Club Dinner – From Newspapers to Novels: Journalism as a Literary Genre A Night of Discussion Over Spanish Food and Wines

“Professionalization, prestige, the market, the publishing house, the critics… all these things could kill, metaphorically, a writer. You have to keep fighting that, and write!” award-winning Spanish writer and journalist Rosa Montero said in a recent interview. Ms. Montero began her career as a journalist, first in TV and then worked for newspapers including El Pais, one of Spain’s leading newspapers. Yet she then made a career departure, becoming an award-winning novelist. She’ll discuss her literary journey and also about journalism as an influence and its own literary genre.

Last year, Ms Montero won the “Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas”, one of the top Spanish literature prizes. She published her first novel (La crónica del desamor) in 1979. Since then, she has published 15 novels, two biographies, three collections of interviews, a book of short stories and several children’s tales. Her books are translated into more than twenty languages. Her latest novel is La Carne (“Flesh”, 2016), already published in French as La Chair.

She is also a journalist, having worked since 1970 in TV, newspapers and magazines. Since 1977, she has worked exclusively for El País, one of the leading Spanish newspapers, and has worked as correspondent for the paper in India, Australia, the US and Latin America. She was also editor-in-chief of the Sunday magazine of El País from 1981-1982.