Literary afternoon with Jon Arretxe in Aranjuez. 19 cameras presentation

Last afternoon of April 4, the Basque writer Jon arretxe He was in Aranjuez presenting his book 19 cameras, the first of those starring his character, the Burkinabe immigrant Touré, that lives in Bilbao and acts as a caster of cowries, Opera singer, detective and even gigolo. He told us many things about his life and his work in a couple of hours very relaxed and with a lot of participation from the audience, readers who for the most part had already read the novel.

It was an activity framed within the Black Novel Festival, Black Margarita, organized by the IES Margarita Salas de seseña. Later we had the opportunity to greet him and get his signature and those who wanted continued the evening with a dinner. I confess my ignorance of Arretxe's work, but his closeness, simplicity and his rich life and literary experiences they conquered me.

Jon arretxe

This versatile writer born in Basauri has a PhD in Basque Philology, a bachelor's degree in Physical education and the races of piano and singing. He was also a teacher of Euskara and Physical Education and currently lives from writing, from his talks and lectures on his travels and books, and from singing opera.

It was early traveler and has traveled many countries in Asia and Africa. It was there that the Algerian Sahara, Mali and Senegal were crossed, by bicycle. That was such an intense journey that he decided to put it into a diary that later had the title of tubabu. He presented it to a contest, won and after the great reception of the readers decided to continue writing.

But one day he got a little tired of so much physical and literary travel and found the Novelty. However, in his books we can find hybrids that mix this genre with that of travel, such as these titles:

• lively dead – Paris.
• the street of angels – Lisbon.
• Shahmaran – Istanbul.
• Tangier dreams – Tangier.

Toure series

19 cameras es the first of those starring this character and Arretxe, with the visual support of a projector, was showing us videos of reports on Bilbao and the settings for its novels. In particular, he took us through the neighborhood of San Francisco, considered by many as a poor and marginal neighborhood and ghetto of foreigners. In short, an "unsafe" place and incidentally not recommended that for Arretxe is the ideal setting in which to develop his stories.

Traditional bars, decadent clubs, brothels, a convent, narcosalas, pateras flats… But we also visited others such as the Euskalduna Conference and Music Palace, for example. All are worth as a framework for novels loaded with a lot of darkness and social criticism.

In fact also, this series of Touré is written there, just on the floor where the character lives and that the writer managed to find undoubtedly all the inspiration. It also relied on neighborhood associations and the diverse peasantry that populates San Francisco, from ex-prostitutes, social care centers for immigrants or the same municipal police and the Ertxaina.

The series consists of 5 titles and he told us that, for now, he has parked it, for fear of being pigeonholed or accommodating to a creative routine that will become too dependent on the demand of their readers. Nevertheless, hasn't given up on her and will probably continue it.

1. 19 cameras.
2. 612 euros.
3. Shadows of nowhere
4. sewer games.
5. Moleskin.

Reader Questions

There were several, as well as comments and general questions about his style, your new projects or your favorite authors. This is how he told us that he prefers to write short novels and that without a doubt you have to take advantage of the inspiration when it appears. He confessed that at the moment he suffers a blocking in the work at hand, a new novel rural environment also gender black.

He also answered the usual question of whether he finds Touré as his alter ego, to which he replied no. "Well, more than anything because he is black and I am not," was his comment in a joking tone. He also responded that he enjoys his two facets as an opera singer and writer. And about his relationship with police or ertxaines, who don't do very well in soap operas, commented that they don't find it very funny in general, but that they have never had any problems. He told an anecdote about a municipal police officer, who takes it quite well, who told him one day that there are no longer those 19 surveillance cameras installed in the neighborhood to which the title refers, but that there are 21.

Your favorite authors

And as for his favorite writers, he highlighted these, although he has many more:

• Chester Himes.
• Thierry Jonquet, of whom he cited his title Tarantula, which inspired the movie The Skin I Live Inby Pedro Almodovar.
• Julian Ibáñez.
• Ian Manok.
• Edward Mendoza.

For more information:  Jon Arretxe.net