Guadalajara International Book Fair

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Guest of Honor Pavilion

Spain, Guest of Honor
Guest of Honor Pavilion
Meetings (and misunderstandings). En otro país

Uprooted writing, outside the country of origin, has been a common practice in Spanish literature. For various reasons - political or economic exiles, or other personal reasons - many Spanish and Latin American authors have written their work in a country other than their own, but within the Spanish-speaking world. These journeys within the diverse geography of Spanish-speaking countries have allowed these authors to observe their home from far away and with greater clarity, to contrast their different realities, and to intermingle their experience in their homeland with the places that subsequently welcomed them or became their home.

Against this backdrop, En otro país is an anthology of chronicles co-published by AECID and Candaya publishers, featuring 12 authors from Latin America and Spain with texts in which they describe an episode that took place in a country other than their own, but within the scope of the Spanish-speaking world.

Participants: Aitor Romero Ortega, Felipe Restrepo Pombo

Moderator: Javier Serena

Aitor Romero Ortega

Invitado de Honor

(Barcelona, 1985) studied Industrial Engineering in Barcelona and Lyon. Since 2012, he has lived in Madrid. He is the author of the novel Deflagración (2015, Amor de madre, 2015), finalist for the Chambéry Début Novel Award. In 2018, he published the book of stories Fantasmas de la ciudad (Candaya), which includes eight stories in which urban spaces play a prominent role in the development of the plot and the characters' emotions. This collection of short stories received positive reviews in the leading literary supplements in Spain. In 2023, he published the book of chronicles or autobiographical essays El arte de escribir de pie (Candaya), in which he takes a personal and intimate journey through the history of modern and contemporary travel, exploring eight chronicles about cities or regions from Rome to Benidorm. El arte de escribir de pie has also garnered praise in the media and supplements that focus more on non-fiction and travel literature.

He has also taught workshops on storybooks and collaborated with literary magazines such as Altaïr Magazine, Negratinta, Culturamas, Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Casapaís and Kopek, where he has published chronicles, essays, poems and short stories. He is currently writing a novel.

Felipe Restrepo Pombo

Writer, editor and journalist. He has written six books that have been published in different languages. In 2017, he was selected as one of the best writers under 40 in Latin America. In 2021, he received the Premio Nacional de Periodismo Simón Bolívar in Colombia. He is the coordinator of the Premio Anagrama de Crónica and editor of the Crónica collection. He has worked with dozens of international media outlets. He has taught writing workshops in the United States, Spain, Mexico and Latin America. He is an occasional columnist for El País and Letras Libres. He was the editor of the Gatopardo magazine for six years.

Other activities involving the participant:
Naming Central America because Central America counts
The Pleasure of Reading Gala

Javier Serena

Invitado de Honor

Serena is the director of the magazine Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, published by the Directorate of Cultural and Scientific Relations of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) since its founding in 1948, and dedicated to literary criticism in Spanish.

He is the author of the novels Atila.Un escritor indescifrable (2015, Tropo; 2022, Srobo) and Last words on Earth (2018, Agadir). Both books are being translated into English in the United States by Open Letter Books.

He has been a fellow at the Antonio Gala Foundation, the Valparaíso Foundation, the Axóuxere Foundation, and the Les Récollets residency.