2021 Guests

All activities are free to access until full capacity is reached. Entrance to the events of the 2021 edition will be with numbered invitations , although orderly access to the room will be allowed if there is capacity available. The invitations can be downloaded through this page from September 25.

Juan Soto Ivars

Was born in Águilas (Murcia) in 1985. He is the author of the novels ‘Ajedrez para un detective novato’, ‘Siberia’ and ‘La conjetura de Perelman’ as well as the book ‘Un abuelo rojo y otro facha’. His latest published works are the novel ‘Crímenes del futuro’ and the essays ‘Arden las redes: la poscensura y el nuevo mundo virtual’ as well as ‘La casa del ahorcado: Cómo el tabú asfixia la democracia occidental’ (both published by Debate). He is a columnist for El Confidencial and El Periódico de Catalunya, a regular guest on the radio programmes Julia en la Onda (Onda Cero) and Hoy empieza todo (Radio 3), as well as on television with Els Matins (TV3). He is married and has had a son. Since then, he says, he doesn’t give a damn about anything else.

Hervé Le Tellier

(Paris, 1957) is a writer, editor, mathematician and a well-known literary critic. He has contributed to a number of written and radio media outlets such as Le Monde and France Culture, as well as to several satirical publications. He is considered one of the most prestigious authors on the French contemporary literary scene, with an extensive oeuvre that combines poetry, theatre, novels and humorous stories. He has been the editor of authors such as Raymond Queneau and Georges Perec, founder and member of the experimental avant-garde narrative group Oulipo, to which Le Tellier has been a member since 2002 and has been Chairman since 2019. In 2020, he won the Goncourt Prize with his latest novel, La anomalía (Seix Barral), which has become a publishing event in France that is set to be repeated in our country.

Fernando Aramburu

(San Sebastián, 1959), author of the collection of short stories such as ‘Los peces de la amargura’ and ‘El vigilante del fiordo’ and novels such as ‘Fuegos con limón’, ‘Viaje con Clara por Alemania’ and ‘Ávidas pretensiones’. Even before ‘Patria’, he was considered one of the most outstanding authors in the Spanish language, but it was the literary and social phenomenon of this book that established him as an international writer. ‘Patria’ has earned him several awards, including the Premio Nacional de Narrativa, the Premio Nacional de la Crítica, the Euskadi, the Francisco Umbral, the Strega Europeo, the Premio Internazionale Giuseppe Lampedusa and the Athens Literary Prize. Five years later he published a new novel, ‘Los vencejos’, at his usual publishing house, Tusquets.

Rodrigo Cortés

(Pazos Hermos, Ourense, 1973) wanted to be a painter, writer and musician; today he does it all at the same time by devoting himself to cinema. His films include ‘Buried’, ‘Red Lights’ and ‘Blackwood’, where he has worked with Robert de Niro, Sigourney Weaver, Ryan Reynolds and Uma Thurman. As a writer, he has published two collections of “anti-aphorisms, short stories and hand bombs”, ‘A las 3 son las 2’ and ‘Dormir es de patos’, and the novel ‘Sí importa el modo en que un hombre se hunde’. He writes for ABC’s Verbolario newspaper section – satirical dictionary – and is a regular writer on its third page. He participates in the podcasts Todopoderosos and Aquí hay dragones with Arturo González-Campos, Javier Cansado and Juan Gómez Jurado. His second novel is ‘Los años extraordinarios’ (Literatura Random House), recently published.

Javier del Pino

(Madrid, 1964) is a journalist with a degree in English philology. In 1988 he began working at Cadena SER. After working on news programmes such as ‘Hora 25’, he served as Washington correspondent for fifteen years. Since 2012 he has directed and presented ‘A vivir que son dos días’, the leading weekend morning show in Spain, a programme featuring humour as a key element. Antena de Oro and Ondas are some of his awards.

