Celebrating Spanish literature in English, on the publication of THE SPANISH RIVETER magazine.

This is an in-person only event at the British Library.

The Spanish Riveter magazine is devoted to the languages of Spain, the literatures written in them and their translation into English. In an evening of lively discussion and readings with some of the magazine’s star contributors, we celebrate the wealth of contemporary writing in Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Basque.

Listen to Margaret Jull Costa read from her translation of Javier Marías. Hear broadcaster and writer Robert Elms eulogise about Spanish culture. Enjoy readings from the greats of Spanish literature, alongside introductions to new and emerging writers offering some of the most innovative work being produced in the languages of Spain today. Chaired by guest editor of The Spanish Riveter, Katie Whittemore.

Half-Price tickets available for Members, Students, Under 26s and other concession groups. 

Margaret Jull Costa has worked as a translator for over thirty years, translating the works of many Spanish and Portuguese writers, among them novelists: Javier Marías, Bernardo Atxaga, José Saramago and Eça de Queiroz; and poets: Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Mário de Sá-Carneiro and Ana Luísa Amaral.

Robert Elms is a writer, broadcaster, and Sony-Award-winning radio show host for BBC London. He is a former columnist for NME and The Face, and author of Spain: A Portrait after the General, an account of Spanish history, culture and politics, and of The Way We Wore, a book about fashion’s relationship with music and youth culture.

Rosa Montero is an award-winning Spanish journalist, contemporary fiction writer, and recipient of Spain’s National Prize for Literature. An enormously influential writer in the Spanish language, Montero has published dozens of works of fiction and essay, many of which remain to be translated into English.

Karmele Jaio is the Euskadi Literature Prize-winning author of three books of short stories and two novels. Her short stories have also been published in numerous anthologies, including the Best European Fiction 2017 and The Penguin book of Spanish Short Stories (Penguin Classics).

Xesús Fraga is a London-born, Galician writer and journalist. He writes literary fiction, as well as literature for children and young adults and in 2021 his Galician-language novel Virtudes (e misterios) won Spain’s National Narrative Prize. He has also translated into Galician and Spanish books by Julian Barnes and Sylvia Plath, among others.

Teresa Solana directed the National Translation Centre in Spain for seven years and now devotes her time to writing. A Not So Perfect Crime, her first novel, won the 2007 Brigada 21 Prize for Best Noir in Catalan and A Shortcut to Paradise, her second, was short-listed for the 2008 Salambó Prize for Best Novel in Catalan. 

Juan Cruz Ruiz is an award-winning Spanish author, journalist, editor, and co-founder of El País newspaper. In 2012, he was awarded the National Award for Cultural Journalism from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. His oeuvre includes over forty books, among them works of fiction, poetry, essay, and journalism.

Peter Bush is an award-winning translator from Catalan, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Peter has translated a number of prominent Catalan writers into English including Josep Pla, Mercè Rodoreda and Joan Sales. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards for his translations from Catalan, including the Premi Ramon Llull and La Creu de Sant Jordi.

Katie Whittemore is a literary translator of contemporary Spanish fiction and Guest Editor of The Spanish Riveter. Her translations include novels by Sara Mesa, Nuria Labari, Aroa Moreno Durán, Javier Serena, Lara Moreno, Katixa Agirre, Almudena Sánchez, and Jon Bilbao. Her translation of Not Even the Dead by Juan Gómez Bárcena is due out this year. 

THE SPANISH RIVETER magazine of contemporary Spanish literature and translation in English, is a unique collaboration with the major institutes of Spanish culture in the UK and Spain, as well as with leading writers, translators, publishers and academics.  This event is brought to you by the European Literature Network, Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and the Cervantes Institute London. The Spanish Riveter magazine cover illustration is by Ana Galvañ. 

This event will not be live-streamed.

With the support of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the Cervantes Institute and the European Literature Network.

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