In the forest

BOOK REVIEW

IN THE FOREST

Author: Ana María Matute | Elena Odriozola From the reader report by: Margareth Santos

En el bosque is a jewel: it consists of a box that includes an illustrated notebook that reproduces fragments of Ana María Matute’s speech when she joined the Real Academia Española in 1998, and nine illustrated cards.

The artifact retraces the author’s journey started 40 years before her speech, at the age of 16, when Matute won the Planet Prize for stories. Committed to a reading of childhood, she has trodden a fruitful path in Spanish and world literary historiography, having her work translated into several languages.

Some of this commitment is observed in the forest (bosque) of the title, where layers of meaning are combined: there is the physical forest with all its colors, shapes, and smells, but that also shows itself as a free territory for imagination, made of real and imaginary beings, capable of triggering countless visions and stories.

This wealth of perspectives is present both in Matute’s writing and in the physical and imagetic construction of the book, which allies the fragments of her speech with nine illustrations in the form of giant playing cards, created by Elena Odriozola.

This proposal of cards dates back to the 19th century, in the so-called “Mioramas”, a word coined to refer to illustrated card games whose theme referred to different landscapes, so that the reader could create his or her own landscape, in a matching of intellectual and imagetic game.

There is no doubt that En el bosque raises this nineteenth-century idea to an infinite aesthetic and narrative power, for by manipulating its cards, the reader of any age can match thousands of stories, as magic and beauty are not limited to a specific age group. And this is proven by this warm, tactile, charming, and must-read work.

PUBLISHED IN NEW SPANISH BOOKS BR

ALBUR PRODUCCIONES EDITORIALES

Title IN THE FOREST EN EL BOSQUE

Author Ana María Matute | Elena Odriozola Genre Children and Young Adults Pages 16

ISBN 978-84-78988-73-0 Year of publication 2018 Number of editions 2 Language Spanish Spanish retail price 23.90 €

Author’s biography: At the age of 16, Ana María Matute (Barcelona, 1925-2014) wrote her first novel Pequeño teatro (Little theatre) which was a semi-finalist in the Nadal Prize (1949). She was named as a member of the RAE in 1996, became an honorary member of the Hispanic Society of America and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of León. She won many prizes including, the National prize for Spanish literature (2009), the Sant Jordi cross (2009) and the Miguel Cervantes prize (2010). Elena Odriozola (San Sebastián, 1967) works with a delicate, intimate touch, using a constrained palette of soft colours. The series of illustrations which she has produced for this book are effective both technically and conceptually. They stand out for their subtlety and refinement making this book an exceptional artistic offering. Among her many awards are the National illustration prize (2015) which she received from the Spanish Ministry of Culture. http://elenaodriozola.blogspot.com/

Synopsis: In January 1998, Ana María Matute gave her inaugural lecture to the Real Academia Española (RAE; Royal Academy of Spanish). It was entitled: “In the forest”. Speaking at the RAE, a place created for words, and using her clear, story-teller’s voice, she unfurled the world that had fascinated her from childhood. In her speech, the images, and characters that had accompanied her throughout her literary career came to life: the whisper of secrets, invisible lives hiding in the shadows and the voices of the inhabitants of the world’s heart. This book is a scrapbook containing the text of Matute’s lecture and her biography, alongside a collection of new illustrated cards that, combined at random or arranged in a sequence, allow the creation of infinite scenarios and stories, all set in the forest.

Publisher: Albur producciones editoriales S.L. This publishing house was created in Barcelona in 2003. We specialise in illustrated publications for children, young adults, and adults. The quality of our work has transformed us into a benchmark for the publication of illustrated books both in Spain and internationally.

Publishing rights available from: Albur producciones editoriales - CIF B62811534 Llull 51 6º 4º, Barcelona www.librosdelzorrorojo.com Contact: Ana Lucía de Bastos [rights@librosdelzorrorojo.com] [assist@librosdelzorrorojo.com]

Phone: (+34) 933 076 850

Prizes and reviews: Cuatrogatos Foundation “Odriozola’s illustrations (…) perfectly capture the heaviness of the daydreams (…), in which the author found all the stories she ever wanted to tell” A. González