Almudena Grandes

On 17 October, BorderKitchen presents an interview with the Spanish author Almudena Grandes. She will be interviewed in Zaal 3 (formerly Zeebelt) by Arjan Peters about her new novel De vijand van mijn vader.

Almudena Grandes (Madrid, 1960) made her debut in 1989 with the erotic and controversial novel Episoden uit het leven van Lulu. She went on to write six more novels and three short story collections. In Spain, Grandes has long been one of the best-selling literary authors. In 2010 her novel Het ijzig hart was published, of which she sold more than 650,000 copies in her home country, and for which she received numerous national and international literary awards.

In De vijand van mijn vader, Grandes tells the true-life story of Nino. This adventure novel was written down in collaboration with its main character.

Nino is nine years old, the son of a Guardia Civil officer in a village in the south of Spain. He lives with his parents and sister in the barracks. In the summer of 1947 he meets Pepe el Portugués, a mysterious stranger who becomes his close friend. While they spend afternoons by the river fishing and idling away the time, Nino also learns to type at “the farm of the blonde”. There live girls and women whose fathers and husbands have been killed because they were “reds”. Slowly, Nino becomes aware of the ongoing struggle and must decide which side he is on.

Almudena Grandes will be interviewed in English by Arjan Peters (de Volkskrant).

This BorderKitchen event is organised in collaboration with Uitgeverij Signatuur. De vijand van mijn vader is translated from Spanish by Mia Buursma. Original title: El Lector de Julio Verne.

Date: Thursday 17 October 2013
Start time: 8:00 PM
Location: Zaal 3 – laboratory for the performing arts, Constant Rebecqueplein 20A, The Hague (formerly Zeebelt)
Tickets: €7.50 available via Theater aan het Spui: 070-3465272 or kassa@theateraanhetspui.nl