03/03/2009
Vitoria-Gasteiz, March 3, 2009 - The Encounters with the
Cathedral series will be hosting a new session tomorrow, Wednesday
featuring writer Jesús Sánchez Adalid from Extremadura. The session,
which is entitled Fiction and reality in the historical novel and is
being organised by Fundación Catedral Santa María, will begin at 8:00
p.m. at Palacio de Villa Suso and is free of charge.
Born in 1962 in Villanueva de la Serena (Badajoz), Jesús Sánchez Adalid
holds a doctorate in law and sat on the bench for ten years before
studying philosophy and theology. He later earned a degree in
canon law from the Pontifical University of Salamanca.
In 1998, Sánchez Adalid was shortlisted for the
Felipe Trigo Award for La fuente del Atenor [The fountain of Atenor]
and in May 2007, his novel El alma de la ciudad [The soul of
the city] won Planeta’s Fernando Lara award. Sánchez Adalid’s La Luz
del Oriente [Light of the Orient] was acclaimed by the critics and
reading public alike in 2000, but it was the work El Mozárabe [The
Mozarab] that brought him definitive recognition in Spanish literary
circles in 2001.
Furthermore, La Luz del Oriente has been translated into Greek and
Félix de Lusitania [Felix of Lusitania] has also been translated after
its huge success; today, Sánchez Adalid’s entire oeuvre is being
translated into that language. In 2003, the Jews, Moors and
Christians Collection, which brings together famous volumes in the
historical novel on the general theme of these three cultures, brought
out the novel El Mozárabe as a stellar first together with books by
acclaimed authors such as Lion Feuchtwanger, Gibert Sinoué, Noah
Gordón, Tariq Alí, Didier Nebot and Frank Baer, among others.
Sánchez Adalid’s works are enormously popular all over Latin America,
which demonstrates the recognition his particular style has earned
among the Spanish reading public. On that continent, specifically in
Chile, his works were featured in the 2005 Santiago de Chile Book Fair
and some of his volumes have been among Argentina’s best-selling books
in recent years.
Likewise,
and in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes, Sánchez Adalid has
presented his work in Athens and Brussels and travelled to a number of
universities, including Cordova, Zaragoza, Santiago de Compostela,
Corunna, Malaga, Extremadura, Salamanca, Navarre, Alcala de Henares,
Complutense, Comillas and La Rioja, in addition to participating in
literary congresses, competition and awards.
His novels have been recommended by a host of literary
journals and two major film producers hold the film rights to El
Mozarabe and La Sublime Puerta [The sublime door]. Sánchez Adalid’s
published oeuvre includes seven novels that are constantly
re-published: La Luz del Oriente, Félix de Lusitania, El Mozárabe, La
Tierra sin Mal, El Cautivo, La Sublime Puerta and En compañía del sol.
He is also a contributor to the media, both written as well as the
radio.
Jesús Sánchez Adalid’s conference will begin at 8:00 p.m. at Palacio de
Villa Suso. Admission will be free until seating capacity has been
reached, although members of Santa María Cathedral’s Founders Circle
will have priority admission until 7:45 p.m..