Entrevista a David López y reseña de 'La travesía'

La web El placer de la Lectura ha dedicado una entrevista a David López, autor de la recién publicada 'La travesía' (primer capítulo aquí).

Podéis leer la entrevista entera (aquí) pero como muestra, un botón:

6.- En cuanto a La travesía, ¿por qué decides mostrar más al hombre Darwin y no al biólogo Darwin?

Es un tema reivindicativo. En el acervo cultural de esta nuestra sociedad, el científico, el intelectual de la ciencia, es representado como un chiflado huraño, sociópata y peligroso la más veces, mientras que los personajes divertidos, agradables y amistosos se reservan para la gente de las humanidades o bien, incluso, para los representantes de las seudociencias. Me parecía un buen cambio ofrecer al público una visión de Darwin distinta: la de un joven alocado, un tanto torpe, charlatán y simpático, quien se coló de rondón en un viaje larguísimo y tuvo la oportunidad de aprender todo lo que Inglaterra no podía enseñarle.

Además de la entrevista, también han publicado una reseña de la novela (aquí). Nos ha gustado que llamen a la novela 'Travesía de travesías', 'una especie de road movie decimonónica' o que digan que determinadas escenas recuerdan a la película 'Master and Commander'.

Editions Dans L'Engrenage acquires French Rights of 'Las razones de Jo' (Jo's Reasons), by Isabel Franc

We start the week with good news for the novel 'Las razones de Jo' (Jo's Reasons), by Isabel Franc. Originally published by Editorial Lumen in 2006, this is a very personal look into Loise May Alcott's classic novel 'Little Women', and to its main character Jo March.

'Little Women' has been a point of reference for several generations of readers, and Jo March the rebellious main character with which most of us have identified as readers. A brave warrior, this young woman rejected society’s gender roles and channeled her desires for independence into her writing. But the enthusiasm that drew us to her turned to disappointment when, at the end of the book, Jo decides to get married and give up writing. There have been numerous interpretations of this ending, but the question remains: "Why did she do it?" 

Las razones de Jo poses a response in Jo’s own voice and with her same rebellious nature. The author that has brought her back to life on the page, Isabel Franc, gets into the character’s skin in order to reinvent her and give her the last word from her own pen. Jo provides her own perspective on what happened: Papa was no hero; he went to the front because he was fed up with so many women. 

There is also a battle fought over love. Jo falls in love with a woman in New York, turning her long-imagined fantasies into reality. With her, she experiences a relationship on equal terms, knowing pleasure and sharing intellectual ideas and interests. She denounces the theory of the period that considered homosexuality a disease and demands the right to live her love freely.

Finally, our little woman returns to her hometown and marries a dull man. But she doesn’t stop writing, and in a drawer in the room of her own that she’s always kept she stores her unpublished works. Among them is this literary legacy in which she explains her reasons...

**

Isabel Franc made her literary debut with the novel Entre todas las mujeres (Tusquets 1992), an unusual book that was named as a finalist in the Premio La Sonrisa Vertical. She has participated in several poetry collectives (Abecedaria 1995, 1996 and 1997) and has published short stories in the magazines Zero and Nosotras. Amongst other novels, she is the author of the celebrated Trilogía de Lola Van Guardia, edited by Egales, which includes the titles: Con Pedigree (1997); Plumas de Doble Filo (1999); and La mansión de las Tríbadas (2002), all three translated into French and published by Odin. 

She recently published a graphic novel in collaboration with Susanna Martín: Alicia en un mundo real (Alice in a Real World, Norma Editorial, 2010).

'Modotti', by Ángel de la Calle, will be translated into French

Vertige Graphic (France) has acquired translation rights of Ángel de la Calle's graphic novel 'Modotti. A Woman of the 20th Century'.

Tina Modotti (in the picture by Edward Weston, in 1923) was a woman of the 20th Century: photographer, actress, muse to writers and artists, politically engaged, free, poliphacetic, and witness to many important events and artistical landmarks.

