In literature, there are often those who prefer elegance to spectacle, depth to mirage, metaphors and symbolism to gore or crude passion. This is abundantly clear in the genre codes of recent novels by the three authors invited to this roundtable discussion, who are undoubtedly among those who seek to transcend what first meets the eye. The first, Deimos by the always powerful Lucia Pietrelli, is a myth about a girl seeking understanding on an island that Death ceased to visit. The second, Fins a l’última pedra [Every Last Stone], is the debut novel by translator Berta Creus, who describes the ghosts of abandoned towns through a mix of intimacy and legends. And the third, by fellow debut novelist Gemma Calduch, is Si sabessis el mar com és bonic [If You Only Knew How Beautiful the Sea Is], which takes its inspiration from a Joan Maragall poem and links mermaids with human strangeness and fragility. Moderated by Aissata M’ballo, the three authors will share how they’ve accomplished that which only literature can achieve: to speak of what cannot be described.

Guests:

Lucia Pietrelli

Berta Creus

Gemma Calduch

Moderator:

Aissata M’ballo