Blog del Instituto Cervantes de Dublín

La 3ª edición del Festival Isla de literatura comienza en poco más de una semana. Un festival único en Dublín y en Irlanda. Este año, nuestra «ISLA» (acrónimo de Irish, Spanish and Latin American) recibe la visita de escritores consagrados, prometedores, y la de críticos, traductores y otras personalidades con una fuerte vinculación con el mundo literario de América Latina, España e Irlanda.

John Banville, Premio Príncipe de Asturias 2014, abrirá oficialmente el festival el viernes 17 a las 4 de la tarde y participará en la primera mesa redonda que lleva por título Retratar escribiendo, junto a la vanguardista escritora chilena Diamela Eltit y al multipremiado escritor español José Ovejero. La primera tarde del festival concluirá con el debate «Construyendo identidades» en el que contaremos con la presencia de Donal Ryan, autor de Spinning Heart’s, la poeta y traductora literaria Anamaría Crowe Serrano, y el escritor experimental Christodoulos Makris.

El tema central del sábado, «Nos gustan las historias» comenzará comenzará con la conversación en torno al valor de los cuentos con la presencia de Claire Keegan, el escritor vasco Harkaitz Cano y la poeta irlandesa Mary O’Malley. La segunda mesa redonda del día, «La palabra imprecisa», tendrá como invitados al autor de The Specked People’s, Hugo Hamilton, la poeta gallega Marta Dacosta y el escritor y comunicador irlandés Manchán Magan. Todos ellos abordarán temas como las peculiaridades, ventajas o problemas que supone vivir entre dos o más lenguas. El sábado finalizará con una mesa dedicada a reconocer y repasar el legado literario del gran escritor mexicano Octavio Paz. A esta conversación le seguirá una lectura poética en inglés, español, vasco y gallego.

Pero el sábado no termina ahí porque, especialmente para los interesados en la figura de Gabriel García Márquez y el propio Octavio Paz, la velada continuará con la proyección de los documentales Buscando a Gabo y Vida y obra de Octavio Paz.

El domingo es el día de «Cultura de libros», que comenzará con el debate sobre ficción y realidad en Literaturas enfrentadas con Paul Lynch, autor de Red Sky in Morning, el escritor y comunicador Norirlandés Malachi O’Doherty y el poeta y novelista argentino Américo Cristófalo. Cerraremos el festival con «Acceso a la cultura», con el escritor y comunicador irlandés John Kelly, la directora del semanario El Cultural, la periodista española Blanca Berasategui, y el escritor chileno Waldo Rojas.

Isla es, en definitiva, un festival dedicado a todos los que disfrutan de la lectura, la traducción, la poesía, el cuento y la literatura en general. Un diálogo entre culturas, un encuentro entre tres tradiciones literarias de primer orden y una ocasión inmejorable para acercarse a las letras en español.

¿Dónde?: Instituto Cervantes, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2.
¿Cuándo?: 17, 18 y 19 de octubre.
Apertura oficial: John Banville, 17 de octubre a las 4 de la tarde.
Entrada libre.
Traducción simultánea en inglés y español.

Texto: Miriam Abuin (prensa) prendub@cervantes.es

The 3rd ISLA Literary Festival sets itself as a unique event in Dublin and Ireland. ISLA (from Irish, Spanish and Latin American) Literary Festival welcomes well known and emerging writers and other personalities with a strong connection to the literary world from these three traditions.

John Banville will inaugurate the festival on Friday 17th at 4pm, and will take part in the first discussion about Portraying Through Writing, in which he will participate with the versatile Spanish writer José Ovejero and the avant-garde Chilean author Diamela Eltit. The evening will conclude with the round table Building Identities with Spinning Heart’s Donal Ryan, poet and literary translator Anamaría Crowe Serrano and the experimental writer Christodoulos Makris.

Saturday’s theme is We All Like Stories. We will commence talking about the value of short stories with Claire Keegan, Basque author Harkaitz Cano and Irish poet Mary O’Malley. In the round table Ambiguous Word, The Specked People’s author, Hugo Hamilton, Galician poet Marta Dacosta and Irish language writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan will discuss the challenges of living in between two or more languages. The last discussion of the day will be dedicated to the cultural and literary legacy of Mexican author Octavio Paz. The panel will be followed by a poetry reading in English, Spanish, Basque or Galician.

For those interested in Gabriel García Márquez and Octavio Paz, they can continue the evening enjoying the screenings of Buscando a Gabo and Vida y obra de Octavio Paz. Both documentaries focus on the personal lives of these Nobel Prize winning writers.

Sunday´s Book Culture will start with the panel about Facing Literatures: Fiction and Non Fiction with the author of Red Sky in Morning Paul Lynch, the Northern Irish writer and broadcaster Malachi O’Doherty and Argentinean poet and novelist Américo Cristófalo. We will close the festival with Access to Culture, with Irish writer and broadcaster John Kelly, the director of El Cultural, Spanish journalist Blanca Berasategui and Chilean writer Waldo Rojas.

