Prize-winning Spanish writer Marta Sanz will be in Manila on March 29-April 2 for the “Encuentros en la literatura / Encounters in Literature” program, organized by the De La Salle University (DLSU) Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center (BNSCWC) and Instituto Cervantes, in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain.

“Encuentros” showcases a series of interactions and fora between writers of diverse cultures. It seeks to serve the local community’s cultural life through activities that contribute to the dynamic production of literary writing and the vibrant exchange of creative practices between cultures.

Sanz’s participation is supported by the Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture (Pice), under the Mobility grants awarded by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), which facilitates the presence and collaboration of Spanish artists, professionals or creators in the international activities and programmes of benchmark foreign cultural organizations and institutions, both public and private.

Sanz will deliver a lecture on her work on March 29 (Tuesday), 6 pm, at the Instituto Cervantes de Manila, Ayala Tower I and Philippine Stock Exchange Tower Plaza, Ayala Triangle, Makati. The lecture will be in Spanish language.

She will be featured in “Writers in Conversation,” where she will exchange views on the craft of writing with acclaimed Filipino poet and creative nonfiction writer Marjorie Evasco. This will be on March 30 (Wednesday), 12:45-2:15 pm, at the European Documentation Centre, 13th floor Henry Sy Sr. Hall, DLSU, Manila. Notable fictionist Susan Lara will serve as the host and moderator.

In a writers’ tertulia, Sanz will meet with the members of the Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essaysists, Novelists) led by National Artists Bienvenido Lumbera and Francisco Sionil José, at the Solidaridad Bookshop in Ermita.

Marta Sanz (born 1967) received her Ph.D. in Philology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She is foremost a novelist, having produced critically admired works such as “Los mejores tiempos”  (“The Best Times,” 2001), winner of the “Premio Ojo Crítico de Narrativa; Susana y los viejos” (“Susana and the Elders,” 2006), finalist of the “Premio Nadal; the noir thriller Black, black, black” (2010); “Daniela Astor y la caja negra (Daniela Astor and the Black Box,” 2013), winner of the Premio Tigre Juan and the Premio Cálamo “Otra Mirada” 2013; “La lección de anatomía (The Anatomy Lesson,” 2008, 2014); and “Farándula,” which won the 2015 Premio Herralde.

Sanz has been commended for her mastery of the language, intensity of plot, intriguing complexity of characters, and brilliant use of irony and satirical devices as a means to convey a social comment. Her latest novel “Farándula” is set in the theatre and showbiz world, and according to the author, has established connections with the loose threads in her previous novels.

The theatre, Sanz declared, is a “perfect metaphor for the world we live in, which is hollow.” In an interview with Spanish broadcasting corporation RTVE, Sanz remarked that “the world of theatre actors and the interest in the supposed banality becomes part of our sentimentality and our way of seeing the world.”

In her novel, she wanted to portray that in show business, “the actors are an oxymoron, because they are an icon of our society in which maximum adoration and the baseless hatred that is sometimes confused with freedom of expression come together.” “Farándula” is intended to be an entertaining novel that springs on the readers a sharp discernment of society.

Marta Sanz also writes short fiction, poetry, essays, literary journalism, and criticism. Her poetry books include “Perra mentirosa / Hardcore (Lying Bitch/Hardcore,” 2010), and “Vintage” (2013), which garnered the “Premio de la Crítica de Madrid” for best book of poetry in 2014.

In 2007, she published “Metalingüísticos y sentimentales: antología de la poesía española” (1966-2000), an anthology of contemporary Spanish poetry, which received the Premio Vargas Llosa NH de relatos.

Sanz contributes to various Spanish periodicals and magazines, including El País, Público, and El Cultural de El Mundo.

“Writers in Conversation” and the lecture at Instituto Cervantes are both open to the public. Admission is free.

For further information, visit the official website of Instituto Cervantes (www.manila.cervantes.es) or log on to their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila.

For inquiries, please contact BNSCWC at (632) 5244611 local 233, email [email protected]; or Instituto Cervantes at (632) 5261482, email [email protected]. TVJ