Editorial SinSentido published in Spanish a graphic biography of this extraordinary character created (text & illustrations) by Ángel de la Calle: 'Modotti: Una mujer del siglo XX' 

De la Calle tells us about Modotti's life, a continuing adventure: A beautiful Hollywood star at an early age, she moved to the post-revolutionary Mexico with her friend and lover Edward Weston (now an acclaimed photographer) where she became actively engaged with the communist party, took thousands of photographs and also became the lover of almost as many men... she also was friends with artists of her time such as Mayakovsky, Bernard Tavern, Antonio Machado, Neruda, Diego Rivera, John Dos Passos, Frida Khalo...

She lived her time, from the glamourous 'Belle Epoque' to the Europe of the Totalitarism in the 1930s (travelling to Paris, Berlin, Moscow…) and lived in Spain during the Civil War. She then flew back to Mexico escaping from Franco. She died there in 1942, alone and in a taxi. 

In 'Modotti' Ángel de la Calle becomes himself a character who incidentally finds a picture of Tina Modotti and starts investigating about her life. Thus, the book becomes not only a biography of the photographer but also a hooking voyage of discovery, admiration and devotion towards her personality and her work.

Tina Modotti's life, now revisited by Ángel de la Calle in this magnificent graphic novel, stands alone as an example, and a lesson, of personal freedom and engagement.

‘Modotti’ has received countless awards in Spain, amongst them to the ‘Best Work and Best Script at the Barcelona Comic Salon in 2004’; ‘Best script in 2006’ and the prestigious Premio de la Crítica a Mejor obra española (2006).

Translation rights have already bee sold to: Italy (001 Edizioni), Germany (Rotbuch) and Brazil (Conard). 

Poet Pablo Neruda composed Tina Modotti's epitaph, part of which can also be found on her tombstone:

Pure your gentle name, pure your fragile life,

Bees, shadows, fire, snow, silence and foam,

Combined with steel and wire and

Pollen to make up your firm

And delicate being.

'El anticuario' will be published in Romania as well

Editura Allfa has recently acquired Romanian rights of 'El anticuario' (The Antiques Delaer), by Julián Sánchez.

El anticuario (RocaEditorial) is a novel about a secret, a murder, a search, a love and an adventure all over the streets of a mysterious Barcelona. A story of intrigue, suspense and search of the truth, set in nowadays and 15th C. Barcelona. (Plot summary here)

The publishers who had already acquired rights are:

LimesVerlag/ Random House (Germany), Querido (The Netherlands), Livanis (Greece), Einaudi/Stile Libero (Italy), AST (Russia), Swiat Ksiaszky (Poland), Jota (Czech Republic) and Shangai Translation (China).

Editora Pergaminho (Portugal) will publish 'To Bee or not To Bee', by John Penberthy and Laurie Barrrows

Editora Pergaminho has acquired Portuguese rights of this book written by John Penberthy and Illustraded by Laurie Barrows. 'To Bee or not To bee' was originally published by Sterling Publishers in New York, that has re-launched the book this fall in a paperback edition.

Laced with wise aphorisms and richly illustrated with Chinese water color-style illustrations, To Bee or not to Bee makes an endearing gift book.

Great spiritual teachers speak not of learning more, but of letting go, of surrendering. This can be difficult for adults because the familiar is so, well…familiar.

But the young…they’re more present and open and have less to unlearn. To Bee or Not to Bee is an inspirational story of such innocent wisdom and how it leads one young worker bee to spiritual awakening.

Foreign rights sold up to now include: 

Spanish (Latin America: Editorial Diana; Spain: Ediciones Luciérnaga), 

Catalan (Pòrtic), 

German (DTV), 

Italian (Sperling & Kupfer Editori), 

Portuguese (Brazil: Academia de Intelligencia/ Portugal: Bertrand), 

Romanian (Editura Mix), 

Slovenian (Zalozba Eno), 

Japanese (PHP Institute), 

Simplified Chinese (China Citic Press), 

Complex Chinese (Business Weekly Publications), Indonesian (Gramedia Pustaka Utama), 

Vietnamese (Tri Viet Publishing)

 and Korean (MaksMedia).