ISLA is a multilingual and multicultural event for those who enjoy reading, translation, poetry, short stories, memoirs, travel books or novels. It’s a dialog between cultures, an encounter between these three literary traditions and an incomparable occasion to get close to some of your favourite writers in Spanish.

Location: Instituto Cervantes, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2
Date: 17th, 18th and 19th October
Opening speech by John Banville, 17th October at 4pm
Free Admission
Simultaneous interpreting available for attendees in Spanish and English

Text by: Miriam Abuin (press officer, prendub@cervantes.es)

Transcripción de la entrevista / Interview’s transcription

David Smith: Good afternoon, continuing our interviews for the Isla Festival here, in the Cervantes Institute we are with the acclaimed Irish novelist and critic John Banville. John, you are very welcome here to the institute this afternoon

John Banville: Thank you

David Smith: You opened the Festival yesterday you gave a wonderful speech one of the images that you invoked in the speech is a memory that you had your first visit, to Spain. A man on a horse, such a clear Quixotic reference, such a clear Cervantes reference.

John Banville: Cliché is the word that you are looking for.

David Smith: I did like that you mentioned that you didn’t know whether it was a black horse with a white background, or vice versa..How do you see the image of Don Quijote as it travels through…

John Banville: Sancho Panza is my hero, I don’t care much for Don Quijote. Sancho Panza is wonderful. I mean he is every man, he is every man trailing behind a mad dreamer, you know. The world is full of us. And of course it´s, you know, it really is the first novel, I suppose. You could go back to Latin
times but I think Quijote is the first great work of fiction in certainly in the modern era.

David Smith: Joyce says,whimsically that it’s the first book that´s a little bit about itself.

John Banville:Yes that’s true I hadn’t heard that but yes that is true it is self-conscious, it is aware it is self-referential. I suppose it’s more modern than it seems in that aspect.

David Smith: Do you see it as a book that will continuously submit itself to the prevailing literary theories?

John Banville: Well I mean, I don’t know. When I was young I was a great one for theory but the older one gets the more theories fall away. You know, the academies must be supplied, they must keep working… Comparative literature… but the thing about Cervantes is that you know, it’s great popular
literature. Now, Nabokoff hated Don Quijote, he said, you know, only people who find people being sick in each others faces will find this book funny and to a certain extent I agree with him. There´s a raucousness about it that I’m not quite convinced by… So here I am in the Cervantes Institute criticizing Cervantes. Typical!

David Smith: As Don Quixote would do himself. And your prose, interesting that you mention Nabokoff here compares to that confessional narrative famous of Vladimir Nábokoff. Your prose which has this extremely rich poetic element, one of the elements that was discussed yesterday in the roundtable
the boundaries between poetry and prose to see those two territories as territories that cross over?

John Banville: Well my old friend John McGahern used to make a nice distinction. He said that ”There’s
verse, and there’s prose and then there’s poetry.” And poetry can happen in either medium. And I agree with him. One has to be very careful. Irish writers are in love with language, we roll in it like a pig rolling in mud. You know, flinging it in the air. So we have to be careful, we have to apply self-discipline. But I do try to make my books as demanding as a poem. W.H. Auden said that ”The poem is the only work of art that you either take or leave.” You know you look at a picture and your mind can wander to think what you going to have for dinner, you can listen to a symphony and think about your girlfriend or something but a poem you either read it or you don’t. And I try to make my prose the same level of density and I want to make it as demanding as poetry This puts a lot of people off by the way.

David Smith: Interesting. And Octavio Paz, by the way, the great Mexican poet has a very clear distinction
he says ”Poetry inspires,” It’s beautiful in Spanish, this is a shoddy translation that I’m doing. He says that ”Prose aspires to say something whereas poetry aspires to be something.”

John Banville: Yes, well I won’t try to blur that distinction my books you know, you don’t read them for the plot. If you do you’ll be greatly disappointed. You don’t read into the characters you
don’t read them for dialogue, there’s very little dialogue. You read them for something else, you read them for an intensification. I see my book says, like all works of art, as quickening the sense of life, the sense of being alive giving you an intensified sense of what it is to be human that’s when I aspire to do and I see no distinction between prose and poetry and that aspiration.

David Smith: When I heard I had this opportunity, I went digging through old books of yours that I haven’t read in years. I have underlined one line in particular that always struckme as a difficult line, from ‘Shroud’ ”I used piously to hope that they would not have suffered” He’s talking about his mother and his father ”But since then I’ve learnt about hope.”That always affected me, I always wonder whether that was a difficult line for you to write? Do you find yourself-ah?

John Banville: Oh, no I’m not involved in ita I’m not there it’s it’s entirely impersonal. The notion that writing is self-expression is a false notion. And when I stand up from my desk and I
finish my day’s work the person who did the writing ceases to exist. This is why when I meet admirers of my work at readings, they always see this, you know you can always see this disappointment only in their eyes I want to say to them the point is, you like the books, but I have nothing to do with the books. The person you are talking to has nothing to do with it. He sits at the desk and does the work. But when he stops he ceases to exist. This is a difficult concept because people imagine, especially people who aspire to be writers that they are themselves going to have an intensified sense of being alive. It doesn’t work that way. My writing doesn’t work for me.

