FIL Program 2025 Program Search
Barcelona, Invitado de Honor
Guest of Honor Pavilion
Unique motherhoods
Participants: Begoña Gómez Urzaiz, Gemma Ruiz, Elisenda Solsona
Moderator: Elena Hevia
Begoña Gómez Urzaiz
Invitado de HonorBegoña Gómez Urzaiz (Tarragona, 1980) is a Barcelona-based journalist and writer. She writes regularly for La Vanguardia, co-hosts the podcast Amiga, date cuenta on Radio Primavera Sound and is a regular contributor to the programme Vostè primer on RAC1. Her bylines have appeared in publications such as El País, Vogue and Vanity Fair, and she has taught in the Master’s in Literary Journalism at the UAB. She edited and wrote the foreword to the collectively authored volume Neorrancios. Contra los peligros de la nostalgia (Neorrancios. On the Dangers of Nostalgia). The Abandoners: Of Mothers and Monsters is her first book. It has been translated into English, French, German, Portuguese and Polish and was published by Borough Press in the UK and Ireland, Norton in the US, Aufbau Verlag in Germany, Zahar in Brazil, Karakter in Poland and Stock in France.
Other activities involving the participant:
Tribute to Montserrat Roig +. Words in struggle
Pódcast: Amiga date cuenta (Radio Primavera Sound)
Pódcast: Amiga date cuenta. (Radio Primavera sound)
Bad mothers
Literature by the ear
Gemma Ruiz
Invitado de HonorJournalist and writer. She has worked at Televisió de Catalunya’s news service since the age of 21, primarily as a cultural correspondent for Telenotícies, and is now editor-in-chief. In 2016 she published Argelagues, which became a literary phenomenon. Four years later, her novel Ca la Wenling (Wenling’s) cemented her standing with readers. With Les nostres mares (Our Mothers), she won the 62nd Sant Jordi Prize for Fiction. Her work has been translated into English, Spanish, French and Italian.
Other activities involving the participant:
Tribute to Montserrat Roig +. Words in struggle
Pódcast: Amiga date cuenta. (Radio Primavera sound)
Elisenda Solsona
Invitado de HonorElisenda Solsona (Olesa de Montserrat, 1984) is a writer and secondary school teacher. She holds undergraduate degrees in humanities, from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), and audiovisual communication, from the University of Barcelona (UB). She also studied for the Master’s in Writing for Television and Cinema at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and has taken several writing courses at the Obrador de la Sala Beckett and the Ateneu Barcelonès School of Writing. She has published Cirurgies (Surgeries) (Voliana Edicions, 2016), Satèl·lits (Satellites) (Males Herbes, 2019) – which won the 2020 Imperdible Prize for Best Fantasy Book in Catalan and the 2020 Ictineu Prize for Best Anthology and Best Short Story in Catalan – and Mammalia (Males Herbes, 2024), which was shortlisted for the 2025 Òmnium Prize for Best Novel in Catalan and won the Ictineu Prize for Best Fantasy Novel in Catalan. She has contributed to the anthology Autòctones (Natives) (Comanegra, 2023) and to The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories (Valancourt, 2020) with the short story ‘Mechanisms’ (translated by Mara Faye Lethem from ‘Engranatges’, originally published in Satèl·lits).
Other activities involving the participant:
The search for identity
Maps of a world yet to come: narratives of speculative fiction
Bad mothers
Sunday, November 30
11:00 to 11:50
FIL Literature
Bad mothers
Participants: Lorena Salazar Masso, Elisenda Solsona, Bernardita Bravo Pelizzola, Begoña Gómez Urzaiz
Lorena Salazar Masso
She is a publicist and writer, with a master's degree in narrative from the Madrid School of Writers. This Wound Full of Fish, her first novel has been translated into twelve languages. Maldeniña, her second novel, was published in Colombia, Spain and Argentina. She has published other texts in different journals: Julia Escondida y otras mujeres, El malpensante; Hermano mayor, Gaceta; Bella a las once, La Maleta maleta de Portbou. El malpensante; Hermano mayor, Gaceta; Bella a las once, La; Niñas conejo, Casapaís; Missy y Huevos al desayuno, La Rompedora. She teaches at the School of Writers in Madrid. She works and writes from Medellín.
