Thirteen books by island writers to travel the world

PalmThere are numerous examples of novels, poetry collections, and comics that have not only been set in the author's immediate surroundings but have also been used to reflect on these scenarios from very diverse perspectives, such as Antònia Vicens's '39° a la sombra' (39° in the Shadow), the bulk of Gabi Beltran's poetic work on the Costa del Sol, and Bartomeu Seguí's. However, there are also those who have decided, at one time or another, to leave the local context and place their works in coordinates that, apparently, have little or nothing to do with the Islands.

Kiribati

Maria Antònia Massanet

Adia Edicions.74 pages, poetry

Artena native Maria Antònia Massanet invites readers to travel to the other side of the world to speak about the reality close at hand. This collection of poems takes its name from a Pacific archipelago that has been sinking to the point of almost disappearing due to climate change. "A flooded paradise / and another that dries up. / Fontanelles under reinforced concrete / new sourdough / of the baked bread / that will no longer float for us" is one of the poems read.

A white shadow

Carme Riera

Editions 62,320 pages, narrative

Although a significant part of Carme Riera's latest book takes place in Mallorca, as occurs in almost all of the author's publications, to search for the origins of Barbara Simpson, the protagonist ofA white shadow, the author of Inside the last blue It takes place in the southern United States in the middle of the last century. It masterfully exposes various problems linked to racism and religious fanaticism that still plague American society.

Matilde E.

Maria Escalas

The Bell. 240 pages, narrative

While one of the islander author's main literary references linked to Paris would compel us to mention Béarn or Lorenzo Villalonga's Doll Room, Maria Escalas's portrait in Matilde E. shows the hidden side of that supposedly idyllic period of liberation that many artists spent in the French capital at the beginning of the century. It echoes, among others, the voices of musicians like Erik Satie and painters like Toulouse-Lautrec.

Winter in July

Marta Terrasa

Tushita Edicions.216 pages, narrative

Maria Antònia Oliver said that by writing Antipodes, the novel in which detective Lònia Guiu travels to Australia, had been informed by tourist guides, since she had never set foot there. And just the opposite is what journalist Marta Terrasa did, who after traveling from one end to the other of the immense Australian paradise left a record in Winter in July, a kind of adventure book that combines journalistic chronicle with personal diary.

Things that happen to you in Barcelona when you're 30

Lucia Ramis

Column. 232 pages, narrative

One of the favorite locations for island authors who have decided to leave the Archipelago, especially those from the 1970s and 1980s. Among them is Lucía Ramis, who in 2008 straddled the border between reality and fiction to construct a chronicle of youth at the beginning of the 21st century in a Barcelona permeated by the philosophy of "post-cynicism."

Jaguar, where adverbs die of fear

Gabriel Janer Manila

Nueva Editorial Moll. 134 pages, narrative

More than a journey, Gabriel Janer Manila's book is a quest: that of the legendary Korubo people, a tribe who didn't use adverbials in their language because "they are the nuance added by those who wish to manipulate life, to dominate nature." With the goal of finding them, the author guides us on a journey through waterfalls, lakes, and dense vegetation in the Amazon rainforest, the land of the jaguar, during the first half of the 19th century.

New York

Blai Bonet

Column. 127 pages, poetry

There are numerous publications by Balearic authors that allow us to feel like we are in New York, like The heights, by Sebastià Portell or The wild olive trees of Manhattan, by Ponç Pons. But I'm sure both writers would also recommend the poetry collection New York signed by Blai Bonet, which includes, among others, the poem 'Al Brown', which was recited by Lou Reed in 2007, precisely in New York, and which begins with the verse "What would man be without the beasts?"

The golden apples

Baltasar Porcel

Editions 62,200 pages, novel

Published in 1980, this novel by Baltasar Porcel takes the search for the Holy Grail as its symbolic starting point, leading the reader on a journey of existential reflection that stops, among others, in the jungles of the Ivory Coast. It is not the only Andritxol text to travel to the African continent: some of the stories in the collection A Love in Seychelles, made up of 13 stories that speak of shipwrecks, battles, safaris, and ghosts, also do so.

Corfu, Cabrera, Martinique | Breviary of Islands and Mirages

Miquel Àngel Llauger

Lleonard Muntaner Editor.

Writer Miquel Àngel Llauger proposes an itinerary through the myth of islands, constructed not only through content but also through form. This essay, published by Lleonard Muntaner in 2021, constitutes an archipelago of reflections on everything that has captivated writers around the world in relation to island territories, which includes, among others, the three islands that give it its name: Corfu, Cabrera, and Martinique.

Lisbon

Gabriel de la ST Sampol

Lleonard Muntaner Editor. 64 pages, poetry

When presenting Lisbon, a collection of poems by Gabriel de la ST Sampol, in November 2015 at the Embat bookstore in Palma, the writer Sebastià Perelló also said that "reading Lisbon It is more than ever to read the nonsense that places and literature make." Thus, this work by the Mallorcan poet, critic, and translator proposes a personal and non-transferable journey through the Portuguese city that cannot be separated from the influence of Fernando Pessoa.

That

Max

Ventanas Publishing. 200 pages, comic

Why does the protagonist of Qué, winner of the Ventanas de Cómic Award, decide to travel to Trebizond, a city located in northeastern Turkey? Because in the midst of a life crisis, he decides to open his copy of Don Quixote and there he finds a reference to the Emperor of Trebizond, which connects him with a childhood memory and leads him to want to visit the city. From there, Max constructs a reflection on the contradictions of today's world.

Memoria de caminos

Miquel Rayó

New Moll Publishing House. 132 pages, essay

This essay by writer Miquel Rayó is, above all, an invitation to go out and walk and break new ground in the world. After a lifetime of doing so himself, Rayó conveys in this book not only his personal experiences and reflections, but also a story about the very act of walking and its implications. The itinerary, among other places, stops in Peru, Scotland, the Alps, and Japan, arguing that "roads are an alchemy of time on the soul."

Deimos

Lucia Pietrelli

Males Herbes Publishing House. 145 pages, narrative

It doesn't matter that from the very beginning it is made clear that the island where Lucia Pietrelli's novel takes place, Deimos, isn't real. Once you've read the book, you're convinced you've stepped into it. It tells the story of Laia, a doll who lives in a place where death doesn't exist, and who was abandoned by her mother when she was just born. With an air of myth and a classic aftertaste, Pietrelli's proposal is to take you on a journey that is both literary and existential.