David Smith: Have you done this through discipline or is that idea, not one John Banville but a multiplicity…

John Banville: Oh I think any any artist would have the same sense of disembodiment and Elliott himself said you know that ‘The man who suffers is not the artist to create immense suffering,’ in the general sense of course, being Elliot it’s got to be suffering but you know, I firmly believe that that’s something else happens. Time becomes strange when you’re working. I always give the example I was writing
one day years ago, my wife put her head in the door of my study and said ‘I’m going to the shops’ a moment later she put her head in again, I said ‘I thought you were going to the shops? She had been to the shops! And I had no sense that of that time that space having past, there’s nothing on the page even,So where was I in that period? And that’s the point of the kind of prose that I write, it’s extreme concentration. I concentrate. You know, mornings will pass by and I won’t write anything, I’mjust sitting there,you know, and I sink deeper and deeper and deeper into myself Or I lose myself- I’m lost in myself so that by three or four in the afternoon, when I’m really working John Banville ceases to exist.There’s somebody
else there doing this. I discover I use words that I don’t even know the meaning of. I’ll look them up and discovered that they’re the right words. And that happens increasingly nowadays My workaday memory is fading because I’m getting old, but my store of words is intact. The day that I can’t drag up a word from that store, I’ll know that I’m finished.

David Smith: Characters in your book seem to be based on real, on historical figures. What obligation to history do you feel as a writer when you create a character?

John Banville: Absolutely none. Zero. Novelists, artists, are cannibals. We will eat our own children to make a line, to make a corner of a painting or to make a piece of music. We are completely ruthless. But then again, as I say the citizen who goes in to my study and sits down ceases to exist, when I start writing. The artist is completely amoral. I have no interest in politics, the person who writes has no interest in politics, society, in morals, family anything except getting this done. It’s a completely ruthless process, and anybody who tell you otherwise is lying, or is a fool.

David Smith: I see you about town, time to time. Dublin. And my friend always comments on ‘John Banville, the great wearer of hats. ‘I wonder..forgive me for asking such a whimsical question. Somebody who’s so involved, who wrangles with notions of identity, notions of consciousness, are you- I love your shoes the way. Are you conscious of style? Do you follow fashion?

John Banville: No, I like shoes, I like hats, I’m human you know but.. No I’m not, I’m not. I mean, look at me, this is hardly fashionable.

David Smith: It’s autumnal.

John Banville: I’m always autumnal. High summer, I’m autumnal. This is my season, this is the season I love, this is when Ireland comes into it’s absolute best. I love the climate here anyway I could’nt live anywhere else. The only city that I’ve ever been in that I thought looked anything like Dublin and in terms of light, is Copenhagen. It has that silvery melancholy light at all times of the year. Very very beautiful.

David Smith: Style in your work, are you conscious of a signature? That certainly the world is
aware of.

John Banville: No. For the most part I don’t know what I’m doing. I work in the darkness. I work in a personal darkness. I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing. I work by the sentence. Each sentence makes the next sentence and that sentence makes the next one. And I work on the principle that, if you look after the what is the phrase..If you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves.If you look after the sentence then the book will get done eventually by itself, in some strange mysterious way that I don’t understand. When I was young I was very much, I thought that I was very much in control of everything You know, when I started a book I knew what the last line was going to be.. But as I got older, I allowed instinct to work. And also you know you imagine that with age will come wisdom. It doesn’t. all that comes with age is confusion. But confusion is good state for an artist to be in. Not knowing is better. I was always puzzled by I think that Elliott said, that T.S. Eliot said that the artist, it’s no business of the artist to think. I was always puzzled by this, and I still am to
a certain extent. I do see what he means, that you have to work by instinct, you have to work by passion.
But I am infected with the Bacillus of thinking. Thinking I like books where I can see evidence of a mind at work and I like my own books to be that as well. But it’s very difficult get thought into fiction. Difficult to get thought into art. I discovered that when I was writing my books on Copernicus and Kepler to put actual science into fiction, they just don’t fit together. They really do not fit.

David Smith: In terms of how people describe your work, Do you have a preferred adjective?

John Banville:Oh I don’t know because I don’t read reviews. I don’t read anything about myself so I don’t know what they say.

David Smith: Banvillian.

John Banville: Oh that’s nice, I’ll get into the Oxford Dictionary for you, probably.

David Smith: And my last questions, John, the quote that I took from ‘Shroud’ refers I think to the Nietzschean quote that you introduced the book with. The words themselves and just the words
that Nietzsche chooses in this case is, ‘I do suffer.’ That ´´words in general perhaps are on the horizons of our knowledge but not truths.´´ Is this what drives you, is this tendency towards a horizon? As I say, you get older you perhaps realise that things are more in the dark but that you
tend towards a horizon of meaning.

