If on February 3, 1959 – the ill-fated Tuesday in which Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Big Bopper lost their lives in a plane accident – is considered the day the music died, for many people the day twitter died -or, at least, it began to do so- it was not July 24, 2023, the date on which the social network changed its name to X, but four months later, on November 27, when Miguel Ángel López died. , He Hematocritical. Almost a year later, the legion of friends and admirers left by the blogger, writer, professor and cultural agitator have decided to honor him by giving his name to a new festival that was born with the intention of becoming the state reference in the field of children’s literature. and youthful, but in its first edition it goes much further: it will be the party “not to say goodbye to him, but to celebrate that Miguel was part of our lives. And a party without music and laughter is not a party.”
The person who speaks this way is Miguel’s partner, the writer Ledicia Costas, mother of characters like Scarlet fever, cook dies, To Miss Bubble either The Minimortos -all with a Spanish version- in a career that has accumulated two dozen awards, including the National Children’s and Youth Literature Prize, the Galician Culture Prize and the Castelao Medal. She is one of the promoters of HematoFesti along with the animation director, illustrator and comic artist Alberto Vázquez, winner of four Goya Awards for films such as birdboy, Psychonauts either Unicorn Wars. Things start with a high bar.
The HematoFesti, which will be held in Vigo between November 6 and 10, is inspired by one of the many projects that López’s premature death left pending. In October of last year, Hemato, Costas, Vázquez and his partner went to Cagliari (Italy) for the festival Tuttestorie. They liked it so much that the filmmaker proposed to his friends. “Why don’t you, with all the people you know, have a children’s literature festival? In Spain there are not many and, in Galicia, none…”. Miguel’s response was that they would have to get to it “when we have time.” But they never had it. A month later, Hematocritico died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 47 years old.
That unfinished project was the seed of HematoFesti. “We wanted to pay tribute to him, a party with friends and we thought that the best thing would be something with his name, where his figure is talked about, his legacy is kept alive…” But it got out of hand. What was intended to be “a small, intimate thing” overwhelmed them. “The word began to spread and people wanted to join, because Miguel’s network was truly large.” And so, in “record time”, just four months of “intense” work, they have put together a “great poster” with leading names in literature, illustration and humor.
Not only that: in addition to the human team that has embarked on the adventure, they have obtained the support of private sponsors – such as Nintendo – but also public sponsors “of all colors”: the General Directorate of Books, dependent on a minister from Sumar; the Xunta and the Deputation of Pontevedra -of the PP- and the socialist city council of Vigo. “The figure of Hematocrítico conciliates,” smiles Costas. Is your name a safe passage? “And a quality brand!”
It’s not a hot festival (yet)
The festival trailer, the work of director Manu Viqueira, refers to the imagery of Monty Python when transforming the god of The creation of Adam in a Hematocritic surrounded by some of his many creatures. Among his contributions to popular culture, one of the best known is the term trospidwith which he described contestants, mothers and situations on the program back in 2012 Who wants to marry my son?one of those phenomena that began to be followed, simultaneously, on television and on Twitter at the same time.
Will this then be a tropid festival? “We thought about calling it that, but we liked it to be Hemato in the name. “I think we need to create an award related to that.” One more: HematoFesti comes with a competition for illustrated albums, in collaboration with Triqueta Editora, which will award the winner a prize of 5,000 euros and publication in all the languages of the State. In addition, the honor award is created Recreation legend – like those children’s comics that Hemato scripted and Albert Monteys drew – which, in its first edition, will recognize the career of Manuel Bragado, “the great editor of Galician literature”, in the words of Costas. Both she and López were published for the first time in that language.
“She has a quality that not everyone has: she always knows her place,” the writer emphasizes before pointing out that Bragado, like Hemato, was also a teacher. “Both Manolo and Miguel were two recreation legends, so starting by giving it to him was something great.”
who said WHAT?