Other activities involving the participant:
Latin America Viva
Elisenda Solsona
Invitado de HonorElisenda Solsona (Olesa de Montserrat, 1984) is a writer and secondary school teacher. She holds undergraduate degrees in humanities, from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), and audiovisual communication, from the University of Barcelona (UB). She also studied for the Master’s in Writing for Television and Cinema at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and has taken several writing courses at the Obrador de la Sala Beckett and the Ateneu Barcelonès School of Writing. She has published Cirurgies (Surgeries) (Voliana Edicions, 2016), Satèl·lits (Satellites) (Males Herbes, 2019) – which won the 2020 Imperdible Prize for Best Fantasy Book in Catalan and the 2020 Ictineu Prize for Best Anthology and Best Short Story in Catalan – and Mammalia (Males Herbes, 2024), which was shortlisted for the 2025 Òmnium Prize for Best Novel in Catalan and won the Ictineu Prize for Best Fantasy Novel in Catalan. She has contributed to the anthology Autòctones (Natives) (Comanegra, 2023) and to The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories (Valancourt, 2020) with the short story ‘Mechanisms’ (translated by Mara Faye Lethem from ‘Engranatges’, originally published in Satèl·lits).
Other activities involving the participant:
Unique motherhoods
The search for identity
Maps of a world yet to come: narratives of speculative fiction
Bernardita Bravo Pelizzola
(Santiago, Chile, 1980)
Bernardita Bravo Pelizzola published Estampida (Editorial Cuneta, 2018), which was the winner of the Santiago Municipal Literature Prize in the short story category; the novel No reinas (Alfaguara, 2022) and Voraz (La Pollera Ediciones, 2024). She coordinates cultural management programs and libraries in schools and foundations.
Begoña Gómez Urzaiz
Invitado de HonorBegoña Gómez Urzaiz (Tarragona, 1980) is a Barcelona-based journalist and writer. She writes regularly for La Vanguardia, co-hosts the podcast Amiga, date cuenta on Radio Primavera Sound and is a regular contributor to the programme Vostè primer on RAC1. Her bylines have appeared in publications such as El País, Vogue and Vanity Fair, and she has taught in the Master’s in Literary Journalism at the UAB. She edited and wrote the foreword to the collectively authored volume Neorrancios. Contra los peligros de la nostalgia (Neorrancios. On the Dangers of Nostalgia). The Abandoners: Of Mothers and Monsters is her first book. It has been translated into English, French, German, Portuguese and Polish and was published by Borough Press in the UK and Ireland, Norton in the US, Aufbau Verlag in Germany, Zahar in Brazil, Karakter in Poland and Stock in France.
Other activities involving the participant:
Tribute to Montserrat Roig +. Words in struggle
Unique motherhoods
Pódcast: Amiga date cuenta (Radio Primavera Sound)
Pódcast: Amiga date cuenta. (Radio Primavera sound)
Literature by the ear
Sunday, November 30
19:00 to 19:50
Barcelona, Invitado de Honor
Guest of Honor Pavilion
The search for identity
Participants: Elisenda Solsona, Fer Rivas
Moderator: Elena Hevia
Elisenda Solsona
Invitado de HonorElisenda Solsona (Olesa de Montserrat, 1984) is a writer and secondary school teacher. She holds undergraduate degrees in humanities, from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), and audiovisual communication, from the University of Barcelona (UB). She also studied for the Master’s in Writing for Television and Cinema at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and has taken several writing courses at the Obrador de la Sala Beckett and the Ateneu Barcelonès School of Writing. She has published Cirurgies (Surgeries) (Voliana Edicions, 2016), Satèl·lits (Satellites) (Males Herbes, 2019) – which won the 2020 Imperdible Prize for Best Fantasy Book in Catalan and the 2020 Ictineu Prize for Best Anthology and Best Short Story in Catalan – and Mammalia (Males Herbes, 2024), which was shortlisted for the 2025 Òmnium Prize for Best Novel in Catalan and won the Ictineu Prize for Best Fantasy Novel in Catalan. She has contributed to the anthology Autòctones (Natives) (Comanegra, 2023) and to The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories (Valancourt, 2020) with the short story ‘Mechanisms’ (translated by Mara Faye Lethem from ‘Engranatges’, originally published in Satèl·lits).
Other activities involving the participant:
Unique motherhoods
Maps of a world yet to come: narratives of speculative fiction
Bad mothers
Fer Rivas
Invitado de HonorFer Rivas (Barcelona, 1994) is a writer, stage director, playwright and bookseller. She is co-founder of the theatre company laMare, with which she directed her first play, staged at Teatre Tantarantana, the Festival Terrats en Cultura and Sala Trono in Tarragona. She has also worked as assistant director on several productions at Sala Beckett, Teatre Goya and the Grec Festival in Barcelona. In recent years she has combined writing and theatre projects with her work as a bookseller. Jo era un noi (I Was a Boy) is her first novel. She is currently working on its stage adaptation.
