-founder of Masmédula Ediciones, a publisher specialising in poetry.

Cristina Morales

(Granada, 1985) holds a degree in Law and Political Science and is a specialist in International Relations. She lives in Barcelona, where she works as a choreographer and performer in the contemporary dance company Iniciativa Sexual Femenina. She was awarded the Premio Herralde novel prize for ‘Lectura fácil’ (Easy Reading) (Anagrama, 2018). She is also the author of ‘Terroristas modernos’ (Modern Terrorists) (Candaya, 2017), ‘Malas palabras’ (Bad Words) (Lumen, 2015) and ‘Los combatientes’ (The Combatants) (Caballo de Troya, 2013), and was awarded the 2012 INJUVE Prize for Narrative and was a finalist at the Festival du Premier Roman de Chambéry for the best first novel published in Spain in 2013. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies and literary magazines.

David Trueba

He studied journalism, a profession he has never left. On television he has directed programs such as ‘El peor programa de la semana’ (The Worst Programme of the Week) and the series ‘¿Qué fue de Jorge Sanz?’ (What became of Jorge Sanz?). His film career, aside from scripts for other directors such as ‘The Worst Years of Our Life’ and ‘The Girl of Your Dreams’, runs between his successful debut with ‘The Good Life’ in 1996 and ‘Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed’, which obtained six Goya Awards, including Best Film. His trajectory as a novelist has always been linked to the publisher Anagrama. His novels notably include ‘Learning to Lose’ (Critics Prize, best book of the year according to El Cultural supplement of El Mundo and finalist for the Prix Médicis in France). ‘Blitz’ and ‘Tierra de campos’ (Land of Fields) are his latest novels.

Manuel Vilas

He is a poet and writer. His books of poetry notably include ‘Resurección’ (Resurrection) (XV Jaime Gil de Biedma Prize), ‘Calor’ (Heat) (VI Fray Luis de León `Prize), ‘Gran Vilas’ (The Great Vilas) (XXXIII City of Melilla Prize) and ‘El hundimiento’ (The Sinking) (XVII Generation of ’27 International Poetry Prize). He is the author of the novels ‘España’, (Spain) ‘Aire Nuestro’ (Our Air) (Cálamo Prize); ‘Los inmortales’ (The Immortals) and ‘El luminoso regalo’ (The Luminous Gift), published by Alfaguara. He has also written books of stories such as ‘Zeta’ (Zed) and ‘Setecientos millones de rinocerontes’ (Seven Hundred Million Rhinos), the chronicle ‘Lou Reed era español’ (Lou Reed was Spanish) and the autobiography ‘América’ (America). ‘Ordesa’ (Alfaguara, 2018) is his latest book, it is his most personal and has triumphed with both the general public and critics alike. He regularly writes in the press and collaborates on ‘A vivir’ on Cadena Ser radio station.

Fernando Trías de Bes

He is an economist and writer. Holder of a degree in Business Studies and an MBA from ESAFE and the University of Michigan, Trías de Bes has focused his research on the field of marketing and innovation. He is a regular collaborator in print media and radio, and is the author of several essays on economic issues, as well as novels and short stories. Among the former, it is worth highlighting ‘Good Luck’ (co-authored with Álex Rovira); ‘The Little Black Book of Entrepreneurship’, ‘El hombre que cambió su casa por un tulipán’ (The Man Who Swapped His House for a Tulip) and ‘El gran cambio’ (The Big Change). His main works of fiction include ‘El coleccionista de sonidos’ (The Sound Collector); ‘Mil millones de mejillones’ (A Billion Clams) and ‘Tinta’ (Ink). He has just published ‘Yo soy así’ (This is How I Am) (Ed. Paidos).