Primers comentaris, afalagadors i entusiastes, sobre 'La novel.la de Dickens'

A sota podreu veure un resum de les frases més elogioses sobre 'La novel.la de Dickens' que han anat apareixent a la premsa aquests dies.

Resum de premsa sobre La novel·la de Dickens, de Neus Canyelles

(Proa, 2010, 174pp.)

* Una alenada de frescor, sinceritat, fantasia, amor a la vida i preferència per les coses quotidianes: la senzillesa de l’escriptura. Una novel·la sense pretensions, una mica d’imaginació literària i escrita com es parla al carrer. Suficient per emocionar-se a cada pàgina. (...)

La recreació d’una història dins d’una altra història, d’una vida dins de l’altra vida, està feta amb ofici i convicció (...) La fantasia literària ens porta a la delectança de la vida fantàstica. (...)

L’exquisidesa literària que mostra Neus Canyelles no sorpren tant si es coneix la seva obra, encara curta, però que mostra que darrere la seva prosa hi ha molt d’ofici d’escriptor i un bagatge creatiu important. Li manca el guardó bàsic: el reconeixement més ampli dels lectors. La novel·la de Dickens el pot obtenir. Se’l mereix amb escreix.

(Jordi Capdevila, Avui)

* L’estil de La novel·la de Dickens enriqueix el tot i diferencia el llibre d’altres que puguin sorgir al mercat. I la dota de qualitat literària. D’alta qualitat, val a dir-ho. (...) Tot va bé si acaba bé. 

(Carles Cabrera, Diari de Balears/Bellver)

* La autora mallorquina escribe con naturalidad y se encuentra cómoda en el tono de Cuento de Navidad. (...) Convertir el aura que ven las personas que sufren migrañas en una presencia humana es un acierto. (...) una literatura que replantea con seriedad lo que parecía superado y obsoleto, adaptándolo con las fórmulas del actual mercado afectivo. 

(Julià Guillamon, Culturas)

* Un llibre tan senzill i complex a la vegada, d’expressió del tot natural i gerda. (...) Magistral.

(Bartomeu Fiol, Diari de Balears)

* La novel·la de Dickens és una obra que sedueix per la naturalitat del to, que entrellaça vida i literatura i que consagra Neus Canyelles com una gran escriptora. Una novel·la que acompanyarà el lector fins molt després d’haver-la llegida.
 

(www.melibro.com)

* Autèntica i entranyable, senzilla i sense pretensions. 

(lletresenbloc)

* Els personatges de La novel·la de Dickens són herois del dia a dia i la seva proesa és sobreviure en un món on res és com voldrien.

(Marta Planes, Llegir en cas d’incendi)

La travesía, de David López, ya en librerías

Ya ha llegado a las librerías La travesía, de David López, editada por RocaEditorial. 

Nadie a bordo del bergantín de Su Majestad Beagle sabía que la suya iba a ser 

una travesía que cambaría el curso de la Historia.

Charles Darwin no realizó solo el viaje que cambiaría las ciencias naturales para siempre. El HMS Beagle tenía otra misión, y cada uno de los hombres que lo tripulaban una historia que contar. Y eso es precisamente lo que David López nos ofrece en La travesía: Duelos a primera sangre, persecuciones a través de los Andes, tormentas en el Cabo de Hornos, la vida en los puertos de América del Sur, misiones filantrópicas condenadas al fracaso, dictadores en ciernes, pequeños universos desconocidos y chocantes para los altivos ingleses...

