2025 Program Search
FIL Literature
The other side of the essay
Participants: Brenda Ríos, Luna Miguel, Mercè Ibarz
Moderator: Joseph Zárate

Brenda Ríos
Writer. She teaches creative writing workshops in different spaces of the country.
She is a member of the National System of Creators 2024-2027.
Among her most recent books is Ensayo 4, compilation and prologue, Direction of Literature, UNAM, 2024 (dissemination). She has been published in Brazil, Colombia, Spain. Cubo de Rubik (Camelot America, 2018) and Olvidar a nadie (Ediciones Periféricas, 2022) together with Mercedes Álvarez, are her chronicle books. Her essay books: Hombres de verdad and Raras ensayos sobre el amor, lo femenino, la voluntad creadora, were included in various lists of the best books in their respective years of appearance in different national media. She was ed for the writing residency at Casa Estudio Cien Años de Soledad, in 2023.
Other activities involving the participant:
The Poetry Room
Southern literature
Destinação Brazil

Luna Miguel
(Alcalá de Henares, 1990) trabaja como editora en Barcelona. Ha publicado siete libros de poemas, entre los que destacan Los estómagos (La Bella Varsovia, 2015) y Poesía masculina (La Bella Varsovia, 2021). También es autora de la novela El funeral de Lolita (Lumen, 2018); de los ensayos El coloquio de las perras (Capitán Swing, 2019), Caliente (Lumen, 2021) y Leer mata.
Other activities involving the participant:
The Poetry Room

Mercè Ibarz
Invitado de HonorMercè Ibarz, born in Zaidín in 1954, is a storyteller, cultural critic, essayist and researcher. She is the author of La terra retirada (1993) and La palmera de blat (1995), which together with Labor inacabada make up the Tríptic de la terra trilogy (2020): ‘If there was any doubt that Mercè Ibarz is one of the greats of contemporary Catalan literature, a pioneer in so many ways, it will be laid to rest immediately with Tríptic de la terra.’ (Andreu Gomila, Time Out); ‘Ibarz is brilliant and, here, she shows it more than ever, because it is not the story that dominates, but rather the characters and the experience.’ (David Castillo, La República). She also published the short story collections A la ciutat en obres (2002) and Febre de carrer (2005), which have now been compiled in Contes urbans: ‘In Mercè Ibarz’s stories, real experience is transfigured, like images from dreams.’ (Julià Guillamon, La Vanguardia), No parlis de mi quan me’n vagi (2010), Vine com estàs (2013), L’amic de la Finca Roja (2017) and Retrat de Mercè Rodoreda (2022). In 2023, she won the Career Award thanks to the pioneering nature of her work, characterised by a fusion of genres and disciplines. Her most recent book is No pensis, mira.
Other activities involving the participant:
Benvinguts: arriving in Barcelona
Tribute to Mercé Rodoreda. The most universal Catalan author

Joseph Zárate
Lima, (1986)
Journalist and editor. He received the Eccles Institute & Hay Festival Global 2025 Literature Award, the Gabo Award 2018 in the text category, the Ortega y Gasset Award 2016 for best story, and the National PAGE Award 2015 for environmental journalism created by the United Nations Organization (UN). He is the author of Guerras del interior (Debate, 2018), non-fiction book about socio-environmental conflicts caused by the exploitation of gold, wood and oil in the Andes and the Amazon. For his chronicles about funeral work during the covid-19 pandemic in Peru, collected in his book Algo nuestro sobre la Tierra (Random House Literature, 2021), received the 2020 National Journalism Award, Special Mention at the 2022 National Literature Award in the non-fiction category, and was nominated for the 2020/21 True Story Award. His work is included in the collective books En otro país (Candaya, 2024), Rabia. Crónicas contra el cinismo en América Latina (Anagram, 2022), Volver a contar. Escritores de América Latina en los archivos del Museo Británico (Anagrama, 2022), Un mundo lleno de futuro (Planeta, 2017), Eduardo Galeano, un ilegal en el paraíso (Siglo XXI, 2016), among other publications. He is currently a professor of non-fiction in the creative writing master's degree at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) and has been part of Amazonias, the ancestral future, an exhibition of the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) dedicated to knowledge and biodiversity of this region of the world.
Other activities involving the participant:
The journey of a travel chronicle
Latin America Viva
Thursday, December 04
18:00 to 19:20