Marta Flich

She is an economist, actress and comedian. Having studied Economics, she worked in a bank for a few years until, seeking “a little creativity”, she made the move into acting. As an actress she has participated in several works of theatre, television series and feature films, but above all she is known for her work as a disseminator of economics and current politics from a scathing perspective packed with humour. With Grijalbo she has recently published ‘Necroeconomía: El manual para entender la economía perversa’ (Necroeconomics: Manual for understanding the perverse economy). She has her own show on Onda Cero, ‘Salsa Flich’, and collaborates on television programmes such as ‘Ese programa del que usted me habla’ (That programme you talk to me about), ‘Late Motiv’ and ‘Todo es mentira’ (Everything is a Lie), presented by Risto Mejide. 

Ana Morgade

A comic actress and presenter, she has participated in several comedy television programmes. She has been part of Andreu Buenafuente´s team; she has presented the satirical news show ‘Estas no son las noticias’ (This is not the news) alongside Quequé, and with Sílvia April ‘Las noticias de las 2’ (The news on 2); she stood out as a presenter on the last season of ‘El Club de la Comedia’ (The Comedy Club) and surprised the public with her performances on the fourth edition of ‘Tu cara me suena’ (I know your face). She currently collaborates on ‘El hormiguero’ (The Anthill) and has just announced that she will not appear again on ‘Zapping’, where she had participated since 2013. She also participates in the comedy section on the ‘A vivir’ programme on Cadena Ser and she has appeared in films such as ‘Bajo el mismo techo’ (Under the Same Roof) and ‘Con el culo al aire’ (Stranded).

Tatiana Tîbuleac

Chișinău, Moldova, 1979. Holder of a degree in Journalism, she became famous as a press columnist and television presenter working on social programmes. In 2014 she published the book of stories ‘Modern Fables’ and two years later her first novel, ‘The Summer When My Mother’s Eyes Were Green’, which made her a literary phenomenon in Romania and in France, similar to what has taken place in Spain since its publication by Impedimenta in 2019. Her second novel is ´The Glass Garden´, which has not yet been published in Spanish. At present, she continues to work as a journalist and lives in Paris. She has received several prizes, notably including those awarded by the Union of Moldovan Writers and the Romanian literary magazine Observator Cultura.

Andrei Kurkov

(Leningrad, 1961). He began to write at the age of seven when two of his three hamsters died and he decided to dedicate a poem about loneliness to the survivor. In that era, as a result of his Soviet education, he still dedicated texts to Lenin. He worked as a Japanese translator for the KGB and was a prison warden in Odessa, where he wrote his first children´s works. He is the author of twenty novels, several children´s books and he has created numerous documentaries, his work has been translated into thirty languages. An expert on the post-Soviet world, he comments on reality in Ukraine for media outlets around the world. ‘Death and the Penguin’, an international best seller reissued by Blackie Books in 2018, mixes black humour and the post-Soviet milieu. So too does ‘The Gardener from Ochakov’, the second book by Kurkov, recently published by the same publisher. 

Antonio Muñoz Molina

He is one of the most outstanding Spanish writers and has been a member of the Royal Spanish Academy since 1995. His extensive oeuvre notably includes ‘Beatus Ille’, ‘Winter in Lisbon’, ‘Prince of Shadows’, ‘The Polish Rider’, ‘Plenilunio’ (Full Moon), ‘Sepharad’ and ‘In the Night of Time’, all published by Seix Barral. He is a regular collaborator in the press, and has compiled his articles in volumes such as ‘El Robinson urbano’ (The Urban Robinson) and ‘La vida por delante’ (The Life Ahead). Among others, he has received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, the National Literature Prize on two occasions, the Critics Prize, the Planeta Prize, the Liber Prize, the Jean Monnet Prize of European Literature, the Prix Méditerranée Étranger, the Jerusalem Prize and Qué Leer Prize, awarded by readers. He lives between Madrid and Lisbon and is married to the writer Elvira Lindo. 