Juan Bas

(Bilbao, 1959) was a scriptwriter for comedy radio soap operas, comics (El Víbora, Cimoc…) and television series (Farmacia de guardia, Turno de oficio…). He has published, among other books, collections of short stories ‘Páginas ocultas de la historia’ (1999), written with Fernando Marías, and ‘La taberna de los 3 monos’ (2000). The novels ‘Alacranes en su tinta’ (2002), ‘La cuenta atrás’ (2004), ‘Voracidad’ (2006, Euskadi Literature Prize), ‘Ostras para Dimitri’ (2012) and ‘El refugio de los canallas’ (Alrevés, 2017; Dashiel Hammett Prize 2018). His work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Russian, Bulgarian, Norwegian and Basque. He is an op-ed columnist for El Correo. In 2010 he conceived and currently runs, with Carolina Ontivero, the Ja! festival. His latest novel, published this year by Alrevés, is ‘Una cuestión de alcohol’.

Pedro Ugarte

(Bilbao, 1963) is a writer, columnist and current press officer at the University of the Basque Country. He has devoted much of his literary work to short fiction, with books such as ‘Los traficantes de palabras’, ‘La isla de Komodo’ and ‘Mañana será otro día’. In Páginas de Espuma, he has published ‘El mundo de los Cabezas Vacías’ and ‘Nuestra historia’, winner of the Setenil Prize for the best collection of short stories in 2017. In 2018 he published ‘Lecturas pendientes’, a diary linked to his experience as a reader and writer. His novels have been translated into Italian and French, and his short stories into English, Basque, Polish and German. Antes del Paraíso’ is his latest collection of short stories.

Azul Tejerina

(Zumárraga, Gipuzkoa, 1973), a journalist at heart, dreamed of writing stories, of telling real or imaginary stories, and ended up in the “clutches” of what she calls “the best profession in the world”. A curious soul in her own right, this associate lecturer in Radio Narrative and Advertising at the University of Navarre is an empathetic practitioner who walks in the other person’s shoes and believes that all media are valid and should be at the service of the public, although radio is her passion. After working at Cope Madrid and Cope La Rioja, in 2002 she joined Cadena Ser and for the last nine years she has been directing the magazine ‘Hoy por hoy Bilbao’.

Antonio Orejudo

(Madrid, 1963) is a PhD in Hispanic philology and for seven years he taught Spanish literature at American universities. He was a visiting researcher at the University of Amsterdam and is currently a tenured lecturer at the University of Almería. He has written novels such as ‘Fabulosas narraciones por historias’, ‘Ventajas de viajar en tren’, ‘Reconstrucción’ and ‘Un momento de descanso’, which have made him one of the most original and admired writers in contemporary Spanish literature. His latest books are ‘Los Cinco y yo’ and ‘Grandes éxitos’. All his work, distinguished by a mixture of transgression, comedy and academic writing, is published by the Tusquets publishing house.

Oscar Tusquets Blanca

(Barcelona, 1941) is an architect, designer, painter and writer. He has received several awards for his professional career, including the National Design Award, the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts and the insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1994 he emerged as an author of essays with ‘Más que discutible’ and is the author of books such as ‘Anna, Dalí y otros amigos’, ‘Réquiem por la escalera’ and ‘Pasando a limpio’, and of ‘Tiempos que fueron’, a childhood memoir written in conjunction with his sister Esther Tusquets. In Anagrama he has published ‘Todo es comparable’, ‘Dios lo ve’, ‘Contra la desnudez’ and, recently, ‘Vivir no es tan divertido; y envejecer, un coñazo’, his personal book of memoirs.

Mathias Enard

Was born in 1972 in Niort, France. After studying Arabic and Persian and spending long periods in the Middle East, he decided to settle in Barcelona in 2000. While there, he has been active in several cultural magazines, including the now extinct Lateral, and has taught Arabic at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Enard is the author of novels such as ‘El manual del perfecto terrorista’ (La Otra Orilla, 2007) and ‘Zona’ (La Otra Orilla, 2008), and already in Literatura Random House, ‘Habladles de batallas, de reyes y elefantes, ‘El alcohol y la nostalgia’, ‘Calle de los Ladrones’ and ‘Brújula’, winner of the 2015 Goncourt Prize. El banquete anual de la cofradía de sepultureros’, published by the same publishing house, is his most recent novel.

