The Benito Pérez Armas House of Culture (Yaiza) hosted this Wednesday the fifth talk of the III Lanzarote Literature Festival, an event that brought together a large and enthusiastic audience to hear Mónica Ojeda, one of the most vibrant and powerful voices in contemporary Latin American literature. The conversation, moderated by writer and festival director Carlos Battaglini, wove together memory, migration, writing, and unsettling beauty.
Ojeda, who was visiting Lanzarote for the first time, opened the conversation with a luminous confession: "I started leaning towards literature not so much because of books, but because of my grandfather's voice". He recalled how that grandfather, a "great oral storyteller," twisted stories towards the disturbing: "Life always enters into what you are telling, even if you pretend it doesn't".
The author spoke about her childhood home, Guayaquil, the origins of her vocation, and the impact of migrating: "I realized what your body likes when it's not scared,"
she said, recalling her arrival in Barcelona. That displacement—existential and geographical—marked the construction of a body of work that moves between the lyrical, the fierce, and the intimate.
Throughout the meeting, he discussed Nefando, Mandíbula, Las voladoras, and his recent Chamanes eléctricos en la fiesta del sol, unraveling the relationship between desire, monstrosity, narrative structure, and sensibility: "Form is also an emotion; you are looking for a new way to feel a story."
He also reflected on his connection with poetry: "Sometimes, where words fear, song rises," vindicating literature as a space of risk and revelation. The evening concluded with a long applause from the audience and the traditional book signing, a gesture that is now part of the festival's ritual.
Next FDLL25 Talk: Ignacio Martínez de Pisón
The literary journey of FDLL25 reaches its final stop on Wednesday, December 3, at 7:30 PM, once again at the Casa de la Cultura Benito Pérez Armas (Yaiza).
It will be the turn of Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, one of the most solid narrators of **contemporary Spanish literature**, author of essential novels such as Carreteras secundarias, La buena reputación, or Fin de temporada
Interested individuals can now register here, where they will find all the detailed information about this festival closing. The festival has a YouTube channel where previous FDLL25 talks can be viewed in full. Access all meetings here.