John Banville: That’s a good question. I strive to get to make my sentences as close to perfection as I can. I will never get perfection, you know, all works of art are failures. By necessity. Because they set
out to be perfect and perfection is not given to us. But that’s about the limit of what I do now, I try to make the sentences as good, and as rich and as poetic and as elusive as I can. And the rest takes care of itself, so. You know, in the early books, especially in the Copernicus and Kepler books, a long time ago. The strive towards knowledge, towards cognition is very evident in those books but since then, my writing career, such as it is, has been a flight from meaning, a flight from thought, a flight from cognition, into something else that I haven’t got a name for. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to do, maybe I’m trying to define what it is I’m trying to define.

David Smith: John thank you very much for joining us this
afternoon, I hope you enjoy the rest of the festival.

John Banville: Thank you.

Hace poco menos de un mes celebrábamos, en el Instituto Cervantes de Dublín, la segunda edición del Festival Isla de literatura. Ahora te ofrecemos todos los videos de las mesas redondas, las lecturas y las entrevistas que hicimos a los autores en nuestra biblioteca a través de nuestro canal de video.

Quizás te perdiste alguna mesa, quizás vivas fuera de Dublín y no pudiste asistir a ninguna de ellas, quizás quieras aprovechar los vídeos para disfrutar una vez más de la buena literatura, o es posible incluso que seas profesor de español y te interese utilizarlos en tus clases. Porque ya hemos subtitulados muchos de ellos en español. De modo que no hay excusa. Hay mil razones para verlos. Los tienes a tu disposición, mientras nosotros seguimos preparando la tercera edición del festival que se celebrará en noviembre de 2014.

Ahora, por cierto, es un buen momento para hacernos llegar tus sugerencias. ¿A qué escritor te gustaría ver en Dublín?, ¿qué crees que deberíamos cambiar en el festival?, ¿qué podríamos mejorar? Tu opinión es importante. ¡Escríbenos. Ya sabes dónde estamos!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated our Isla Festival of literature at the Instituto Cervantes in Dublin. Now, you can watch all the videos of the roundtable discussions, the literary readings and the interviews we did in our library. They are all available on our video channel .

Perhaps you missed a reading, maybe you live outside Dublin and could not attend any of them , or maybe you want to enjoy once again the taste of good literature. They are good even for practising your Spanish, as many of the videos are already subtitled. So there is no excuse . There are a thousand reasons to see them, while we continue preparing the third edition of the festival to be held in November 2014.

Now, of course , is a good time to send us your suggestions . What writer would you like to meet in Dublin?, what do you think we should improve or change for the next year. Your opinion is important so, write to us! We are more than happy to receive your feedback!

John Boyne, Julio Espinosa and Kirmen Uribe have dealt extensively with the theme of resistance against power in their novels, and they all with be with us on Saturday, 19th October, in our Isla Literary Festival.

From the Chilean dictator whose echoes resonate in La fría piel de agosto to the bombing of Guernica that resounds in Lo que mueve el mundo, the Nazi concentration camps in The Boy in the Striped Pijamas and the Russian Czar from The House of Special Purpose, not least forgetting the mutineers from The Bounty. More information on our website!

Uno de los platos fuertes de nuestro Festival Isla será la visita de John Boyne con Julio Espinosa y Kirmen Uribe. Con ellos hablaremos de novela, de memoria y resistencia en una mesa moderada por Cara Levey.

Si toda la obra de Gabriel García Márquez es un retrato del poder, quizás la obra de Mario Vargas Llosa sea un retrato de la resistencia, o de la toma de conciencia frente a ese poder.

John Boyne, Julio Espinosa y Kirmen Uribe han abordado en sus novelas, profusamente, el tema del poder y de la resistencia frente al poder. De la dictadura chilena, cuyos ecos resuenan en La fría piel de agosto, hasta el bombardeo de Guernica que retumba en Lo que mueve el mundo, pasando por los campos de concentración nazis de El niño del pijama de rayas y la rusia zarista de La casa del propósito especial, sin olvidar a unos marineros amotinados en el Bounty.

Más información sobre el festival, cómo no, en nuestra página web.

The great Irish writer John Banville opens our Isla Literature Festival on 18th October. On this occasion, he visits on Friday, October 4th, the Instituto Cervantes in Madrid and participates in the cycle of “Encuentros en el Cervantes”, a conversation that will inquire into his biography and his literary work.

John Banville (Wexford, Ireland, 1945) has received numerous awards, like the prestigious Booker Prize for his novel The Sea in 2005. Under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, he has written a series of highly successful crime novels.

As usual, the public attending the meetings may be part of the conversation. You can participate sending your questions to @InstCervantes with the hashtag #EncuentrosCervantes. You can send them as well through the page of Culture of the newspaper El País.

The “Encuentros” may be followed live through the website of the Instituto Cervantes and El País.

El gran escritor irlandés John Banville abrirá nuestro Festival Isla de Literatura el próximo 18 de octubre. Con este motivo, visitará el próximo viernes, día 4 de octubre, el Instituto Cervantes de Madrid y participará en el ciclo de Encuentros en el Cervantes, una conversación que indagará en su perfil biográfico y creativo.

John Banville (Wexford, Irlanda, 1945) ha recibido numerosos galardones, entre los que destaca el prestigioso Booker Prize, por su novela El mar en 2005. Bajo el seudónimo de Benjamin Black ha escrito un ciclo de novelas negras de gran éxito, ambientadas en el Dublín de los años 50 y protagonizadas por el patólogo forense Quirke.

