Today begins the Zaragoza Book Fair 2021 with more than 50 exhibitors installed in the Plaza del Pilar. Bookstores and publishers will take their books to the streets until June 6 to discover the latest publications of the last year and promote the meeting between readers and writers.
In Go Aragón we have prepared a selection of Aragonese authors whose works you cannot miss and who will be present at the Zaragoza Book Fair.
Carmen Santos: historical intrigue
Although she was born in Valencia and spent her childhood and youth in Germany and Valencia, Santos also considers herself Aragonese. The writer moved to Zaragoza after getting married and since then her literature has been created from the Aragonese capital. Her latest work, published in April 2021, Flor de Arrabal, is set in Zaragoza’s arrabal neighborhood. His literary production includes novels of intrigue and history, seasoned with subtle touches of eroticism. Some of her books have been translated into Polish. Among others, Canción de amor y muerte, Un jardín entre viñedos, El sueño de las Antillas and Días de menta y canela. In March 2003, he won first prize in the V International Paradores de Turismo Short Story Award for his short story La Cumpasita.
José Luis Corral: for lovers of historical novels
Historian, professor and writer José Luis Corral is one of the most established Aragonese authors in Aragon. A prolific author of historical fiction novels, he won the Premio de las Letras Aragonesas in 2017. Corral presents historical novels of great rigor reconverted into thrilling plots that will not let you let go of the book. If you don’t know him you can try El Conquistador, La Reina Olvidada, El vuelo de las Águilas and its second part Los Austrias, El médico hereje or El salón dorado.
María Frisa: a crime novel with a touch of humor
The writer María Frisa is the author of some twenty books for adults and young readers. Humor is the protagonist of most of her works, although crime novels are another of her passions, along with children’s and young adult literature. Her latest published book with which she will be present at the fair is El nido de la araña (The Spider’s Nest). Frisa became really well known on a national scale with the series 75 consejos de literatura infantil y juvenil (75 tips for children’s literature).
Juan Bolea: renovator of the noir genre
The writer and journalist was born in Cadiz, but is a native of Zaragoza. Although his narrative work began in the early eighties, in 2005 with Los Hermanos de la Costa, the author turned his career around, taking on the techniques and genre of the thriller, and jumping to the international level. He is considered by critics and readers as one of the great renovators of the thriller genre. His stories have been included in several anthologies such as España negra (Rey Lear), La casa ciega (Edaf), Hijos de Mary Shelley (Imagine) or Crímenes contados (Menos cuarto). His latest book published in 2021 is La noche azul (Seria Florián Falomir).
Ángel Guinda: poetry of reference
Ángel Guinda was born in Zaragoza in 1948, although he lives in Madrid. He won the 2010 Aragonese Letters Award and is known as a poet, although his prolific work covers a wide range of genres, from poetry to essays and translation. His latest book is Los deslumbramientos followed by Recapitulaciones.
Miguel Mena: love, intrigue and journey
Born in Madrid, Miguel Mena is from Zaragoza by adoption and has been linked to Radio Zaragoza for 38 years. This year he received the professional career award from the Association of Journalists of Aragon. In his literary facet, he has written novels of love, intrigue and travel with rhythm, amenity and always with a simple, accessible and direct language. His books 1.863 pasos and Piedad, both very personal, led the film director Gaizka Urresti to shoot the short film Un dios que ya no ampara.
His greatest literary success is Bendita calamidad, and other great references of his work are the novels Días sin tregua, Todas las miradas del mundo and Foto movida. Canciones tristes que te alegran el día is his latest book.
Daniel Viñuales: the comic par excellence
Daniel Viñuales studied at the School of Arts of Zaragoza, and as a graphic artist he has had several exhibitions in New York, Barcelona, Marbella and Zaragoza. He has also published several comics, such as Artal D’Escuer, Las increíbles aventuras del Capitán Morgan or Cucarracha y Cerrudo. Together with Sara Perales, he founded in 2006 the publishing house GP Ediciones, one of the flagships of Aragonese comics in the last decade. In 2012 he returned as an author with Saputo, a path he has followed with La bondad y la ira, the biography of Ramón Acín with script by Juan Pérez. His latest published comic is Señoría Labordeta, political humor of recent history.
Sandra Aragüás: a story marathon
If you are looking for stories for the little ones, Sandra Aragüás from Huesca is one of the Aragonese authors of traditional tales and stories by authors that you must have in your library. She is a researcher of oral tradition, writer, editor, storyteller…the story is her means of expression. She presents at the fair Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday three; but you should know Mi madre es una bruja, Secretos de ascensor, Aitana y la abuela, La Pirata, Amina quiere ser bruja…and many more!
Antón Castro: between the story and the chronicle
Born in Lañas (Arteijo), La Coruña, this Spanish writer, playwright and journalist, could be said to be almost Aragonese, as he has lived in Camarena de la Sierra, Urrea de Gaén, Cantavieja, La Iglesuela del Cid and Zaragoza. In 2013 he received the Cultural Journalism Award for his outstanding work in the media. As a prolific author, his style between narrative story and journalistic chronicle stands out. You cannot miss his works Los seres imposibles, Cariñena, El niño, el viento y el miedo, Seducción or his latest publication El cazador de ángeles. He has also translated works by authors such as Miquel Ángel Riera, Miguel Torga, José Agostinho Baptista, José Saramago and Manuel Rivas.
Ángela Labordeta: personal literature
The writer from Teruel has been chosen by the Permanent Book Commission of Zaragoza, COPELI, as the town crier of this edition of the fair 2021. The Spanish writer and journalist published in 2020 Equilibrista, a tribute to Kathleen López, a pioneer in theater management. In this work Labordeta dialogues with the theater producer, who died in 2018, and who collaborated with the Centro Dramático de Aragón. She is the author of Sin hablar con nadie, Bombones de licor, Tacones y muñecas, Rapitán and Así terminan los cuentos de hadas.
