Lucía Etxebarria

Spain

©Marta Fernández Etxebarria

 

 

Lucía Etxebarria is born in 1966 and has a daughter, a dog, three tatoos and innumerable scars of both the visible and invisible variety. She has been awarded an honorary degree and title from the University of Aberdeen and her work has been translated into fourteen languages.

 

When Gabriel's estranged sister Cordelia disappears on Tenerife, he takes up the search himself. Together with Cordelia's friend and former lover Helena, Gabriel discovers that his sister was involved with a powerful sect. The deeper he delves into her disappearance, the more he learns about his own shady family background. Looking not only for his sister but also for love, what will Gabriel find? El contenido del silencio ("The Contents of Silence") is a novel about friendship and love and the fragility of the human soul.

 

A mystery novel about seduction and the search for oneself.

El Mundo

 

One of Etxebarria’s most addictive novels.

Marie Claire Spain

 

 

In Lucía Etxebarria’s latest bestseller Lo verdadero es un momento de lo falso (“The True Is A Moment of The False”), Pumuky, the charismatic singer in the up-and-coming band Sex & Love Addicts, is found shot in the head near Madrid. Was it suicide? Murder? The media interview the people who knew Pumuky best – revealing the wounds in the star’s soul. Mario, the group’s mastermind, was always rather envious of Pumuky with his great stage presence. Romano was Pumuky’s closest friend since schooldays, standing by him after his mother died of a drug overdose. Romano’s mother Sabina became a substitute parent, their relationship floating between worried concern and erotic attraction. Later Pumuky made a habit of coming on to Romano’s ex-girlfriends. One of them is Olga, a voracious vamp who leads a prestigious event agency for rock bands and is bored in her marriage. When her affair with Romano comes to an end, she succumbs to Pumuky’s charms. Romano seeks solace in the arms of the beautiful Valeria. Used to men being interested in her as a trophy but not in her intellectual prowess, Valeria cultivates her appearance all the way to anorexia.

Through all these individual fates, described with empathy, each opening up a new perspective of Pumuky, Lucía Etxebarria creates a vivid picture of a society trapped between fears and desires. With this novel, she shows once again that there is no single truth, but only a number of perspectives.

Lo verdadero es un momento de lo falso is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Lucía Etxebarria takes a brave look behind the facades and reveals the merciless face of an entertainment society in which everyone has a function but no one has a true place. As in her previous novels, the author subtly mirrors the world in which we live today. Where does fiction begin, and where does it end, if the reader can admire The Sex & Love Addicts on YouTube even after Pumuky’s death?

 

With her acute style, the author blends eroticism and unexpected humour with a rare sense of harmony.

Le Figaro

 

Another journey from which the reader is loath to return. Recommended.

Marie Claire

 

 

Rights sold (selection):

 

Novels:

 

Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas

Barcelona: Plaza y Janés 1997; Booket 2009, 352 p.

Film directed by Miguel Santesmases, released in 2001

Brazil: Ática 1999 Croatia: Fidas 2001 Czech Republic: Garamond 2007 France: Denoël 1999, 2003 (pb); 10/18 2000 (pb); France Loisirs 2000 (Book Club Edition) Germany: Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt 1998; List 2000 (pb) Greece: Kedros 2004 Hungary: Európa Könyvkiadó 2004 Israel: Am Oved 2004 Italy: Guanda 2001 Latvia: Zvaigzne 2009 Lithuania: Tyto Alba 2002 Netherlands: Arena 2000 Norway: Ex Libris 1999; Damm 2000 (pb) Poland: Rebis 2007 Portugal: Notícias 2000 Romania: Pandora 2006 Serbia: Laguna 2005 Slovakia: Belimex 2006 Sweden: Wahlström & Widstrand 2004

 

Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes

Barcelona: Círculo de Lectores 1997; Booket 2009, 282 p.