Como es habitual, el público asistente a los Encuentros podrá formar parte de la conversación planteando sus preguntas al invitado. Además, se podrá participar a través de la cuenta de Twitter del Instituto Cervantes (@InstCervantes), con la etiqueta #EncuentrosCervantes, y a través de la página de Cultura del diario El País.

Los «Encuentros» podrán seguirse en directo a través de la página web del Instituto y en la página de Cultura del diario El País.

Instituto Cervantes Dublin is pleased to present the second edition of the Isla Festival of Literature.

This is a unique opportunity to attend a gathering of Irish and Hispanic literature where you will enjoy round tables, readings and other parallel events during three consecutive days. This year, on the second edition of this festival we will have 16 authors from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Ireland, Mexico and Spain. Poetry, novel, essay, theatre and cinema will be the main characters of a pluralistic program for all audiences.

The ISLA Festival or Irish, Spanish and Latin American Literary Festival is a cultural initiative in Ireland carried out by the Instituto Cervantes Dublin in collaboration with the Embassies of Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Spain and Mexico, as well as Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Ireland Literature Exchange, Poetry Ireland and with kind support of Dublin City University, Trinity College Dublin, NUI Galway and NUI Maynooth.

Poco más de un mes para que de comienzo el Festival Isla de Literatura 2013. En este festival reuniremos a dieciséis escritores de Irlanda, España y Latinoamérica, tres días consecutivos con mesas redondas, lecturas y otros eventos paralelos. En esta edición, contaremos con 16 autores provenientes de Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Irlanda, México y España. Poesía, novela, ensayo, teatro y cine, serán los protagonistas de un programa plural y para todos los públicos.

El Festival ISLA (Irish Spanish Latin American Literary Festival) es una iniciativa cultural puesta en marcha en Irlanda por el Instituto Cervantes de Dublín con la colaboración de las Embajadas de Argentina, Chile, Cuba, España y México, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Ireland Literature Exchange, Poetry Ireland y el apoyo de las universidades Dublin City University, Trinity College Dublin, NUI Galway y NUI Maynooth.

Como sabéis, este año se conmemora el centenario de la muerte de Bram Stoker (1847-1912). Por ello, nos acercamos a la figura de este matemático y escritor de novelas y relatos irlandés de la mano de Alicia Mariño y Luis Alberto de Cuenca, grandes conocedores de su obra.

Aunque Bram Stoker fue un autor muy prolífico, se le recuerda principalmente por la creación de una de las historias de terror que más han influido a lo largo del tiempo: “Drácula”.

Alicia Mariño es licenciada en Derecho y en Filología Francesa. Ha trabajado sobre el género fantástico en distintos autores y últimamente ha orientado su labor hacia la literatura comparada, estudiando la génesis y evolución de ciertas leyendas europeas.

Luis Alberto de Cuenca (Madrid, 1950) escribe lo que él denomina poesía transculturalista en la cual lo trascendente se codea con lo cotidiano y la cultura popular se mezcla con la literaria. Fue director de la Biblioteca Nacional y Secretario de Cultura del gobierno español.

En estos videos son entrevistados por nuestro compañero Alfonso Fernández Cid. Edición de video de Cris Méndez.

In 2012 we are conmmemorating the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker´s death (1847-1912). Therefore, we would like to bring the figure of this Irish mathematician and novel and short story writer closer to you.

Although his work was very prolific, he has been remembered mainly by the creation of one of the most influential horror stories in history: Dracula.

Alicia Mariño has a degree in Law and in French Philology. She has worked on the fantasy genre and recently she has focused on comparative literature, studying the origin and evolution of some European legends.

Luis Alberto de Cuenca (Madrid, 1950), one of Spain’s most famous living poets, writes what he calls ‘transculturalist’ poetry in which the transcendental rubs shoulders with the everyday, and literary and popular cultures intermingle. He uses both free verse and traditional metres and his verse is famous for its ironic elegance and its scepticism.

Interviewed by Alfonso Fernández Cid. Video editor: Cris Méndez.

Hoy se cumplen 165 años del nacimiento del escritor irlandés Bram Stoker, este año se cumple también el centenario de su fallecimiento, en abril de 1912. Con este motivo, la ciudad de Dublín, ciudad siempre literaria, se ve colmada de actividades en honor del autor de Drácula. Y claro está, en el Instituto Cervantes no podíamos ser menos. Por ello, el día 28 de noviembre celebramos un homenaje al escritor dublinés que contará con la presencia de Luis Alberto de Cuenca y Alicia Mariño. La charla será moderada por el Dr. Jarlath Killen, profesor de Literatura Victoriana del Trinity College Dublin.

Luis Alberto de Cuenca (Madrid, 1950) escribe lo que él denomina poesía transculturalista en la cual lo trascendente se codea con lo cotidiano y la cultura popular se mezcla con la literaria. Fue director de la Biblioteca Nacional y Secretario de Cultura del gobierno español.

