Maria Zaragoza. Interview with the author of The Library of Fire

Maria Zaragoza was born in Campo de Criptana and is a writer and screenwriter. She has already published a dozen titles including novels, comics and story books and has won the Ateneo Joven de Sevilla and Ateneo de Valladolid awards. The last one has been Azorín Novel Award for his work the library of fire. I thank you very much for your attention, sympathy and time for devoting me this interview where he tells us about her and more topics.

Maria Zaragoza — Interview

• ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: Your latest work is titled the library of fire which has been the Azorín Novel Award. What do you tell us about it and where did the idea come from?

MARIA ZARAGOZA:the library of fire is a tribute to all those people who understand that protecting culture, and especially books, is a priority, because it is always in danger due to censorship, fear or ignorance. I tell the story of those librarians that modernized the libraries in the years 30 in Spain and that later they had to save the bibliographic heritage in the rescue of the treasure during the Civil War, sometimes doing real juggling.

It is a Adventure novelAfter all, the adventure of tina vallejo, whose intention is to protect the knowledge contained in the books, and does not suspect how difficult it can be. I had always wanted to do a story about people dedicated to saving books from censorship, and had even designed a secret society, the Invisible Library, for that purpose. But I didn't have the story until I found out that Book Day in 1939 had been celebrated in Madrid with a burning of copies in the courtyard of the Central University. 

• AL: Can you go back to that first book you read? And the first story you wrote?

MZ: I don't remember the first book I managed to read by myself, but I do remember my first book, which I had long before I learned to read: a cardboard one about a boy taking a bath. The first stories I wrote, at seven, began as versions of tales that he already knew or new adventures of his characters. Perhaps the first original story, if there is such a thing, was a story about two nymphs who were fighting.

• AL: A head writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.

MZ: I hate this question because I'm too eclectic to choose: Nabokov, Margaret Duras, Gunter Grass, Victor Hugo, Christine Fernandez Cubas, July CortázarMichael Ende, Ana Maria Matute, Elia Barceló, Homer and Euripides!, what do I know. 

• AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?

MZ: It's not even close to the same thing, because I love characters that I absolutely wouldn't want to meet in real life. On a creative level, I find the character with questionable morals more interesting. For example I am fascinated Humbert Humbert, Lolita, and he's a pedophile you wouldn't want to touch with a stick. I would have liked to be able to design a being like Oscar Matzerath de The tin drum, but it was never highly recommended to come across him. Maybe I would have liked to meet a cronopio in reality, although maybe I even know more than one, who knows. 

• AL: Any special habits or habits when it comes to writing or reading?

MZ: I like it. read reclining or lying down, although I can do it as a touch. I hate reading on devices because I get very tired, although sometimes there is no other choice. I like paper. In fact I proofread my own work on paper at least once every time.  

• AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?

MZ: I concentrate better after twelve in the morning and from the six in the afternoon. These are my two high points of concentration and things turn out better, even my reading comprehension is sharper. I don't have favorite sites. 

• AL: Are there other genres that you like?

MZ: I don't quite understand what you mean by this. I guess my favorite genres are considered unrealistic. I read them and practice them.  

• AL: What are you reading now? And writing?

MZ: I always write several things at the same time, so at the moment I'm working on a script project, doing the rundown of my next novel and writing a story from time to time. I'm reading the needles of the night, by Fernando Repiso, thrillerand the book of stories Relicsfrom Albacete Ana Martinez Castillo. 

• AL: How do you think the publishing scene is?

MZ: I also don't know very well in which direction you are directing the question. As a reader, which I am much more than a writer perhaps, I find it very assorted and appetizing. I think anyone can find a book they like with minimal effort, and that's wonderful to read. In addition, the non-realistic genres, which, as I have already said, I particularly like, are experiencing a very good moment, with many good-quality authors and many specialized independent publishers. 

• AL: Is the moment of crisis that we are experiencing being difficult for you or will you be able to keep something positive for future stories?

MZ: I had a worse time in the first weeks of the confinement, honestly. I think that in those moments I experienced such a crisis that what has come after it has not been possible to compare. I suppose that we never know what will affect us and to what extent. And since I don't know, I won't venture what might end up inspiring something creative in the future. Very often, it is while writing that I realize what events that I had not given importance to have the necessary substrate to spark inspiration. I could not anticipate what will happen with what has been experienced in the last two years.