Elvira Lindo

Aged just nineteen, she began working as an actress, presenter and scriptwriter on Spanish National Radio. Indeed, her popular character Manolito Gafotas emerged out of this radio scripts. Her work, mainly published by Seix Barral, includes novels such as ‘Something More Unexpected than Death’, ‘What I Have Left to Live’ and ‘Places I Don’t Want to Share with Anyone’; the diary ‘Sleepless Nights’ and her chronicles for El País in ‘Don de Gentes’ and ‘Tinto de verano’. Her latest book is ‘30 Ways to Doff your Hat’. She was awarded the National Prize for Children´s and Young People´s Literature, the Biblioteca Prize for ‘A Word from You’ and the International Journalism Prize in 2015. She has also written several film scripts and is a regular collaborator in the newspaper El País.

Berta Vias Mahou

Isabel Vázquez

Asier Sanz

Marta Sanz

María Elvira Roca Barea

Inés París

Pantomima Full

Imanol Ituiño

Aixa de la Cruz

Borja Crespo

Raúl Cimas

Martín Caparrós

Guillermo Altares

Darío Adanti

Flavita Banana

(Flavia Álvarez-Pedrosa, Barcelona, 1987) studied Arts and Design along with Illustration, both at the Escola Massana in Barcelona, juggling all imaginable jobs. At the age of 26 and after giving up with any other style, she began to draw humorous cartoons, based on a simple line and the humour of someone who no longer expects anything. At 29 she was able to abandon office living thanks to articles in S Moda, Orgullo y Satisfacción, Revista Mongolia and El País. She has published the books ‘Curvy’ (Lumen, 2016), ‘Las cosas del querer’ (Lumen, 2017), ‘Archivos estelares’ (¡Caramba!, 2017), ‘Archivos cósmicos’ (¡Caramba!, 2019) and ‘Archivos Espaciales’ (¡Caramba!, 2020). In 2018 she won the Gat Perich International Humour Prize. Her work has been portrayed as sad humour, a mixture of everyday life and absurdity.

Fernando Aramburu

(San Sebastián, 1959), author of the collection of short stories such as ‘Los peces de la amargura’ and ‘El vigilante del fiordo’ and novels such as ‘Fuegos con limón’, ‘Viaje con Clara por Alemania’ and ‘Ávidas pretensiones’. Even before ‘Patria’, he was considered one of the most outstanding authors in the Spanish language, but it was the literary and social phenomenon of this book that established him as an international writer. ‘Patria’ has earned him several awards, including the Premio Nacional de Narrativa, the Premio Nacional de la Crítica, the Euskadi, the Francisco Umbral, the Strega Europeo, the Premio Internazionale Giuseppe Lampedusa and the Athens Literary Prize. Five years later he published a new novel, ‘Los vencejos’, at his usual publishing house, Tusquets.

Hervé Le Tellier

(Paris, 1957) is a writer, editor, mathematician and a well-known literary critic. He has contributed to a number of written and radio media outlets such as Le Monde and France Culture, as well as to several satirical publications. He is considered one of the most prestigious authors on the French contemporary literary scene, with an extensive oeuvre that combines poetry, theatre, novels and humorous stories. He has been the editor of authors such as Raymond Queneau and Georges Perec, founder and member of the experimental avant-garde narrative group Oulipo, to which Le Tellier has been a member since 2002 and has been Chairman since 2019. In 2020, he won the Goncourt Prize with his latest novel, La anomalía (Seix Barral), which has become a publishing event in France that is set to be repeated in our country.

Oscar Tusquets

(Barcelona, 1941) is an architect, designer, painter and writer. He has received several awards for his professional career, including the National Design Award, the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts and the insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1994 he emerged as an author of essays with ‘Más que discutible’ and is the author of books such as ‘Anna, Dalí y otros amigos’, ‘Réquiem por la escalera’ and ‘Pasando a limpio’, and of ‘Tiempos que fueron’, a childhood memoir written in conjunction with his sister Esther Tusquets. In Anagrama he has published ‘Todo es comparable’, ‘Dios lo ve’, ‘Contra la desnudez’ and, recently, ‘Vivir no es tan divertido; y envejecer, un coñazo’, his personal book of memoirs.