Al contrario que otras novelas que tratan este tema, los personajes principales 

no son ni el famoso naturalista ni el capitán del navío, Robert FitzRoy, sino dos de los tripulantes de la embarcación, George Rowlett (contador de la nave) y John Edwards Dring, su ayudante. 

Los dos parten en junto al resto de la tripulación no tanto por ansias científicas, sino para encontrarse con una mujer con la que mantienen una tórrida y clandestina relación epistolar, cuyo devenir se señala en una serie de cartas. Esta mujer vive en Valparaíso, y a medida que el barco se acerque a ese destino se irán desvelando las causas de su malestar así como parte de la convulsa situación de una América Latina en aquel entonces en pleno proceso de formación. 

‘La travesía’ tiene como hilo narrativo, amén de la anterior relación epistolar, la extraña amistad que surge entre Darwin y FitzRoy, las relaciones entre los miembros de la tripulación y el destino de un anillo que la reina Adelaida le regaló a una india fueguina. También los descubrimientos de Darwin, pero explicados más allá de las páginas de su diario. 

David López, ganador del XXII Premio Jaén de Novela, nos embarca en un viaje en el tiempo alrededor del mundo. De la mano de sus personajes, nos adentraremos en selvas brasileñas, cabalgaremos con los gauchos argentinos, navegaremos por mares tempestuosos, descubriremos las maravillas de las Galápagos y viviremos en primera persona la evolución de una historia de amor con un inesperado desenlace.

David López nació en Langreo, Asturias, en 1978. Es biólogo y analista. Debutó como autor en 2006 consiguiendo los premios Valdemembra de Novela Corta por la obra 'Otro afer de niños' (Edicones El Problema de Yorick), y el Jaén de Novela por 'El crimen de los Monegros'(Mondadori). La travesía es su tercera novela.

Atria Books/Simon & Schuster (USA) acquires World English Rights of 'Hierba Santa'

It is our pleasure that Atria Boooks/Simon & Schuster (US) has acquired World English Rights of ‘Hierba Santa’ (Sacred Herbs), by F.G. Haghenbeck, for publication in Spring 2012.

Originally published in Spanish by Editorial Planeta Mexicana (Mexico only).

Rights also sold to: Suhrkamp/Insel (Germany), Orlando Publishers/Bruna (The Netherlands), Planeta Brasil (Brazil), Shangai 99 (China).

The translator into english will be Cuban author Achy Obejas, who also translated -to much acclaim- Junot Díaz's 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao' (winner of the Pulitzer in 2008). 

Hierba Santa, with echoes of Magic Realism, is a vivid and tender homage to Frida Khalo, a woman who changed the course of modern art and has become an icon for many people all over the world.

A little handwritten notebook that Frida Khalo called ‘The Book of the Holy Herb’ was to be exhibited at the Palace of Fine Arts on occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth. The notebook disappeared on the same day that the exhibition was opened...

After a severe accident in the crash of a bus and a trolley car, and after she died for the first time, Frida Khalo reaches an agreement with her Benefactress (the Death herself): Frida will be allowed to live, but, in exchange, every year she will have to prepare an offering to the Dead as a rememberance of this agreement.

Since then, Frida writes down every receipe that she prepares for the ‘Día de Muertos’ (The Day of the Dead). This is a holiday celebrated in Mexico, which focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 1st and 2nd. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

The receipes are gathered toghether by Frida in her beloved notebook. While year after year the ritual is repeated, Frida’s life goes on impetuously, full of rapture and pain. She meets Diego Rivera, the man whom she will marry and share her life with; but who is also the man who will mark the beginning of her second death. She lives the Mexican Revolution and the socialist upraise, a life behind the fame of her husband.

Frida loves and desires madly, but she lives on borrowed time; her aching and ruined body constantly reminds her that her Benefactress is taking away bits of her soul day after day, and that their final encounter is becoming closer.

Hierba Santa was published under the pen name of Alexandra Scheiman, but all international publishers will publish it using the author’s real name.

