Writer Fernando Aramburu opened the III Lanzarote Literature Festival (FDLL25) this Thursday night before a full house at the Tías Municipal Theater, in an event marked by the emotion, humor, and ethical depth that characterize his work.
Moderated by Carlos Battaglini, writer and director of the festival, the meeting was titled "Narrating Pain: Literature, Memory, and Identity," and offered a journey through the life and thought of one of the most influential authors in contemporary Spanish literature.
Aramburu fondly remembered his father, "a kind man with a sense of humor I wish I had inherited," and confessed that this working-class figure was a "luminous counterexample" for him: the impetus to seek a creative life. "I understood very early on that whoever masters words, masters situations."
With irony, he recounted his literary awakening in adolescence: "My whole life consists of fulfilling the dream of a teenager who wanted to be a writer." That dream, born from compulsive reading and the desire to master language, ended up transforming into a career that has produced works as decisive as Patria or Los vencejos.
The author also reflected on the role of the writer in the face of the Basque conflict: "I didn't approach that topic as if it were just a topic, but as a personal experience. I grew up within violence, and it would be strange not to write about it." In Patria, he explained, he wanted to "show how it was lived in the towns, how pain mixed with routine and compassion."
True to his ethical and vital tone, Aramburu evoked the influence of Albert Camus: "The rebellious man is not only the one who says no, but the one who offers a yes in that no. In every human action there must remain a positive gesture, something that serves others."
An idea that runs through all of his literature, along with respect as a core value: "When you respect others, you are acting in the most ethical way possible."
In a particularly applauded moment, the writer stated that he felt grateful to life:
"I celebrate having been born. I am not unaware of the dramas of existence, but I believe in gratitude as a philosophy."
The event concluded with a long round of applause and a massive book signing in the theater lobby, where the audience had the opportunity to greet the author and share their impressions of the talk.
The FDLL25 Continues its Literary Journey Through Southern Lanzarote
FDLL25, under the slogan "Letters of Roughness and Salt," celebrates its third edition with a program that brings together six top-level writers: Fernando Aramburu, Elizabeth Duval, Cristina Fernández Cubas, Sergio del Molino, Mónica Ojeda, and Ignacio Martínez de Pisón.
The writer and director of the festival, Carlos Battaglini, highlighted "the importance of turning Lanzarote into a living literary territory, where the word connects people, landscape, and memory," thanking the collaboration of the town councils of Tías, Yaiza, and Arrecife, the Cabildo of Lanzarote, the Cabildo's Publications Service, Caja7, Bodegas El Grifo, and other sponsors.
The next event will be on Thursday, October 16th at 7:30 PM, with writer Elizabeth Duval, who will give the talk "Writing as Political Identity and Poetic Territory" at the El Fondeadero Civic Center (Puerto del Carmen).
Registration is free and can be done at www.fdll.es.