Philippe Lançon

(Vanves, France, 1963) is a writer and journalist. A regular contributor to the cultural pages of Libération and columnist for Charlie Hebdo, he was in the editorial office of the satirical weekly during the attack of 7 January 2015, a terrorist attack he survived. He is the author of the books ‘Les Îles’ (2011), ‘L’Élan’ (2013) and, above all, ‘El colgajo’ (Anagrama, 2018), with hundreds of thousands of copies sold in France and a successful translation into many languages, including Spanish. In 2018, this book was awarded the Femina and Roger Caillois awards as well as the Renaudot Special Prize. His most recent book is ‘Chroniques de l’homme d’avant’, a selection of articles published over twenty years in Libération and Charlie Hebdo by the “man of yesteryear” that Philippe Lançon used to be.

Joaquín Reyes

Was born in Albacete in 1974 and graduated in Fine Arts at the Faculty of Cuenca. He soon took his first steps towards humour alongside Julián López, Raúl Cimas and Ernesto Sevilla, whom he has known since university. Later, Carlos Areces and Ignatius Farray joined the group. All together, he created programmes that have marked the humour of an entire generation, such as La hora chanante and Muchachada Nui, featuring Joaquín Reyes, who also performed skits and impersonated different characters. Equally multifaceted, he is a comedian, cartoonist, actor, stand-up comedian, TV host, scriptwriter and now also a writer. His humour has always been his trademark, and he has just published his first novel with Blackie Books, ‘Subidón’.

Maruja Torres

(Barcelona, 1943) began working as a journalist at a very young age, contributing to publications such as Fotogramas and the humour magazines Por Favor and El Papus. For decades she was notably linked to the newspaper El País, where she worked in all genres of journalism, from social chronicles and film reviews to war journalism. She is also the author of several books, including the comedy novels ‘Oh, es él!’ (Oh, it’s him!) and ‘Ceguera de amor’ (Blind Love). She became one of today’s leading novelists with ‘Mientras vivimos’, the novel that earned her the Planeta Award in 2000. In 2006 she received the Gold Medal for Fine Arts for her contribution to culture. Although she claims to be “today more than ever retired from the limelight”, she continues to appear in media such as Mongolia magazine and Buenafuente’s programme ‘Late Motiv’.

Edu Galán

(Oviedo, 1980) is, together with Darío Adanti, one of the creators of the satirical magazine Mongolia. He also writes film reviews for the newspaper La Nueva España as well as for the magazine Cinemanía and is a guest on Andreu Buenafuente’s programme ‘Late Motiv’ and on Onda Cero’s ‘Más de uno’. He is the author of the essay ‘Morir de pie. Stand-up (y Norteamérica)’ (Ed. Rema y vive, 2014), he participates in the anthology book ‘Todavía voy por la primera temporada’ (Léeme libros, 2014). In 2020 he published the essay ‘El síndrome Woody Allen’ (Debate).

Bob Pop

Was born in Madrid in 1971, although he lives in Barcelona. He has participated in many written media -La Marea, Mongolia, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Lecturas, 20 minutos, Público-, in radio -Onda Cero, Cadena Ser-, and in television -TVE and La Sexta, in the programme ‘En el aire’ with Andreu Buenafuente. He is currently a guest contributor and assistant director of Andreu Buenafuente’s programme ‘Late Motiv’ on Movistar+. Author of the novel ‘Mansos’, published by Caballo de Troya and republished this year by Alfaguara, and the essay ‘Cuando haces Bop ya no hay stop’ (Temas de hoy). Author of the Tumblr ‘Días Ajenos’. In March 2017, the publishing house Somos libros published the first volume of these diaries under the title ‘Días ajenos – Primavera/Verano’ (Spring/Summer). He is currently working on the second part, under the title ‘Otoño/Invierno’ (Autumn/Winter). In 2021 he has created, written and starred in the series Maricón perdido, broadcast on TNT España.