Philippe Lançon

(Vanves, France, 1963) is a writer and journalist. A regular contributor to the cultural pages of Libération and columnist for Charlie Hebdo, he was in the editorial office of the satirical weekly during the attack of 7 January 2015, a terrorist attack he survived. He is the author of the books ‘Les Îles’ (2011), ‘L’Élan’ (2013) and, above all, ‘El colgajo’ (Anagrama, 2018), with hundreds of thousands of copies sold in France and a successful translation into many languages, including Spanish. In 2018, this book was awarded the Femina and Roger Caillois awards as well as the Renaudot Special Prize. His most recent book is ‘Chroniques de l’homme d’avant’, a selection of articles published over twenty years in Libération and Charlie Hebdo by the “man of yesteryear” that Philippe Lançon used to be.

Josune Vélez de Mendizabal

(Gasteiz, 1977) studied theatre at the TAE and Baratza Aretoa, as well as at the University of the Basque Country, obtaining a degree in acting. She is the founder of the group Tranpola, and became known as a creator at the 2016 Zurrunbilo Festival with ‘Oingoan Bai! In 2017 she worked with the company Josune Parasite at the Vitoria International Theatre Festival, as part of the Enredados call. She currently works as an actress and distributor in the company Pez Limbo. In 2020 she created and produced ‘Kittorik ez!’ together with Ane Gebara and Jason Guerra, in a company they named Les Bobé-Bobè. Over the last year she has created the Mamiak ensemble along with Marina Ortiz de Suárez, Ander Gondra, Edu Zelaieta, Txema Ramírez de la Piscina and Irantzu Lekue.

Gaizka Chamizo

(Galdakao, 1987). Graduate in Education and Diploma in Special Education at the UPV/ EHU, he acts as a clown, teacher and actor for film and theatre. Among his films, he has participated in the feature film ‘Maixabel’ by Iciar Bollaín, the short film ‘Si te mueres te mato’ by Erik Campos and the webseries ‘Hola mundo cruel’ by Tantaka TV. As a stage actor, he took part in the opera ‘Erwartung’ at the Arriaga Theatre in 2021, worked in the award-winning play ‘Amatxik dixit’ as well as in the show ‘Lurrak’. He will soon be a supporting actor in the feature film ‘Irati’ by Paul Urkijo and in the show Narziso, by Borobil teatroa. He won the award for Best Actor at the Pabellón 6 Short Theatre Conference. Salaketa. 2021 and the Kriseilu Award for best production in Basque at the Pabellón 6 Short Theatre Conference in 2019 for Amatxik dixit.

Patxo Telleria

Was born in Bilbao in 1960. In 1985 he began as a performer in the independent theatre company Maskarada, where he took his first steps as playwright. Since then he has combined playwright along with acting and directing. Together with Aitor Mazo and Lander Iglesias, he founded the company Txirene. In 2000 he founded the theatre project Tartean with Mikel Martinez and Jokin Oregi. Bikoteatro: Ez Dok Hiru, is his theatrical project with Mikel Martínez. Both have been working for years as an artistic duo in theatrical projects, creating, producing and performing plays such as ‘Euskara Sencilloaren Manifiestoa’ or ‘Desentxufatuak’. For a decade he combined his work as an actor and playwright with that of a television scriptwriter, writing scripts for series such as ‘Ertzainak’ and ‘Goenkale’. He also wrote and directed, together with Aitor Mazo, the films ‘La máquina de pintar nubes’ and ‘Bypass’.

Edu Galán

(Oviedo, 1980) is, together with Darío Adanti, one of the creators of the satirical magazine Mongolia. He also writes film reviews for the newspaper La Nueva España as well as for the magazine Cinemanía and is a guest on Andreu Buenafuente’s programme ‘Late Motiv’ and on Onda Cero’s ‘Más de uno’. He is the author of the essay ‘Morir de pie. Stand-up (y Norteamérica)’ (Ed. Rema y vive, 2014), he participates in the anthology book ‘Todavía voy por la primera temporada’ (Léeme libros, 2014). In 2020 he published the essay ‘El síndrome Woody Allen’ (Debate).