'Rain Over Madrid' by Andrés Barba

The Spanish writer presents his latest work of fiction at AJC Decatur Book Festival.

Andrés Barba Muñiz is a Spanish novelist, essayist, translator, scriptwriter and photographer. He is the author of a total of twelve books of literary fiction, non-fiction, photography, arts and children’s literature. Among other prizes he has been awarded the Premio Torrente Ballester de Narrativa (for Versiones de Teresa) and the Premio Juan March de Narrativa (for Muerte de un caballo). He was also shortlisted in the XIX Premio Herralde de Novela (for La hermana de Katia, made into a film a few years (2008) after by Mijke de Jong). In 2010 he was featured in Granta’s magazine as one of the twenty-two best young Spanish-language writers. His works have been translated into 10 languages.

‘Rain Over Madrid’

Fatherhood, Guile, Fidelity, and Shopping are the four novellas comprising Rain Over Madrid, an intimate portrait of life in the city by means of four variants on the same theme: all of a sudden, someone finally comprehends somebody else’s life. Acted out by totally different characters in diverse settings, through them Barba approaches personal issues such as death, inability to communicate genuine feelings, the sudden outburst of love, fascination for the other, the architecture of desire or fear of happiness.

Rightfully included in Granta’s The Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists issue, Andrés Barba is one of Spain’s most prominent literary writers. Rain Over Madrid is his latest work of fiction, the first one available in English-language translation.

About the AJC Decatur Book Festival

The AJC Decatur Book Festival is the largest independent book festival in the U.S. and one of the five largest overall. Since its launch, more than 1,000 world-class authors and hundreds of thousands of festival-goers have crowded the historic downtown Decatur square to enjoy book signings, author readings, panel discussions, an interactive children’s area, live music, parades, cooking demonstrations, poetry slams, writing workshops, and more.

Bilingual reading and panel with translator Lisa Dillman.