10 of 30: Juan Gómez Bárcena, Matías Candeira and Álex Chico in Iowa City

  • Literature
  • Iowa City
  • Mon, November 07, 2022
  • 6:30 pm
10 of 30: Juan Gómez Bárcena, Matías Candeira and Álex Chico in Iowa City

The University of Iowa welcomes three new Spanish writers from the “10 of 30: New Spanish Narrative project” in a public reading in Spanish.

10 of 30: New Spanish Narrative is a project presented by the Office of Cultural and Scientific Relations at the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) that aims to bring international exposure to Spanish writers between the ages of 30 and 40, a period when a writer’s work often shows early maturity. Since its beginnings, the program has featured 30 writers representative of their generation, authors that Spain, as the guest of honor, will bring to Frankfurt Book Fair 2022.

About Juan Gómez Bárcena

Juan Gómez Bárcena (Santander, 1984) has a degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, as well as in History and Philosophy. With his first book of short stories, Los que duermen (2012), he won the Premio Tormenta for Best New Author. In 2014 he published El cielo de Lima, a novel for which he won the Premio Ojo Crítico de Narrativa 2014 and the Premio Ciudad de Alcalá de Narrativa 2015, and which has been translated into English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Dutch and Greek. Kanada (2017) won the Premio Ciudad de Santander 2017 and the Premio Cálamo Otra Mirada 2017, and was first finalist for the Premio Internacional Tigre Juan. He then published Ni siquiera los muertos (2020), which was a finalist for the prize awarded by the Madrid Booksellers’ Guild for the best book of the year and is awaiting publication in English and German.

As a critic, he coordinated the anthology Bajo treinta (2013), which brings together the most outstanding voices of his generation. He has received grants from different institutions, such as the Spanish Academy in Rome, the Antonio Gala Foundation, the BBVA Foundation, the FONCA in Mexico and The International Writers’ House in Graz. He currently lives in Madrid, where he gives literary workshops.

About Matías Candeira

Matías Candeira (Madrid, Spain, 1984) is a writer and screenwriter. Since 2009, he teaches creative writing in many Spanish institutions. He has published six books: a novel, Fiebre / Fever (Candaya, 2015), and five collections of short stories, including Antes de las jirafas / Before Giraffes (Páginas de espuma, 2011), Ya no estaremos aquí / We Won’t Be Here Anymore (Salto de Página, 2017) and Moebius (Algaida, 2019), which was awarded the Kutxa Literary Prize in 2018.

In the last decade, he has been awarded various literary grants and fellowships: The Antonio Gala Foundation for Young Creators Grant in 2010 (Córdoba, Spain), Han Nefkens Foundation Grant (Barcelona, Spain) and Leonardo Grant by BBVA Foundation in 2017, aimed at cultural creators and researchers who stand out for excellence in their field. In 2017 he also participated in the fall residential programme at Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), thanks to Acción Cultural Española in collaboration with Paris City Hall and Institut Français.

In 2021, he was selected as part of 10 of 30, a project sponsored by AECID (Spanish Agency of International Cooperation) to promote thirty talented young Spanish writers, representative of their generation. In 2022, he has been selected to participate in Art Omi Writer’s Residency Program (New York), among various international authors.

About Álex Chico

Álex Chico has published the novel-essays Los cuerpos partidos (Candaya, 2019) and Un final para Benjamin Walter (Candaya, 2017), finalist for the Prix Européen de l’essai philosophique Walter Benjamin 2018, the book of interviews Vivir enfrente (Nueve conversaciones) (ERE, 2018), the notebook Sesenta y cinco momentos en la vida de un escritor de posdatas (La Isla de Siltolá, 2016), the essay Un hombre espera (Libros en su tinta, 2015) and the books of poetry Habitación en W (La Isla de Siltolá, 2014), Un lugar para nadie (De la luna libros, 2013), Dimensión de la frontera (La Isla de Siltolá, 2011), and La tristeza del eco (ERE, 2008). In 2016, the Chilean press Andesgraund published Espacio en blanco, an anthology of his poems from 2008-2014. In 2018 he received the Montserrat Roig fellowship.

His poems have appeared in various anthologies such as España hoy: una mirada desde la poesía (Ulrika Editores, Bogotá) and Punto de partida. Jóvenes poetas en España (Universidad Autónoma de México). He has published literary criticism in diverse media outlets, such as Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, El Cuaderno, Revista de Letras, and Clarín. He currently runs Quimera magazine.

This event will be held in Spanish.

Venue

Venue map

Iowa City Public Library, 123 S Linn St, Iowa City, IA 52240

Admission

Free

Credits

Presented by the University of Iowa in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C. and Acción Cultural Española.

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