We were thinking about music and laughter, which will take place in two great events. The first, The HematoGalaon Thursday the 7th. It will be right after the talk of another National Award, this one for Comic: Paco Roca, the author of Wrinkles, The abyss of oblivion either The grooves of chance. The gala will be hosted by the filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo and the poet and singer Lucía Aldao. Nus Cuevas, Amaral, Noel Ceballos, Laura Márquez, Joe Crepúsculo, PAVA and the La Ruina podcast will take the stage, with their brand new Ondas Award under their arms.
The next day, he will arrive at the Salesianos Theater We want Humor to review all the informative and humorous facets of El Hematocrítico. There you can see a special edition of The Brothers Podcastthe program that Hemato did with the journalist Noel Ceballos, and which this time will have as guests Nus Cuevas – who repeats -, Berto Romero and Arturo González Campos.
Manuel Bartual will be in charge of talking about the facet that gave López his nickname. The cartoonist and podcaster –Biotopia, Sanctuary, Titania-, another of the artists who most exploited the creative possibilities of Twitter, was the first editor of the books by The Hematocritic of Art through your seal Gee!
And, when Bartual finishes, it will be the turn of one of the most anticipated moments: the appearance of Angry Mass. The anonymous account emerged as one of the great agitators of what we could consider the golden age of Twitter. It became a pop phenomenon. Under the motto “who said WHAT?” The account, perhaps the best possible definition of the troll concept, constantly played with the limits of humor through parody. Theories about who was behind it multiplied and Masa was the first to encourage the rumors. One of the most bizarre was even pointed out by Ignacio Escolar, the director of elDiario.es – where we had Hemato with a section like infiltrate on the internet -, who admitted in a tweet that he would have liked it to be true…
Only after López’s death did the conviction spread that Hemato was the person – or one of the people – who was after Masa. However, in 2016, he himself had denied it to The Spanish: “But he knows who they are. He won’t say it to respect his confidentiality. He didn’t keep track: ‘I was so into politics’ – he explains. ‘It’s not my style of humor.’”
“It was never publicly said that he was Masa enraged,” Costas says with a smile before announcing that in that session “little things are still revealed.” The masters of ceremonies, again Ceballos, Vigalondo and, as a third accomplice, John Tones. “There is going to be a big surprise,” the writer continues, equally enigmatic. As surprises, he also announces the closing of the session, with two classics of the Vigo music scene such as Amaro Ferreiro and Nico Pastoriza. What do they do at a comedy gala? Maybe you have to stay until the end to check it out…
Books vs video games: the battle that never was
The little ones were always present in Hemato’s life and work, which is why the workshops and storytelling sessions multiply. But, after the two central events, the children take center stage. Saturday the 9th will feature the day We want children’s literaturewhich will coexist with the Gaming space open from day one. A perfect metaphor for Costas’s adolescence: a book in one hand, a joystick in the other.
“We want to take weight away from video games, which are demonized and about which there is a certain amount of evil.” Therefore, together with another illustrious name in children’s literature, Pedro Mañas –Anna Kadabra– will offer a talk aimed at families under the title Laugh and create: with a Nintendo in your hands since 1990.
Costa remembers how she heard over and over again that the book would end up disappearing because of video games while she, a tireless reader, “played everything she could.” “Of course they can coexist; “Video games are culture and have their recreational part, emotion, fun, entertainment… but so do literature or music.”
Quite a declaration of intentions for an event that both Costas and Vázquez hope will become “the meeting point of children’s literature in Spain”, a place with international guests “where writers, illustrators and editors can meet and do things for children …but also his work things.”
With so many open fronts, it seems that only cinema is missing, so the ball remains in Vázquez’s court, who does not close his mind to anything: “In the future, perhaps it will be able to open up a little… because, in the end, “It’s all about telling stories.” And about that, as about so many other things, El Hematocrítico knew a lot. A whole world.
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