Alicia Mariño es licenciada en Derecho y en Filología Francesa. Ha trabajado sobre el género fantástico en distintos autores y últimamente ha orientado su labor hacia la literatura comparada, estudiando la génesis y evolución de ciertas leyendas europeas.

Instituto Cervantes Dublin is pleased to invite Luis Alberto de Cuenta and Alicia Mariño, who will pay tribute to the Dubliner writer Bram Stoker. The talk will be chaired by Dr. Jarlath Killen, Lecturer in Victorian Literature at Trinity College Dublin.

This year we are conmmemorating the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker´s death (1847-1912). Therefore, we would like to bring the figure of this Irish mathematician and novel and short story writer closer to you. Although his work was very prolific, he has been idolized and remembered by the creation of one of the most influential horror stories in history: Dracula.

Luis Alberto de Cuenca (Madrid, 1950), one of Spain’s most famous living poets, writes what he calls ‘transculturalist’ poetry in which the transcendental rubs shoulders with the everyday, and literary and popular cultures intermingle. He uses both free verse and traditional metres and his verse is famous for its ironic elegance and its scepticism.

Alicia Mariño has a degree in Law and in French Philology. She has worked on the fantasy genre and recently she has focused on comparative literature, studying the origin and evolution of some European legends.

Foto: Roberto de Zayas

El presidente de Irlanda, Michael D. Higgins, inauguró oficialmente la primera edición del Festival ISLA de Literatura el pasado 2 de noviembre en el Instituto Cervantes de Dublín. y con ello contribuyó de manera decisiva a su éxito. El festival, por el que pasaron a lo largo del fin de semana cerca de mil asistentes, reunió a escritores de Argentina, Chile, Cuba, México, Irlanda y España en torno a una serie de lecturas, mesas redondas y proyecciones cinematográficas.

El presidente habló ante una sala abarrotada con cerca de 200 personas y les dio la bienvenida en español, irlandés, e inglés. Después de saludar a los asistentes, centró su alocución en los recuerdos de su reciente viaje diplomático por América Latina.

«He regresado recientemente de mi visita a Chile, Brasil y Argentina, una parte del mundo que tiene un lugar especial en mi corazón», dijo Higgins. «Durante este viaje, me llamó la atención una vez más la profundidad del compromiso con la cultura y la literatura irlandesa que existe en América Latina y cómo nuestras dos tradiciones se han influido y enriquecido mutuamente».

Higgins habló después sobre el papel que la escritora Kate O’Brien ha jugado en la literatura irlandesa y española, y la intensa conexión de la autora con España.

El amor del presidente por la poesía también se hizo evidente cuando aplaudió el énfasis que el Festival ISLA de Literatura hizo sobre este género en su programa. «Estoy impresionado por la profundidad y la fuerza de la poesía en este programa. Seamus Heaney, en su magnífica colección de ensayos «The Redress of Poetry», habla de cómo la poesía equilibra «la balanza de la realidad hacia un cierto equilibrio trascendente». El festival ISLA, con sus fuertes elementos interculturales, y los muchos poetas representados en él, como Maighread Medbh y Lorna Shaughnessy, parece tener esa inventiva deliciosa de la que Heaney habla en su obra».

El presidente finalizó leyendo el poema de Oliver St. John Gogarty «An Long» primero en lengua irlandesa y después en inglés.

Información basada en la nota de prensa de Megan Specia y Sergio Angulo.

Michael D. Higgins launched the first Irish, Spanish, and Latin America (ISLA) Literary Festival on the evening of November 2 in the Instituto Cervantes in Dublin. The festival, which brought together writers from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Ireland and Spain, was held over the weekend and featured a series of readings and round table discussions.

The President spoke to a crowd of approximately 200 participants and welcomed them in Spanish, Irish, and English. After greeting the crowd, he spoke to those gathered about a recent diplomatic trip to Latin America.

“I have recently returned from visiting Chile, Brazil, and Argentina, a part of the world which has a cherished place in my heart,” said Higgins. “During these visits, I was struck again by the depth of the engagement with Irish culture and writing that exists in Latin America and how our two traditions have influenced and enriched each other.”

Higgins went on to speak about the role than writer Kate O´Brien has played in Irish and Spanish literature, and the intense connection of the author to Spain.

The President´s love of poetry was also evident when he applauded ISLA´s emphasis on the genre. Said Higgins, “[I am] impressed by the depth and strength of poetic representation in the programme. Seamus Heaney, in his great collection on ´The Redress of Poetry´, speaks of how poetry balances ´the scales of reality towards some transcendent equilibrium´. The ISLA festival, with its strong intercultural elements, and the many poets represented like Maighread Medbh and Lorna Shaughnessy … would seem to have that self-delighting inventiveness of which Heaney speaks.”

He closed by reading Oliver St. John Gogarty´s poem “An Long” (The Ship) first in the Irish language and then in English.

Megan Specia & Sergio Angulo

Kevin Barry participó en una lectura literaria junto a Elia Barceló, Christopher Michael Domínguez, María Negroni y Keith Ridgway. Entrevistado por Sergio Angulo. Edición de video: Cris Méndez.