Paco Plaza

(Valencia, 1973) is a filmmaker, best known for his fantasy and horror films. After co-directing with Jaume Balagueró (with whom he also worked on the first two releases of Rec, a mockumentary starring Manuela Velasco) ‘OT: La película’, he made his first solo feature film, ‘El segundo nombre’, followed by ‘Romasanta’, ‘Rec3: Génesis’, ‘Verónica’ and ‘Quien ha hierro mata’. His latest film is ‘La abuela’, soon to be released.

Arturo G.-Campos

(Madrid, 1969) is a comedian, actor, broadcaster, scriptwriter and an unhealthy geek with an intolerance to maturity. He has appeared in El Club de la Comedia and in plays such as ‘5 hombres.com’ and ‘Vivir así es morir de humor’. Together with El Monaguillo, he hosted the radio programme La Parroquia every night for eight years. As nobody can ever stop him, he has also written three books with El Club de la Comedia, the seven books of La Parroquia and four more books for the Todopoderosos collection. For the last six years he has been directing, together with Javier Cansado, Rodrigo Cortés and Juan Gómez-Jurado, the podcast Todopododerosos. He is also the co-producer of Aquí Hay Dragones, and Mi Año Favorito with Dani Rovira. He also excels at making a gazpacho that doesn’t heartburn because he doesn’t put cucumber in it. On top of it all, he is probably one of the most handsome men on earth.

Mathias Enard

Was born in 1972 in Niort, France. After studying Arabic and Persian and spending long periods in the Middle East, he decided to settle in Barcelona in 2000. While there, he has been active in several cultural magazines, including the now extinct Lateral, and has taught Arabic at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Enard is the author of novels such as ‘El manual del perfecto terrorista’ (La Otra Orilla, 2007) and ‘Zona’ (La Otra Orilla, 2008), and already in Literatura Random House, ‘Habladles de batallas, de reyes y elefantes, ‘El alcohol y la nostalgia’, ‘Calle de los Ladrones’ and ‘Brújula’, winner of the 2015 Goncourt Prize. El banquete anual de la cofradía de sepultureros’, published by the same publishing house, is his most recent novel.

Daniel Gascón

(Zaragoza, 1981) studied English and Hispanic philology at the University of Zaragoza. He has published the short story books ‘La edad del pavo’ (Xordica, 2001), ‘El fumador pasivo’ (Xordica, 2005) and ‘La vida cotidiana’ (Alfabia, 2011), and a family memoir, ‘Entresuelo’ in (Literatura Random House, 2013). His most recent books are the novel ‘Un hipster en la España vacía’ and its recently published sequel ‘La muerte del hipster’, both published by Literatura Random House. He has translated for authors such as Saul Bellow, Christopher Hitchens and N.S. Naipaul. He is responsible for the Spanish edition of Letras Libres magazine and is a columnist for El País.

Isabel Burdiel

(Badajoz, 1958) is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Valencia and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia (UK). A specialist in the political and cultural history of Spanish and European liberalism in the 19th century, she is particularly interested in the relationship between history and literature and in the possibilities of biographical history. She is the author of the first critical edition in Spanish of Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ and Mary W. Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus’. In 2011 she received the National History Award for her work ‘Elizabeth II. A Biography’. Her most recent work is the biography of Emilia Pardo Bazán (2019) in the collection Españoles eminentes, directed by Fundación Juan March and published by Taurus.

