Author of the novel Alone and the story book Ride all nightthe writer and translator Carlota Gurt (Barcelona, 1976) returns with a new volume of stories, fire biography (all in Libros del Asteroid), a cartography of the points of tension in human relationships.
fire biography It was born, according to what he says, after a period of recurring dreams. How much does day-to-day experience weigh in her writing? My life is the raw material for my books, but I don’t write autofiction. All writers inevitably start from life and their view of the world. You can only write from who you are.
What book made you a reader? More than a specific book, it was a place: the school library.
And as a writer? Extinctionby Thomas Bernhard.
What other people’s book would you have liked to write? Too many: for a writer, reading is an exercise in humility.
What does a narrator learn by translating? Translating exercises the language muscle: it expands the active lexicon and improves the fluency of prose.
And vice versa? When you write, you learn to better interpret the nuances of other people’s texts, you become aware of each of the author’s small choices.
With what three words would you define the perfect or almost perfect translation? That. Does not exist.
And the perfect story? Accurate. Absorbent. Illuminator.
What was the last book that excited you? Mussels for dinnerby Birgit Vanderbeke.
What is the movie you have seen the most times? Some childish: when you have children you can’t escape repetition.
If you had to use a song or piece of music as a self-portrait, what would it be? Depends on the day. Today the Ninth by Beethoven.
What historical event do you admire the most? The proclamation of the Republic.
What assignment would you never accept? Lying in any of its forms.
What is socially overrated? Life. Death. The oysters.
Who would you give the next Cervantes Prize? To a woman, because women’s literature continues to be unfairly underrepresented in awards and recognitions.
If she weren’t a writer, she would have liked to be… Happy.
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