En Actualidad Literatura, we had the pleasure of being able to interview the Spanish writer Elizabeth Benavent, author of books that have become great sagas read mostly by female audiences. They sure sound like you creative writing on the table: "In Valeria's shoes", "Valeria in the mirror", "Valeria in black and white", "Naked Valeria", "Chasing Silvia", "Finding Silvia", "Someone who is not me", " Someone like you "," Someone like me "," Martina overlooking the sea "," Martina on the mainland " o "My island"… All books by this Gandía author, born in 1984.
If you want to know a little or a lot more about this writer and know what they are your current projects, among other things, stay with us at read this interview with the writer Elísabet Benavent. It goes without saying that I personally recommend his books: they are fresh, they hook from the first page and each one of them makes a nod to the story told by the saga before it. We leave you with his words ...
Actualidad Literatura: Every writer has a starting date, when did you start writing and why or by whom is this hobby motivated?
Elizabeth Benavent: From a very young age, my sister instilled in me a taste for reading; I think that was the starting gun for the passion for writing. The truth is that I don't really know how I started. I have always had the need to do it and you are groping, building stories little by little; some came to nothing and others ended up being… something. Thank God nothing I wrote at that time will ever see the light of day!
AL: Your books can be read by both men and women, but they are primarily intended for women, aren't they? Why these kinds of novels?
E.B.: I've never really considered it. I write in a very visceral way; I mean that I let myself be carried away by the idea and by the story that develops from it. One of my teachers used to say that people are constantly looking for ways to self-refer; maybe this is mine.
AL: Valeria and her friends, or in other words, the book "In Valeria's shoes", was the one who catapulted you to literary success and after this it has been a non-stop of successful publications. Did you expect all this? How was the “Valeria world” born?
E.B.: I was not expecting it at all. To this day, everything that has happened in three years still seems incredible to me. It has been a wonderful experience with which I have fulfilled a dream that I never thought would be possible. Valeria, also, was born from the need to feel closer to my friends; I had recently moved to Madrid, I missed them and, since I never believed that anyone would read me, I wrote a story that brought them closer to me. That is why Valeria will always be so special to me, because in each one of them there is a little piece of my friends.
AL: I have to confess that I have read the entire Valeria Saga ("In Valeria's shoes", "Valeria in the mirror", "Valeria in black and white" and "Naked Valeria") and I think that this very night I will be able to finish the second and last book of the Silvia Saga, specifically, “Finding Silvia”. In all the books that I have read of yours so far, I see that the central theme is love, but not just any love but a love of these that fill as much as they break, of which when you lose the only sensation you feel is that of empty ... Why is it the predominant theme in your books? Do you believe in the true existence of this type of love or, on the contrary, do you consider as many today that love is undervalued and people have become colder and more superficial even in our feelings?
E.B.: I am one of those people who continue to have faith in love, what am I going to do? I believe in "forever" and that it is possible to find someone who is part of your life until the end. In addition, I have a "drama queen" locked up inside me that lives things with the "force of the seas" and that I have to stop when I write, because it comes up to the minimum.
AL: The characters you create call my attention ... You make them so real, so close and so normal that I think it is one of the strong points that makes one start a book of yours on a Friday and finish it the following Sunday at the latest. … Who or who do you look at to create them? And, just if you want to answer, which of the characters created so far has more of you, more of Elísabet Benavent?
E.B.: I can't deny that my friends are an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Every time I sit down to dinner or have a wine with them, I come up with ideas, with comments written on my mobile or on napkins ... there is a Lola in my life and also a Carmen, a Martina, a Silvia ... I want to think that there is a little of us in each of the characters. Which of them do I think has more of me? I think it would be a mixture of several: Valeria, Carmen, Silvia ...
AL: Relatively recently, a new saga of yours was published, this time they have Martina's name as their own name ... What can we find in these two books?
E.B.: Martina is a girl whose feelings choke a little, but she has Amaia, a rush of life, and Sandra, a friend who is a little special in her treatment. These books tell the story of three girls who face their Achilles heels and, as in life, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Love, friendship and cooking.
AL: A question that has been in my head since the first Valeria book I read. I am of the opinion that a good book far exceeds the film or series that is made after it ... But the truth, I would love to see some of your sagas on the big screen ... Has this possibility been proposed to you anywhere moment? What response would Elísabet Benavent give to this?
E.B.: In April 2014, the audiovisual production company Diagonal TV, bought the rights to the saga to bring it to the small screen. Today the project continues, building step by step, but these issues require a lot of preparation. I am delighted with the project because I imagine that seeing your characters come to life in that way has to be incredible. Also, I know I left it in the best of hands.
AL: And, currently, what new projects are you involved in? Is something new brewing through your head?
E.B.: I collaborate in the weekly Cuore magazine and I am going to start as a collaborator of the radio program Anda Ya, in Los 40. In addition, I am involved in some publishing project, such as the Betacoqueta Collection, in which books by new writers are published and, well ... I have something in my hands for next year. But we'll have to wait a bit for my next book.
AL: Like last two questions: What book of yours do you recommend me to start now? And as a curiosity: What is your favorite book and writer?
E.B.: I almost always recommend reading my books in order of publication, because I usually wink at the previous ones between the pages. So, if you've read Valeria and Silvia… now I recommend the My Choice Trilogy. The first installment is "Someone who am not." Thanks for the confidence!
I could not choose a single book as a favorite. Not a single author. There are many titles that have marked my life: El camino, by Miguel Delibes; Nana, by Émile Zola; Laughter in the dark, by Vladimir Nabokov; The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende; Point-blank love songs by Nickolas Butler ...
Again, thank you Elísabet! For your time and for offering readings that are able to hook the reader on the first page. Thanks! Best of luck with everything you undertake.
Biography of the author
Elísabet Benavent, or as her thousands of followers know her, BetaCoqueta, is a recent author who has only been publishing books since 2013. Of course, although it is relatively recently, a book that he publishes, a book that sells edition after edition. His first novel was "In Valeria's shoes", which after the resounding success, were followed by the following: "Valeria in the mirror", "Valeria in black and white" y "Valeria naked". These four form what is known as Valeria Saga and they were the ones who not only made the author known, but also those who encouraged her to continue in this writing and in the creation of books, popularly known although not very pleasantly by many writers and writers, such as women's literature , current and carefree.
Since then, and in subsequent years, Elísabet Benavent, Gandía writer born in 1984, has published 8 more novels, many of them being continuations of others: "Chasing Silvia" y "Finding Silvia", those belonging to the My Choice Trilogy "Someone that I am not", "Someone like You" y "Someone like me", el Horizon Martina, composed by "Martina with sea views" y "Martina on dry land" y "My island", which is a book of a single installment and without continuation.
She affirms time and again that being a writer was the dream of her life, and thanks to the publication and the success in sales of each and every one of her books, she has achieved it and has allowed her to live solely on it (which is not little).
Going into less literary and more formal topics, Elísabet is Degree in Audiovisual Communication and it also has a Master in Communication and Art at the Complutense University of Madrid, the current place of residence of the writer. Her time as a writer does not end with the publication of her books but she is also a columnist for Cuore magazine.