Antonio Orejudo

(Madrid, 1963) is a PhD in Hispanic philology and for seven years he taught Spanish literature at American universities. He was a visiting researcher at the University of Amsterdam and is currently a tenured lecturer at the University of Almería. He has written novels such as ‘Fabulosas narraciones por historias’, ‘Ventajas de viajar en tren’, ‘Reconstrucción’ and ‘Un momento de descanso’, which have made him one of the most original and admired writers in contemporary Spanish literature. His latest books are ‘Los Cinco y yo’ and ‘Grandes éxitos’. All his work, distinguished by a mixture of transgression, comedy and academic writing, is published by the Tusquets publishing house.

Cristina Fernández Cubas

(Arenys de Mar, Barcelona, 1945) has published six short story books – ‘Mi hermana Elba’, ‘Los altillos de Brumal’, ‘El ángulo del horror’, ‘Con Agatha en Estambul’, ‘Parientes pobres del diablo’ and ‘La habitación de Nona’ (Premio Nacional de Narrativa 2016 and Premio de la Crítica 2015) -, three novels – ‘El año de Gracia’, ‘El columpio’ and ‘La puerta entreabierta’ (under the pen name Fernanda Kubbs) -, a theatre play – ‘Hermanas de sangre’ – and a highly original book of memoirs, ‘Cosas que ya no existen’. Her work has been translated into ten languages. She is considered to be one of the best short story writers in Spanish literature, particularly outstanding in the fantasy genre.

Pedro Ugarte

(Bilbao, 1963) is a writer, columnist and current press officer at the University of the Basque Country. He has devoted much of his literary work to short fiction, with books such as ‘Los traficantes de palabras’, ‘La isla de Komodo’ and ‘Mañana será otro día’. In Páginas de Espuma, he has published ‘El mundo de los Cabezas Vacías’ and ‘Nuestra historia’, winner of the Setenil Prize for the best collection of short stories in 2017. In 2018 he published ‘Lecturas pendientes’, a diary linked to his experience as a reader and writer. His novels have been translated into Italian and French, and his short stories into English, Basque, Polish and German. Antes del Paraíso’ is his latest collection of short stories.

Juan Soto Ivars

Was born in Águilas (Murcia) in 1985. He is the author of the novels ‘Ajedrez para un detective novato’, ‘Siberia’ and ‘La conjetura de Perelman’ as well as the book ‘Un abuelo rojo y otro facha’. His latest published works are the novel ‘Crímenes del futuro’ and the essays ‘Arden las redes: la poscensura y el nuevo mundo virtual’ as well as ‘La casa del ahorcado: Cómo el tabú asfixia la democracia occidental’ (both published by Debate). He is a columnist for El Confidencial and El Periódico de Catalunya, a regular guest on the radio programmes Julia en la Onda (Onda Cero) and Hoy empieza todo (Radio 3), as well as on television with Els Matins (TV3). He is married and has had a son. Since then, he says, he doesn’t give a damn about anything else.

Ana Iris Simón

(Campo de Criptana, Ciudad Real, 1991) studied in public schools in Aranjuez. After that, she studied Journalism and Audiovisual Communication at the Rey Juan Carlos University while working at Desigual as a shop assistant and at the Telefónica building on Madrid’s Gran Vía as a guide. She began her career as a journalist in the Lifestyle section of TELVA magazine and, after that, she was an editor at VICE España and a scriptwriter at RTVE’s Playz. Her first book is called ‘Feria’ (Círculo de Tiza, 2020) that, after selling more than twelve editions, has become a literary and social phenomenon. She is currently a columnist for El País and contributes to various media outlets.

Javier del Pino

(Madrid, 1964) is a journalist with a degree in English philology. In 1988 he began working at Cadena SER. After working on news programmes such as ‘Hora 25’, he served as Washington correspondent for fifteen years. Since 2012 he has directed and presented ‘A vivir que son dos días’, the leading weekend morning show in Spain, a programme featuring humour as a key element. Antena de Oro and Ondas are some of his awards.

