Introduction
BEYOND FANTASY
Although Festival 42 is now a reality, it's also still fantasy.
One year on from its inception, and with its 2nd edition just round the corner, the Barcelona Fantasy Genres Festival has become an unmissable event for anyone who reads, is curious about, has an interest in, or is a fan of, literary imagination.
Guests
Pay close attention and whet your appetite with the first guest announcements for the 2022 edition of Festival 42:
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Aliette de Bodard(New York, United States, 1982). Aliette de Bodard is a Paris-based writer and engineer of French-Vietnamese descent, winner of three Nebula Awards, one Locus Award, one British Fantasy Award and five British Science Fiction Association Awards. The author, who is well known for her extraordinary characters and universes, has just published Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances. She has also written other works forming part of series and sagas, among them, in Catalan, La mestra del te i la investigadora, and in Spanish, the upcoming Historias de Xuya: La maestra de té y la detective. Siete de infinitos, @aliettedb
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Samantha Shannon(London, 1991) Writer. In 2013, her book The Bone Season, the first in a series of seven novels of the same name, whose film rights have been bought by Imaginarium Studios and which has been translated into 27 languages, made it onto the The New York Times and The Sunday Times bestseller lists. In addition, her work The Priory of the Orange Tree, a powerful feminist fantasy with the legend of Sant Jordi as its backdrop, has just been published in Spanish with the title El Priorato del Naranjo. @shay_shannon
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Luis Mateo Díez(Villablino, León, Spain, 1942). A fiction writer who has written widely in a number of genres, member of the Real Academia Española and winner of awards such as the Crítica and the Nacional de Narrativa, which he received twice. Creator of the imaginary world of Celama, he is the author of works such as La fuente de la edad, La ruina del cielo, El reino de Celama, El árbol de los cuentos, Fábulas del sentimiento and Los ancianos siderales. For Festival 42, which will coincide with his 80th birthday, he will publish Mis delitos como animal de compañía, a fable with a protagonist of disturbing lucidity.
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Jordi Sierra i Fabra(Barcelona, 1947) Jordi Sierra i Fabra, whose 75th birthday and 50 years of writing are currently being celebrated, has published over 500 works and achieved total sales figures of over 14 million books. He has won over 50 literary awards, including the Spanish National Prize for Literature and the Cervantes Chico and Creu de Sant Jordi awards. He is the creator of the award-winning Sierra i Fabra foundations in Barcelona and Colombia, as well as an unquestionable - and sometimes pioneering - benchmark of both adult and young adult fantasy genres.
Programme
The second edition of Festival 42, which will be held from 2 to 6 November, will feature some of the core principles that characterise it. In addition to the regular annual features, this year will also include:
- More young adult fantasy literature
- A new section on the relationship between mental health and fantasy genres.
- Many more activities beyond books and authors
- More proposals relating to the world of film, TV series, theatre, comics, music and illustration, among others.
- An emphasis on leading European authors writing in languages other than English
42: the name
You just have to do a quick Google search: 42 is the science fiction number par excellence and, by extension, that of all fantasy genres. There are memes, T-shirts and whole articles to figure it out. It is the subject of tributes, people play with it and quote it more or less overtly. Above all, they attempt to reveal its mystery.
Curator
Ricard Ruiz Garzón (Barcelona, 1973) is a writer, curator of Festival 42 and a teacher at the Escola d’Escriptura de l’Ateneu Barcelonès [Ateneu Barcelonès cultural association writing school]. He has won awards including the Ramon Muntaner and Edebé awards, among others, and has written around 15 books, including Esquizo, Herba negra, Mary Shelley i el monstre de Frankenstein, Mångata and Janowitz. He has also compiled anthologies (Mañana todavía, Risc, Insólitas, Extraordinàries) and has worked as a critic and journalist in the press, television and radio for a quarter of a century. His works have been adapted to comic, theatre and film formats and translated into half a dozen languages. He is the secretary of the Association of Catalan Language Writers (AELC), sensei of the group Frikípuls and member of the board of CLIJCAT @ricruizgarzon
