FIL Program 2024 Program Search
Literary Program
Spain, Guest of Honor
Literary Program
Encounter with the strange: vibrations, ghosts, homes and insects
Spain, Guest of Honor
Literary Program
Encounter with the strange: vibrations, ghosts, homes and insects
The everyday, what we know and call reality, is transformed into a distorted and disturbing landscape in the works of Pilar Adón, Jon Bilbao, Jesús Carrasco and José Ovejero. Their characters coexist with specters, insects and animals; they inhabit phantasmagoric houses and spaces built on both physical and emotional scaffolding. Places that speak of the past through the present to look to the future through characters from different generations who question one another. The four authors will discuss these unexpected encounters and the strange trajectories that take place right at the intersection of the real and the fantastic.
Participants: José Ovejero, Jesús Carrasco, Pilar Adón, Jon Bilbao
Moderator: Marta Fernández
José Ovejero
Invitado de HonorOvejero has published novels, poetry, plays, short stories, essays, and travel books. His works have received numerous awards, including Anagrama for essay (La ética de la crueldad, 2012), Alfaguara for novel (Inventing love, 2013), Setenil for story books (Mundo extraño, 2018) and Juan Gil-Albert for poetry (Mujer lenta, 2018).
Other works by him include the essay Escritores delincuentes and the novels Los ángeles feroces, Insurrección and Humo. In 2023, he won the Premio Dulce Chacón for the best book of the year for Mientras estamos muertos.
He has taught creative writing workshops in various centers and universities in Spain, Latin America and the United States.
His works have been translated into several languages, and his stories have appeared in numerous anthologies both inside and outside Spain.
He runs “El Periscopio,” the culture section of La Marea, and he contributes to various media outlets.
The novel Vibración is his latest work of fiction.
Jesús Carrasco
Invitado de HonorCarrasco was born in Olivenza (Badajoz) in 1972 and currently resides in Seville.
Out in the open (2013, Seix Barral) stands out as one of the most dazzling debuts on the international literary scene, and received the Book of the Year from the Booksellers' Guild of Madrid; the award Premio de Cultura, Arte y Literatura from the Foundation for Rural Studies; the English PEN Award and the Prix Ulysse for the Best First Novel. He was shortlisted for the European Literature Prize in the Netherlands; the Prix Méditerranée Étranger in France and the Dulce Chacón, Quimera, Cálamo and San Clemente awards in Spain.
Selected Book of the Year by El País in 2013 and by The Independent as one of the best translated books in the United Kingdom in 2014, Out in the open has been translated into 29 languages and adapted to film by Benito Zambrano.
His second novel, La tierra que pisamos (2016, Seix Barral), received the European Union Prize for Literature. Llévame a casa (2021, Ax Barral) has gained excellent reviews and is on its fifth edition, with as many translations. It received the Dulce Chacón and Casino de Santiago awards. Elogio de las manos (2024, Seix Barral) received the award Premio Biblioteca Breve in 2024.
Pilar Adón
Invitado de Honor(Madrid, 1971) has received the National Narrative Award, the Critics’ Award, the Francisco Umbral Book of the Year Award and the Cálamo Otra Mirada Award for her novel Of Beasts and Fowls (2024, Open Letter).
She has also published the novels Las efímeras (2015, Galaxia Gutenberg) and Las hijas de Sara (2003, Alianza), as well as the long, illustrated storybook Eterno amor (2021, Páginas de Espuma), and the collections of short stories La vida sumergida (2017, Galaxia Gutenberg), El mes más cruel (2010, Impedimenta), which earned her the FNAC New Talent award, and Viajes inocentes (2005, Páginas de Espuma), for which she won the Ojo Crítico de Narrativa Award.
She has written several books of poetry: Da dolor (2020), Las órdenes (Madrid Booksellers' Guild Book of the Year Award 2018), Mente animal (2014) and La hija del cazador (2011), all published by La Bella Varsovia.
She has translated works by Penelope Fitzgerald, John Fowles, Iris Murdoch, Edith Wharton, and others.
Other activities involving the participant:
Tradition and modernity in the Spanish and Mexican short story
Poetry Room
Jon Bilbao
Invitado de Honor(Ribadesella, 1972) is a mining engineer and has a degree in English Philology. He is the author of the storybooks Como una historia de terror (2008, Salto de Página; Premio Ojo Crítico de Narrativa), Bajo el influjo del cometa (2010, Salto de Página; Premio Tigre Juan and Premio Euskadi de Literatura) and Física familiar (2014, Salto de Página), and of the novels El hermano de las moscas (2008, Salto de Página), Padres, hijos y primates (2011, Salto de Página) and Shakespeare y la ballena blanca (2013, Tusquets).
His stories are collected in anthologies such as Siglo XXI. Los nuevos nombres del cuento español actual (2010, Menoscuarto), Pequeñas resistencias 5. Antología del nuevo cuento español (2001-2010) (2010, Páginas de Espuma) and Cuento español actual (1992-2012) (2014, Cátedra).
With Impedimenta, he has published the story collection Estrómboli (2016) and the novels El silencio y los crujidos (2018), Los extraños (2021), Basilisco (2020, Premio Euskadi de Plata and Premio de las Librerías de Navarra), Araña (2023) and Matamonstruos (2024). The last three titles form an ambitious trilogy that combines the western genre with realistic and autofictional narratives, exploring the mutual influences between fiction and reality.
In the field of graphic novels, he wrote the script for La auditora (2019, Astiberri), a science fiction work that blends dystopian themes with social realism and features illustrations by Javier Peinado.
As a fiction translator, he has translated works by Iris Murdoch, Joseph Conrad, H. P. Lovecraft, and T. C. Boyle, among other authors.
He lives in Bilbao.
Marta Fernández
Invitado de HonorJournalist and writer who studied Journalism at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She began her career at Diario 16 and Televisión Española (TVE). In 1997, she first appeared on camera on Telemadrid. Two years later, she became part of the founding team of CNN+. She remained with the news channel until 2007. That year, she joined Mediaset to take over the midday news program. She stayed with the Italian group until 2016 as a presenter for Informativos Telecinco and Noticias Cuatro, programs focused on political current affairs and special reports.
A regular contributor to the cultural magazine Jot Down and GQ, she joined El País in 2017.She later collaborated with Vanity Fair, where she directed and presented the book podcast "Nota al pie."Since 2013, she has participated in La Ventana on Cadena SER, and starting this season, she has her own segment on the program "Academia de saberes inútiles." In recent years, she has realized her dream of interviewing the writers she admires most and lending her voice to audiobooks.
She has published a novel, Te regalaré el mundo, and No te enamores de cobardes, a journey through the myths of cinema and literature. Her latest book is a historical essay on imposture: La mentira, Historia de impostores y engañados. However, the literary activity she dedicates the most energy to is being an advocate for Thomas Pynchon in Spain.
Other activities involving the participant:
Portrait of a time with family
One-way trip from nowhere
The mystery of the imagination that creates (and destroys) worlds
"I'm here for you, no matter what." Friendship
Personal paradises
Speak, wish
Crossroads. Music, poetry and literature
Monday, December 02
17:00 to 17:50
Salón 1, planta baja, Expo Guadalajara
Follow the live broadcasts through our channel 
See live