Luz Sánchez-Mellado

(Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, 1966) is a writer and journalist. She has spent most of her professional career at El País. Since 2009 she has published literary and current affairs columns in said newspaper, including the series Portera de Día which she created for Revista Sábado; in 2015 she began to contribute to the last page column on Thursdays and since 2017 on Sundays in the interview section ‘Gente con Luz’. She has worked in the news programme of Cadena Ser and currently cooperates with a variety of media and programmes such as Carles Francino’s La Ventana. In 2012 she published ‘Estereotipas’, a collection of 50 types of women based on op-ed columns that she had written for the newspaper El País and the magazine Elle for several years.

Mikel Martinez

Was born in Arinzano (Lizarra-Navarra) in 1955 and lives in Bilbao. He was a member of the Maskarada Theatre group for several years and has participated as an actor in a number of plays staged by this group, such as ‘Negros’ by Darío Fo and Stalislaw Lem’s ‘Bitácoras estelares’. In 2000 he founded the theatre project Tartean along with Patxo Telleria and Jokin Oregi. In 2001, together with Patxo Telleria, he created the theatre project ‘ez dok Hiru Bikoteatroa’. They have been working together for years as an artistic duo in theatrical projects, creating, producing and performing plays such as ‘Euskara Sencilloaren Manifiestoa’ or ‘Desentxufatuak’. He has also worked as a director, actor, scriptwriter and assistant film director, as well as a teacher. He is the creator of the ‘Café Bar Bilbao’ theatre awards.

Patxo Telleria

Was born in Bilbao in 1960. In 1985 he began as a performer in the independent theatre company Maskarada, where he took his first steps as playwright. Since then he has combined playwright along with acting and directing. Together with Aitor Mazo and Lander Iglesias, he founded the company Txirene. In 2000 he founded the theatre project Tartean with Mikel Martinez and Jokin Oregi. Bikoteatro: Ez Dok Hiru, is his theatrical project with Mikel Martínez. Both have been working for years as an artistic duo in theatrical projects, creating, producing and performing plays such as ‘Euskara Sencilloaren Manifiestoa’ or ‘Desentxufatuak’. For a decade he combined his work as an actor and playwright with that of a television scriptwriter, writing scripts for series such as ‘Ertzainak’ and ‘Goenkale’. He also wrote and directed, together with Aitor Mazo, the films ‘La máquina de pintar nubes’ and ‘Bypass’.

Ane Gebara

Began to explore the world of storytelling in 2016. First in Madrid, at La escuela de Cuenta Cuentos, and later with the storyteller Héctor Uri. She took part in 2017 in the Ahoz Aho competition in Ordizia and has since participated in its festival. That same year, thanks to the Gazte Sortzaileak grant, she decided to take the plunge into storytelling for adults. She created the show ‘Harriak kontatu didatena’ alongside Itziar Rekalde. In 2019, she founded the group Las Marchanillas and the puppet show ‘Ardi latxa oihanean galdu zenekoa’ together with Marta Alzate. Once again, the Gazte Sortzaileak grant in 2018 enabled her to embark on theatre and she created the play ‘Kittorik ez!’ together with Josune Velez de Mendizabal and Jason Guerra.

Josune Velez de Mendizabal

(Gasteiz, 1977) studied theatre at the TAE and Baratza Aretoa, as well as at the University of the Basque Country, obtaining a degree in acting. She is the founder of the group Tranpola, and became known as a creator at the 2016 Zurrunbilo Festival with ‘Oingoan Bai! In 2017 she worked with the company Josune Parasite at the Vitoria International Theatre Festival, as part of the Enredados call. She currently works as an actress and distributor in the company Pez Limbo. In 2020 she created and produced ‘Kittorik ez!’ together with Ane Gebara and Jason Guerra, in a company they named Les Bobé-Bobè. Over the last year she has created the Mamiak ensemble along with Marina Ortiz de Suárez, Ander Gondra, Edu Zelaieta, Txema Ramírez de la Piscina and Irantzu Lekue.

