Romancero Books and Fum D'Estampa Press are proud to invite you to:

A conversation with P. Louise Johnson translator of Ruth, written by Guillem Viladot

Join translator P. Louise Johnson and Romancero Books director Jorge Garriz to celebrate the book launch of Ruth by Fum D'Estampa Press

Talk in English

Copies of the book Ruth will be available for purchasing at the end of the event.

Ruth

Told by the protagonist through a series of letters to an anonymous friend and far from the condemning gaze or noise of those who understand life as nothing but outward appearances, Ruth demonstrates the sentimental and intellectual intimacy of the process of becoming a woman, and describes a profound, touching process in which frustrations, ideas of liberty and changes of identity are interwoven. Without descending into easy morbidity or exhibitions of sensationalist tendencies, Ruth represents Guillem Viladot’s indignation at both masculine and feminine sensibilities, while championing diversity of thought, love, liberty, and, most importantly, desire.

Guillem Viladot 

(Agramunt, 1922 – Barcelona, 1999) was a Catalan writer and visual poet. His work, created on the margins of literary circles, revolts against any form of authority, both institutional and interiorized, and often questions and crosses the boundaries of genre. A pharmacologist by training, he began writing novels in the late 1950s and at the same time, following his 1959 ‘Metaplasms’ and 1960 LA-URT, became a forerunner of the Concrete Poets. He nursed a growing interest in psychoanalysis from the 1970s onwards, which became evident both in his novels and his poetry, including the posthumous collection Ruth (2000). In the nineties, he opened ‘Lo Pardal’, a space for visual poetry, which later became a museum dedicated to his memory. Across his career, he collaborated with various publications, among them Diari de Lleida, El Observador, La Vanguardia, Avui and Destino. He was an honorary member of the Association of Catalan Language Writers and, in 1993, received the Cruz de Sant Jordi.

P. Louise Johnson

(Matlock, 1970) has been at the University of Sheffield since 1996. She discovered Llorenç Villalonga while an undergraduate at St John’s College, Oxford, and subsequently wrote her doctorate on his work. In 2002 her monograph La tafanera posteritat: assaigs sobre Llorenç Villalonga was awarded the first Premi Casa Museu-Llorenç Villalonga. Louise has published widely on Villalonga, and taught Andrea Víctrix (1974) to a generation of students who have been variably receptive to this camp, dystopian vision of Mallorca, and satire on mid-twentieth-century politics and social mores.

Fum D'Estampa Press

Fum d’Estampa Press seeks out and publishes ambitious literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

We are dedicated to bringing ground-breaking, exceptional literature to the English-speaking world, generating conversations and broadening (and blowing) people’s minds.

Romancero Books

Romancero Books is an online bookstore based in London.

We sell literature from Spain and Latin America. Our aim is to bring you the latest fiction, poetry, essays and graphic novels, with a special focus on literature written by women.

Working with selected large and small publishers from Spain and Latin America, we bring together a remarkable collection of books, including short stories and pocket books. Our catalogue covers themes such as Lorca, female writers from Generación del 27, writers in exile and diaspora, and new LGBTQ+ voices.