Monday, December 01
17:30 to 19:20
FIL Literature
Maps of a world yet to come: narratives of speculative fiction
Participants: Elisenda Solsona, Gabriela Damián Miravete, Hank T. Cohen, Andrea Chapela, Roberto Abad
Elisenda Solsona
Invitado de HonorElisenda Solsona (Olesa de Montserrat, 1984) is a writer and secondary school teacher. She holds undergraduate degrees in humanities, from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), and audiovisual communication, from the University of Barcelona (UB). She also studied for the Master’s in Writing for Television and Cinema at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and has taken several writing courses at the Obrador de la Sala Beckett and the Ateneu Barcelonès School of Writing. She has published Cirurgies (Surgeries) (Voliana Edicions, 2016), Satèl·lits (Satellites) (Males Herbes, 2019) – which won the 2020 Imperdible Prize for Best Fantasy Book in Catalan and the 2020 Ictineu Prize for Best Anthology and Best Short Story in Catalan – and Mammalia (Males Herbes, 2024), which was shortlisted for the 2025 Òmnium Prize for Best Novel in Catalan and won the Ictineu Prize for Best Fantasy Novel in Catalan. She has contributed to the anthology Autòctones (Natives) (Comanegra, 2023) and to The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories (Valancourt, 2020) with the short story ‘Mechanisms’ (translated by Mara Faye Lethem from ‘Engranatges’, originally published in Satèl·lits).
Other activities involving the participant:
Unique motherhoods
The search for identity
Bad mothers
Gabriela Damián Miravete
Nació en la Ciudad de México. Sus relatos han sido traducidos al inglés, italiano, portugués, francés, euskera y japonés; y publicados en antologías finalistas del Premio Hugo y World Fantasy. Es cofundadora de proyectos colaborativos como Mexicona: Imaginación y Futuro y el Cúmulo de Tesla, colectivo de arte y ciencia. Recibió el Premio de Cuento FILIJ, la beca Jóvenes Creadores de Narrativa y forma parte del Sistema Nacional de Creadores desde 2023.
Es autora de los libros La canción detrás de todas las cosas (Elefanta Editorial, 2024) y They Will Dream in the Garden (Rosarium Press, 2023), que ganó el Shirley Jackson Award y el International New Star del Fishing Fortress Award del Tai Shan College of Science and Technology de China.
Hank T. Cohen
Camilo Ortega a.k.a. Hank T. Cohen a.k.a. metaphysicoculturist (Bogotá, 1990) is the author of the book of short stories El pornógrafo (Ediciones Vestigio, 2019), Traumatismo pancreático (Ediciones Vestigio, 2022), La magia en la época de su reproducibilidad técnica (La plena noche, 2024) and co-author of Balazo fecundante. He is a writer and a master in writing from the National University of Colombia. His stories have appeared in the anthologies Brecha, Contaminación futura, Quiero la cabeza de Bram Stoker, Cabezas en la ventana, Fisura in addition to the magazines Phoenix, Amalgama.
Andrea Chapela
(Ciudad de México, 1990) estudió química en la UNAM, un MFA en escritura creativa en español en la Universidad de Iowa y una maestría en Estudios de Japón en el Colegio de México. Ha recibido el premio Nacional de Literatura Gilberto Owen de cuento 2019 por Ansibles, perfiladores y otras máquinas de ingenio (Almadía, 2020), el premio Nacional de Literatura Juan José Arreola 2019 por Un año de servicio a la habitación (Editorial UDG, 2019) y el premio Nacional de Ensayo Joven José Luis Martínez 2019 por Grados de miopía (Tierra Adentro, 2019). Además, es autora de la tetralogía Vândiz (Ediciones Urano, 2008-2015). Su obra ha sido traducida al inglés, francés e italiano. Ha sido becaria del FONCA y del Ayuntamiento de Madrid en la histórica Residencia de Estudiantes. En 2021 fue seleccionada como parte de los 22 Novelistas Jóvenes en español por la revista Granta. Actualmente vive en la Ciudad de México con sus dos gatos.
Roberto Abad
(Cuernavaca, 1988)
I write short stories. I am very gemini. I studied education sciences. I like paranormal topics such as aliens, dreams, parallel dimensions, doubles, and I write about all of them; they call it fantastic literature. In this genre I have published the short story books Orquesta primitiva (Fondo Editorial Tierra Adentro, 2015), Cuando las luces aparezcan (Paraíso Perdido, 2020/2023; XI Ramón López Velarde National Narrative Award), El hombre crucigrama (UNAM, 2023; special mention of the Banco del Libro de Venezuela, and recognition of the Cuatrogatos Foundation) and Umbral (UAM, 2024).
I write stories where the everyday is fractured and the fantastic, the strange, the disturbing or the absurd sneaks in. I believe that the unreal is not an escape, but a way to ask questions about what we think is safe.