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Berta GarcΓa Faet |
Berta GarcΓa Faet, identity and rewriting
Berta GarcΓa Faet and I had an intense two-year working
relationship and friendship before we finally met in person earlier this year,
when I was living briefly in Spain. Most of our correspondence as I translated
her fifth book of poems, La sangre de merer [The Eligible Age] into English for
my master's thesis in Literary Translation at the University of Iowa actually
took place over Facebook messenger! We are thrilled to have found a home for
the translation with independent publisher Song Bridge Press—it’s Berta’s first
book publication in English.
- Berta GarcΓa Faet was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1988. She’s part of the New Generation of Spanish writers, the first born after Franco’s dictatorship—and as such she is helping to define the country’s new poetry after years of repression of every kind. In The Eligible Age, she confronts and subverts existing patriarchal and societal structures with great wit and candor. She and her long-time Madrid-based publisher, La Bella Varsovia, have gathered quite a following across the Spanish-speaking world.
- Earlier this year Berta’s early collected poems, CorazΓ³n traditionalista: PoesΓa 2008-2011 [Traditionalist Heart: Collected Poems 2008-2011] was published by La Bella Varsovia. She won the prestigious Premio de PoesΓa Joven [Young Poetry Prize] “Pablo GarcΓa Baena” in 2010 for her book Introduction to Everything [Introduction to Everything], and she’s currently at work on a PhD in Hispanic Studies at Brown University.
Berta GarcΓa Faet: “Estar en la salud de merΓr” [literally,
“To be at the age of deserving”] is an idiomatic expression referring to the
stage when girls become young women and are ready to enter a romantic
relationship, ready to begin looking for a husband. It’s an expression rooted
in a very concrete ideology linking the value of girls/young women to their
availability for love, for romance, for marriage, for reproduction. But
something, interestingly, is elided: Just what do we deserve now, exactly? What
are we supposedly worthy of? Something specific, like receiving the honor of
having other people finally talk about us, or the honor of social importance?
Or is it something more abstract: We become worthy and valuable in general?
Faet, Berta GarcΓa
(Valencia, 1988) is the author of “Los salmos fosforitos”
(Fluorescent psalms, publ. by La Bella Varsovia, 2017), “The age of merit” (The
eligible age, publ. by La Bella Varsovia, 2015), “ Strawberry and wound”
(Strawberry and wound, won the Antonio GonzΓ‘lez de Lama National Poetry Prize
in 2010; published by DiputaciΓ³n de Leon, 2011), “Introdiciones a todo” (An
introduction to everything, won the VI Young Poetry Prize Pablo GarcΓa Baena;
publ. by La Bella Varsovia, 2011), “Night club for studious schoolgirls, won
the VII National Prize for Blind Poetry of Manzanares; publ. by Vitruvio, 2009)
and “Bunch of abominations ” (A bunch of abominations, won the XVI Ana de Valle
Poetry Prize; published by Ayuntamiento de AvilΓ©s, 2008).
