Spanish novelist Luisgé Martín will be in Manila on November 9 to14 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 de Manila, with the collaboration of 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.

Martín will be featured in “Writers in Conversation” on November 11 (Wednesday), 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., at the European Documentation Centre, 13th Floor Henry Sy Sr. Hall, De La Salle University (DLSU), Manila.

He will engage in a conversation with local writers on the craft of writing and the work of the imagination. Featured Filipino writers will be prize-winning fictionists Carla Pacis and Eros Atalia. Esteemed fictionist Timothy Montes will serve as host.

Martín will deliver a lecture on the fictionalizing of history and culture on November 12 (Thursday), 7:00 in the evening, at the Instituto Cervantes de Manila, Unit D – Ground Floor, Ayala Tower I and Philippine Stock Exchange Tower Plaza, Ayala Triangle, Ayala Avenue, Makati.  The lecture will be in Spanish language.

In a writers’ tertulia, he 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.

Martín realized his passion for writing through calligraphy, and his fascination for reading through authors such as Enid Blyton, Alexander Dumas, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Julio Cortázar. He received a degree in Hispanic Studies from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and a Master in Business Management from Instituto de Empresa. His first novel “La muerte de Tadzio” (“The Death of Tadzio,” Alfaguara, 2000) was awarded the Premio Ramón Gómez de la Serna.

His novel of psychological depth, “La mujer de sombra” (“The Woman in Shadow,” Anagrama, 2012), received critical acclamation for its dark and disturbing portrayal of humanity’s plunge into an abyss of desire, perversion, and anguish. “La misma ciudad” (“The Same City,” Anagrama, 2013), set against the backdrop of the Twin Towers tragedy in New York, was hailed one of the best national books of the year by ABC España.

His latest novel “La vida equivocada” (“The Wrong Life,” Anagrama, 2015) explores dark themes of excess and failure in the lives of a son and his father.

Of Martín, critic Antonio Penedo of Quimera remarked that he has “become a specialist in telling stories about descent; not into hell as such a thing does not exist, but into something much more terrible, because it is true: the impossibility of existence.” Viky Navarro of Europa Press declared that Martín “affirms that literature is a weapon that can harm, and his aim is to write novels capable of perturbing or injuring readers to make them react against a society that finds it ever easier to scandalize people with idiocy.”

He occasionally works as a columnist in various periodicals such as El Viajero, Babelia, El País and Shangay Express.

Martín’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.

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

For inquiries or further information on the event, please contact BNSCWC at (632) 5244611 local 233, email [email protected]; or visit the official website of Instituto Cervantes (www.manila.cervantes.es) or log on to their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila.