European Book Club, Elena Medel: The Wonders
Come and enjoy of the last session of this third year of EUNIC-Ireland’s European Book Club with Spanish writer, poet and publisher Elena Medel, who will speak about her award-winning novel Las maravillas (The Wonders), which journeys through recent decades of Spain’s history covering issues such as how money defines us, carers and expectations, and the precarious nature of social status.
This novel has been translated into numerous languages, including English, German, French, Italian, Polish and Portuguese.
Elena Medel (1985) is a Spanish novelist, essayist and poet. She was the first woman ever to win the prestigious Francisco Umbral Prize for her debut novel, The Wonders (2020), which was also longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2023 and has been translated into more than fifteen languages. She is the recipient of the XXVI Loewe Prize for Young Poets and the Leonardo 2021 grant from the BBVA Foundation, and writer in residence at Cheuse Center and MALBA. Medel is also the founder and publisher of the poetry imprint La Bella Varsovia, one of the most prestigious in the Spanish-speaking world. She currently lives in Madrid.