F.G. Haghenbeck (Mexico, 1965) is the author of acclaimed novels in Mexico, amongst which Trago amargo (winner of the National Award Una Vuelta de Tuerca) and Aliento a muerte. His novels have been translated into languages such as English, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese or Serbian.

Shangai 99 (China) will translate 'Hierba Santa', by F.G. Haghenbeck

'Hierba Santa', by F.G. Haghenbeck, has just been acquired by Shangai 99 (China). Translation rights were recently acquired by Suhrkamp/Insel (Germany), Planeta Brasil (Brazil) and Orlando Publishers (The Netherlands) as well.

Hierba Santa was published last summer 2009 by Planeta Mexico. With echoes of Magic Realism, the novel is a vivid homage to Frida Kahlo, a woman who changed the course of modern art.

In the novel we are told that all her life Frida kept a little notebook which she called 'The Book of Hierba Santa (Holy Herb)'. In it, she wrote down not only her thoughts and ideas but also many Mexican food receipes that she prepared every 'Día de Muertos' (Day of the Dead), a holiday celebrated in Mexico to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Traditions connected with the holiday include preparing the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. 

What's new and different compared to other books about Frida is that the author uses fantasy in the story: The narrator tells us that after Frida's fatal accident in a tram in her early youth (which actually happened) she dies and meets Death. Frida then reaches an agreement with Death which allows her to go back to life: Every 'Día de muertos' she has to pay a tribute to Death by cooking wonderful meals. Given this, all through the novel Frida is very conscious that Death is also part of life. This certainty gives her a special view of the world and the events that take place.

Some of Frida's favourite receipes are included in the novel towards the end of every chapter, so apart from enjoying the narrative and learning more abot Frida's life, readers can also try their culinary skills and pay their own homage to a woman that has become an icon of 20th century art and feminism.

F. G. Haghenbeck (México, 1965).

Writer and scriptwriter has worked for Televisa and for different museums. He is proud to be the only Mexican who has written scripts for Superman (DC Comics), and has also participated in the creation of Crimson (Wildstorm 1999-2001) and Alternation (Image Comics, 2004). He's the author of successful novels in Mexico, amongst which Trago amargo (Bitter Drink), which was awarded the Premio Nacional Una Vuelta de Tuerca to the best crime novel in 2006, to be published soon in France (Denoël) and Serbia (Laguna). 'Hierba santa' will also be translated in different languages such as Dutch (Orlando Publishers), German (Insel Verlag), Chinese (Shangai 99) and Portuguese (Brazil only, Planeta Brasil).

Pòrtic will publish 'To Bee or not to Bee' in Catalan

Edicions Proa, for their series Pòrtic, has acquired Catalan rights of this book written by John Penberthy and Illustraded by Laurie Barrows. 'To Bee or not To bee' was originally published by Sterling Publishers in New York, that will re-launch the book this fall in a paperback edition.

Laced with wise aphorisms and richly illustrated with Chinese water color-style illustrations, To Bee or not to Bee makes an endearing gift book.

Great spiritual teachers speak not of learning more, but of letting go, of surrendering. This can be difficult for adults because the familiar is so, well…familiar.

But the young…they’re more present and open and have less to unlearn. To Bee or Not to Bee is an inspirational story of such innocent wisdom and how it leads one young worker bee to spiritual awakening.

Foreign rights sold up to now include: 

Spanish (Latin America: Editorial Diana; Spain: Ediciones Luciérnaga), Catalan (Pòrtic), German (DTV), Italian (Sperling & Kupfer Editori), Portuguese (Brazil only) (Academia de Intelligencia), Romanian (Editura Mix), Slovenian (Zalozba Eno), Japanese (PHP Institute), Simplified Chinese (China Citic Press), Complex Chinese (Business Weekly Publications), Indonesian (Gramedia Pustaka Utama), Vietnamese (Tri Viet Publishing) and Korean (MaksMedia).