Premio Nadal 1998

Czech Republic: Garamond France: Denoël 2001; 10/18 2002 (pb) Germany: Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt 2000; Goldmann 2002 (pb) Greece: Patakis 2000 Italy: Guanda 1999 Lithuania: Tyto Alba 2004 Netherlands: Arena 2000, Meulenhoff 2005 Norway: Damm 2001 Portugal: Notícias 1999 Romania: Niculescu 2005 Sweden: Wahlström & Widstrand 2007

 

Nosotras que no somos como las demás

Barcelona: Destino 1999; Booket 2009, 395 p.

Germany: Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt 2005 Italy: Guanda 2003 Portugal: Notícias 2001

 

La Eva futura

Barcelona: Destino 2000; Barcelona: Booket 2007, 243 p.

Italy: Guanda Portugal: Notícias 2001

 

De todo lo visible y lo invisible

Madrid: Espasa Calpe 2001; Barcelona: Booket 2004 (pb); Mexico: Espasa Calpe 2002 (Colección Áncora y Delfín), 452 p.

Premio Primavera 2001

Croatia: Naklada Oceanmore 2003 France: Denoël 2003; 10/18 2004 (pb) Germany: Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt 2003 Italy: Guanda 2005 • Netherlands: Arena 2002 Portugal: Notícias 2002

 

Una historia de amor como otra cualquiera

Madrid: Espasa Calpe 2003; Barcelona: Booket 2006 (pb); 272 p.

Mexico: Espasa Calpe 2003 (pb)

Croatia: Naklada Oceanmore 2005 France: Héloïse D'Ormesson 2005; 10/18 2007 (pb) German: Digital Publishing 2004, audiobook Italy: Guanda 2004 Netherlands: Arena 2005 Portugal: Notícias 2004

 

Un milagro en equilibrio

Premio Planeta 2004

Barcelona: Planeta 2004; Booket 2006, 448 p.

Brazil: Planeta 2006 France: Héloïse D'Ormesson 2006; 10/18 2007 (pb); France Loisirs 2007 (Book Club Edition) Greece: Kedros 2006 Israel: Am Oved 2007 Italy: Guanda 2006 Netherlands: Pimento 2004 Poland: Muza 2006 Portugal: Dom Quixote 2006

 

Cosmofobia

Barcelona: Destino 2007; Booket 2008, 368 p.

France: Héloïse D'Ormesson 2007; 10/18 2008 (pb) Italy: Guanda 2008 Poland: Muza 2009 Portugal: Casa das Letras 2009

 

Lo que los hombres no saben

Madrid: Martínez Roca 2008; Barcelona: Booket 2009, 320 p

France: Héloïse D’Ormesson 2009; 10/18 2010 (pb)

 

Lo verdadero es un momento de lo falso

Madrid: Suma de letras 2010, 408 p.

English sample translation available

Croatia: Oceanmore France: Héloïse D'Ormesson 2010, pb 2011 Italy: Guanda 2011

 

El contenido del silencio

Barcelona: Planeta 2011, 424 p.

Croatia: Oceanmore France: Héloïse D'Ormesson Italy: Guanda 2012

 

 

Non-fiction:

 

Ya no sufro por amor

Madrid: Martínez Roca 2006; Barcelona: Booket 2009, 342 p.

Croatia: Naklada Oceanmore France: Héloïse D’Ormesson 2008; 10/18 2009 (pb)   Italy: Guanda 2007 Portugal: Casa das Letras 2006

 

La vida por delante: voces desde y hacia Palestina

Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos 2005, 304 p.

 

 

For young readers:

 

La fantástica niña pequeña y la cigüeña pedigüeña

Barcelona: Planeta 2007, 32 p.

 

 

Scripts:

 

Sobreviviré

1999, movie directed by David Menkes and Alfonso Albacete

Winner of the 2000 Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Turin, Italy; presented at numerous international film festival, among others at Berlin Film Festival, Miami Hispanic Film Festival and Los Angeles Latino Film Festival

 

La mujer de mi vida

(with José Luis Acosta as co-writer)

2001, movie directed by Antonio del Real

 

I love you baby

2001, movie directed by David Menkes and Alfonso Albacete

 

 

Please ask for detailed information concerning the rights sold abroad.