Kevin Barry nació en Limerick y vive en Sligo. Su primer libro de relatos, There are Little Kingdoms, ganó el Premio Rooney de Literatura Irlandesa en 2007. Ha escrito sobre viajes y literatura para The Guardian, The Irish Times, The Sydney Morning Herald y muchas otras publicaciones. Su primera novela, City of Bohane (2011) ha sido galardonada en Reino Unido con el Authors’ club Best First Novel Award, que premia a la mejor primera novela del año.

Kevin Barry was born in Limerick and now lives in Sligo. His first collection of short stories, There Are Little Kingdoms, won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2007. He has written about travel and literature for The Guardian, The Irish Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and many other publications. His debut novel City of Bohane (2011) recently won the Authors’ Club Best First Novel award in Britain.

Niamh O’Connor participó en la mesa redonda “Conflictos: ficción, humor y sociedad” junto a Lorenzo Silva, Bernardo Toro y María Negroni. Niamh O’Connor es entrevistada por Sergio Angulo. Edición de video: Cris Méndez.

Memoria histórica, conflictos nacionales o internacionales, crimen y cotidianidad serán temas presentes en esta mesa gracias a la creación literaria de los invitados Lorenzo Silva, Bernardo Toro y Niamh O’Connor. Modera: Kate Quinn (NUI Galway)

Niamh O’Connor es una de las figuras más destacadas dentro del género policiaco de Irlanda, como escritora y como periodista. Como redactora de la sección de Sucesos del Sunday World, ha entrevistado a asesinos de triste fama y destapó una red internacional de prostitución como infiltrada. Se infiltró también en una banda que robó millones a los bancos mediante una estafa de hipotecas y que desencadenó una investigación por parte del Criminal Assets Bureau.

Ha escrito tres novelas dentro de la serie DI Jo Birmingham, If I Never See You Again, Taken, and Too Close For Comfort, nominada esta última a los premios Irish Book Awards 2012 en la categoría de novela negra. Worse can Happen saldrá publicada en 2013.

Niamh es también autora de los best-sellers Blood Ties, Cracking Crime y The Black Widow, the Catherine Nevin story, basados en hechos reales.

Historical memory, national or international conflicts and crime and daily life were topics at this table thanks to literary works by guests Lorenzo Silva, Bernardo Toro and Niamh O’Connor. Chaired by Kate Quinn (NUI Galway).

Niamh O’Connor is one of Ireland’s best-known true crime authors and journalists. As
True Crime Editor with the Sunday World, she has interviewed infamous murderers and gone undercover to expose an international prostitution ring. She has also infiltrated a gang running a mortgage fraud swindling the banks out of millions, leading to an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Niamh has written three novels in the DI Jo Birmingham series, If I Never See You Again, Taken, and Too Close For Comfort which as been short listed for the Irish Book Awards 2012 Crime Fiction book of the year. Worse Can Happen is due out in 2013.

Niamh is also the bestselling true crime author of Blood Ties, Cracking Crime, and The Black Widow, the Catherine Nevin story.

Catherine Dunne participó en la mesa redonda “Escritores sin escrúpulos: intimidad, violencia y humor en literatura” / Writers without scruples: Intimacy, violence and humour in literature. Entrevistada por Megan Specia. Edición de video: Cris Méndez.

Temas como la identidad y la memoria, la violencia o el humor fueron tratados por los invitados Ita Daly, Christopher Domínguez Michael, Rafael Gumucio y Catherine Dunne, con la moderación de Ciaran Cosgrove (Trinity College Dublin).

Catherine Dunne (Dublín, 1954), estudió inglés y español en Trinity College de Dublín. Su primera novela, In the Beginning, fue publicada en 1997. Le siguió A Name for Himself, finalista del premio Kerry Fiction Prize. Ha publicado otras seis novelas, The Walled Garden (2000), Another Kind of Life (2003), Something Like Love (2006), At a Time Like This (2007), Set in Stone (2009), Missing Julia (2011) y el ensayo An Unconsidered People: The Irish in Sixties London (2003).

Sus novelas The Walled Garden (El jardín vallado) y A Name for Himself (Un nombre propio) han sido traducidas al español.

Topics such as identity and memory, violence or humour were dealt with by guests Ita Daly, Christopher Domínguez Michael, Rafael Gumucio and Catherine Dunne, chaired by Ciaran Cosgrove (Trinity College Dublin).

Catherine Dunne (Dublin, 1954) studied English and Spanish at Trinity College, Dublin. Her first novel, In the Beginning, was published in 1997. A Name for Himself followed a year later, and was short listed for the Kerry Fiction Prize. She has published six further novels, The Walled Garden (2000), Another Kind of Life (2003), Something Like Love (2006), At a Time Like This (2007), Set in Stone (2009), Missing Julia (2011) and the non-fiction book An Unconsidered People: The Irish in Sixties London (2003).

Her novels The Walled Garden (El jardín vallado) and A Name for Himself (Un nombre propio) have been translated into Spanish.

