With this series, the CAAM is offering the perspective of different writers whose work is a flexible combination of theoretical reflection and literary creation; students and critics of culture and art who also cultivate fiction and often resort to a blend of genres, thus dissolving pre-established borders.

‘To write a novel about actual events and real people is to split oneself in two: in one half, the narrator has to respect the laws of fiction, and in the other, the laws of truth. (With) my novel Mala gente que camina (Bad people walking), I wanted to create a book that was half literature and half assay. To break with genres is to cross borders, and thus involves conquering and renouncing, but no matter: a renouncement can also be part of a sum and if often the only way to get where you want to go when you write.’

Benjamín Prado (Madrid, 1961) has published the following novels: Raro (Odd) (1995), Never shake hands with a left-handed gunman (1996), Dónde crees que vas y quién te crees que eres (Where do you think you are going and who do you think that you are) (1996), Alguien se acerca (Someone’s coming) (1998), Not only fire (Alfaguara, 1999), Snow is silent (2000) and Mala gente que camina (Bad people walking) (2006), and a book of short stories called Jamás saldré vivo de este mundo (I’ll never get out of this world alive) (Alfaguara, 2003).He is also the author of the following assays: Siete maneras de decir manzana (Seven ways of saying apple) (2000) and Los nombres de Antígona (The names of Antigone) (Aguilar, 2001; Winner of the 2002 José Ortega y Gasset Assay and Humanities Award), and the autobiographical volume A la sombra del Ángel (trece años con Alberti) (In the angel’s shadow – thirteen years with Alberti) (Aguilar, 2002). His poetry is found in Ecuador (poetry 1986-2001), Iceberg –both published in 2002- and Marea humana (Human tide, 2006). To date, his books have been translated in the United States, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Portugal, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Hungary.

In this cycle the CAA will be offering viewpoints from different writers whose work runs flexibly between theoretical refection and literary creation. Students and critics of culture and art which they cultivate in addition to fiction, they are frequent genre-mixers, thereby breaking down established boundaries.

Working from his experience in Eastern Europe in 1990, when he witnessed the fall of the communist system and met numerous intellectuals from those countries, Ignacio Vidal-Folch will propose some reflections on the role of ideology in literature, from the great novelists of the 19th century, via authors seduced by the totalitarian utopias of the mid 20th century, to the current empire of bonism and political correctness.

Ignacio Vidal-Folch was born in Barcelona in 1996, where he currently works as a writer and journalist. He has written a book of short stories entitled Amigos que no he vuelto a ver (Anagrama, 1997) and novels La libertad (Anagrama, 1996) and La cabeza de plástico (Anagrama, 1999) and Turistas del ideal (Destino, 2005), the first part of a trilogy. He has also won the NH prize for the best book of stories and he regular writes in the press. His work has earned him a place among the most representative writers in his generation. Contramundo (Destino, 2006) is the second part of the trilogy started with Turistas del ideal and his most recent novel.