I confess to Esmeralda that I have not read any of her books. To get to know her a bit more before the session, I have only been able to read and listen to interviews posted on the internet. I ask her which of her books she recommends: Lo prohibido, which I have already started, and Detrás y delante de los puentes.
I ask her, out of simple curiosity, about what she teaches in her writing courses and she answers that she teaches how to read well, to understand the narrations, and then to structure them. And the style?, I ask. Everyone has their own style, I don't get involved here. In any case, I help to develop it.
There is a nice light in her studio. Before leaving, with that special smile of hers -she also smiles with her eyes- she gives me a copy of Lo prohibido and dedicates it to me: "...on this beautiful autumn day, where your gaze and mine overlap in the light and in the words".
> Esmeralda Berbel (Badalona, 1961) studies Hispanic Philology at the University of Barcelona. Her literary work has been awarded several prizes, among them Femenino-Lumen, Montserrat Roig, Ana María Matute, Cuentos del Sur in Buenos Aires, etc. She has published books of short stories: El hombre que pagaba noches enteras, Alismas; of interviews: Trátame bien, A veces la vida, Lo que piensan l@s adolescentes, the epistolary No se lo cuentes a nadie, of poetry Habitarlo todo, Fumar en la bañera; she has been editor of several books of diaries, of the novels Detrás y delante de los puentes, Lo prohibido and of a personal diary Irse. She has written and co-directed the short film El secreto.
She has collaborated in Va de cine, Radio 5 reviewing several filmmakers.
In November she exhibits at the FX Animation film school, the collective work of several artists inspired by the novel Lo prohibido.
She teaches Literary Creation at the Ateneo Barcelonés Writing School, at La buena vida bookstore in Madrid, at Jessica Walker's theater school Laboratorio and at Laura Jou's theater studio. She teaches writing, reading and poetry courses at the FX Animation film school.