Keith Ridgway participó en una lectura literaria junto a Elia Barceló, Christopher Michael Domínguez, María Negroni y Kevin Barry. Entrevistado por Megan Specia. Edición de video: Cris Méndez.

Keith Ridgway nació en Dublín en 1965. Su primera obra de ficción fue Horses (1997), a la que siguieron The Long Falling (1998), Standard Time (2000); un libro de relatos, The Parts (2003); Animals (2006) y Goo Book (2011). Su última novela publicada es Hawthorn & Child (2012).

Ha recibido numerosos premios, entre ellos el Prix Femina Etranger y el Prix Premier Roman en París en 2001 por The Long Falling bajo el título en francés Mauvais Pente, y el premio Rooney de literatura irlandesa en 2001. Las obras de Ridgway han sido traducidas a varios idiomas entre otros, el español.

Keith Ridgway (Dublin, 1965). His first fictional prose Horses was published in 1997, followed by The Long Falling (1998), Standard Time (2000). A collection of short fiction, The Parts (2003), Animals (2006), Goo Book (2011) and Hawthorn & Child (2012).

He has received numerous awards such as the Prix Femina Etranger and the Prix Premier Roman in Paris in 2001 for The Long Falling, under its French title of Mauvaise Pente, and The Rooney Prize For Irish Literature in 2001.

His work has been translated into several languages and has been published in Spain, between other countries.

Lorna Shaughnessy participó en la mesa redonda «Cruzando Fronteras: Poesía en la maleta» junto a Omar Pérez, Diego Valverde Villena y Máighréad Medbh. Lorna Shaughnessy es entrevistada por Alfonso Fernández Cid. Edición de video: Cris Méndez.

La poesía llega al festival ISLA con los autores Omar Pérez, Diego Valverde Villena, Máighréad Medbh y Lorna Shaughnessy. Cuatro formas de construir desde lo poético para enriquecer el panorama contemporáneo. Modera: Catherine O’Leary (NUI Maynooth)

Lorna Shaughnessy Lorna Shaughnessy (Belfast, Irlanda del Norte, 1961) es poeta, traductora y profesora de Lengua Española en la Universidad Nacional de Irlanda, Galway. Ha publicado dos libros de poemas, Torching the Brown River (2009) y Witness Trees (2011) y dos traducciones de poesía contemporánea mexicana, Mother Tongue. Selected Poems by Pura López Colomé y If We Have Lost our Oldest Tales, de María Baranda (2006). Su traducción de The Disappearance of Snow de Manuel Rivas fue publicada en 2012.

Poetry arrives at ISLA festival with authors Omar Pérez, Diego Valverde Villena, Máighréad Medbh and Lorna Shaughnessy. Four ways to build from poetry to enrich contemporary work. Chaired by Catherine O’Leary (NUI Maynooth).

Lorna Shaughnessy (Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1961) is a poet, translator and lecturer in Spanish in the National University of Ireland, Galway. She has published two collections of poems, Torching the Brown River (2009) and Witness Trees (2011) and two translations of contemporary Mexican poetry, Mother Tongue: Selected Poems by Pura López Colomé and If We Have Lost our Oldest Tales by María Baranda, (2006). Her translation of Manuel Rivas’ The Disappearance of Snow, was published in 2012.

Máighréad Medbh participó en la mesa redonda “Cruzando Fronteras: Poesía en la maleta” junto a Omar Pérez, Diego Valverde Villena y Lorna Shaughnessy. Máighréad Medbh es entrevistada por Megan Specia. Edición de video: Cris Méndez.

La poesía llega al festival ISLA con los autores Omar Pérez, Diego Valverde Villena, Máighréad Medbh y Lorna Shaughnessy. Cuatro formas de construir desde lo poético para enriquecer el panorama contemporáneo. Modera: Catherine O’Leary (NUI Maynooth)

Máighréad Medbh (Condado de Limerick, Irlanda) ha publicado cinco colecciones de poesía y un audiolibro. Fue pionera de la performance poética en Irlanda en los años 90. Su colección más reciente es Twelve Beds for the Dreamer (2010).

Máighréad ha sido publicada en una gran variedad de antologías y ha escrito versiones de poemas gallegos para dos antologías recientes editadas por Manuela Palacios de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Durante el festival, Máighréad presentó una mezcla de obras nuevas y algunas de Twelve Beds for the Dreamer y When the Air Inhales You.

Poetry arrives at ISLA festival with authors Omar Pérez, Diego Valverde Villena, Máighréad Medbh and Lorna Shaughnessy. Four ways to build from poetry to enrich contemporary work. Chaired by Catherine O’Leary (NUI Maynooth).

Máighréad Medbh (Co. Limerick) has five published poetry collections and an audio CD. She was a pioneer of performance poetry in Ireland in the nineteen-nineties. Her most recent collection, Twelve Beds for the Dreamer was published in 2010.

Máighréad has been published in a wide range of anthologies, and has written versions of Galician poems for two recent anthologies edited by Manuela Palacios of Universidade de Santiago de Compostela.

During the festival, Máighréad will be presenting a mix of new work and some from Twelve Beds for the Dreamer and When the Air Inhales You.