Gaizka Chamizo

(Galdakao, 1987). Graduate in Education and Diploma in Special Education at the UPV/ EHU, he acts as a clown, teacher and actor for film and theatre. Among his films, he has participated in the feature film ‘Maixabel’ by Iciar Bollaín, the short film ‘Si te mueres te mato’ by Erik Campos and the webseries ‘Hola mundo cruel’ by Tantaka TV. As a stage actor, he took part in the opera ‘Erwartung’ at the Arriaga Theatre in 2021, worked in the award-winning play ‘Amatxik dixit’ as well as in the show ‘Lurrak’. He will soon be a supporting actor in the feature film ‘Irati’ by Paul Urkijo and in the show Narziso, by Borobil teatroa. He won the award for Best Actor at the Pabellón 6 Short Theatre Conference. Salaketa. 2021 and the Kriseilu Award for best production in Basque at the Pabellón 6 Short Theatre Conference in 2019 for Amatxik dixit.

Pablo Martín Sánchez

(Reus, 1977) holds a PhD in French Language and Literature from the Université de Lille and a PhD in Literary and Art Theory and Comparative Literature from the University of Granada. He has published a collection of short stories ‘Fricciones’ (2011), the novels ‘El anarquista que se llamaba como yo’ (Acantilado, 2012), ‘Tuyo es el mañana’ (Acantilado, 2016), ‘Agatha’ (2017) -a book written in cooperation with Sara Mesa- and ‘Diario de un viejo cabezota’ (Acantilado, 2020). He has translated authors such as Marcel Schwob and has translated into Spanish the French literary phenomenon of 2020, ‘La anomalía’, by Hervé Le Tellier. As the latter, he is a member of the experimental avant-garde narrative group Oulipo, being the only Spanish member.

César Coca

(Bilbao, 1957) PhD in Journalism and Graduate in Information Science and Political Science and Sociology. His entire professional career has been linked to the newspaper El Correo, where, in addition to being editor, he is also deputy director. Author or co-author of a dozen books, he won the Miguel de Unamuno Essay Award in 2006. He is also a lecturer in Journalism at the UPV/EHU as well as at the Master’s Degree in Journalism at El Correo and the UPV.

Elena Sierra

(Bilbao, 1980), a graduate in Journalism from the UPV/EHU, she is a regular columnist for the newspaper El Correo and the municipal newspaper Bilbao, and sometimes works in communication and the organisation of conferences and events. She has participated in the creation of audiovisual scripts and written, in cooperation with other authors, books on family and collective memory such as ‘Bakio: el pueblo habla a través de sus símbolos’ (Bakio: the town speaks through its symbols) and ‘Un viaje de ida y vuelta. Peripecias de la familia Goffard por Europa’ and the novel ‘El hacedor de titulares’. Alone and flying solo, she is the author of texts such as ‘Historia de una escuela: Escuelas Zabala’ and ‘Nicolás María de Urgoiti. Castillos de papel’. She reads fast, laughs a lot.

Azul Tejerina

(Zumárraga, Gipuzkoa, 1973), a journalist at heart, dreamed of writing stories, of telling real or imaginary stories, and ended up in the “clutches” of what she calls “the best profession in the world”. A curious soul in her own right, this associate lecturer in Radio Narrative and Advertising at the University of Navarre is an empathetic practitioner who walks in the other person’s shoes and believes that all media are valid and should be at the service of the public, although radio is her passion. After working at Cope Madrid and Cope La Rioja, in 2002 she joined Cadena Ser and for the last nine years she has been directing the magazine ‘Hoy por hoy Bilbao’.

Carolina Ontivero

(Bilbao, 1975) is graduated in Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations from the University of the Basque Country. She has been part of the organisation of the Ja! festival since its first edition in 2010, when it was still called La Risa de Bilbao. She currently directs it with Juan Bas and is mainly in charge of programming and communication. She values humour above all else. Even if her bedside table is full of books about mourning, wars and concentration camps. Or precisely because of that.