Soledad Puértolas Villanueva (born 3 February 1947 in
Saragossa
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
) is a Spanish writer, and on 28 January 2010 was named an ''
inmortal'' or member of the
Real Academia Española
The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanopho ...
. She is a recipient of the
Premio Planeta de Novela
The Premio Planeta de Novela is a Spanish literary prize, awarded since 1952 by the Spanish publisher Grupo Planeta to an original unpublished novel written in Spanish. It is one of about 16 literary prizes given by Planeta.
Financially, it is t ...
.
Biography
Puértolas started studying Political Sciences in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, but political problems prevented her from pursuing this further. She then went to study Economic Sciences in
Bilbao
Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...
but again did not finish her course. She eventually took up studying journalism. She married at twenty-one and went to live with her husband in
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. After returning to Spain, the couple moved to California, where she obtained an M.A. in Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature at the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
and where she gave birth to a son, Diego Pita, now a writer. After three years in California she moved back to Spain to 1974. In 1979 she won the Premio Sésamo for her work ''El bandido doblemente armado'', the
Premio Planeta in 1989 for ''Queda la noche'', and the Premio Anagrama de Ensayo in 1993 with ''La vida oculta''.
Puértolas was elected to Seat ''g'' of the
Real Academia Española
The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanopho ...
on 28 January 2010, she took up her seat on 21 November the same year. She filled
the seat formerly occupied by Antonio Colino.
Her short story ''Viejas historias (Tales from the Past)'' was included in ''Rainy Days - Días de lluvia: Short Stories by Contemporary Spanish Women Writers'', an anthology edited by Montserrat Lunati, together with a translation into English.
Publications
Novels
* El bandido doblemente armado. Madrid: Legasa, 1980. Novel. Premio Sésamo 1979
* Burdeos. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1986. Novel.
* Todos mienten. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1988. Novel.
* Queda la noche. Barcelona: Planeta, 1989. Novel. Premio Planeta 1989.
* Días del Arenal. Barcelona: Planeta, 1992. Novel.
* Si al atardecer llegara el mensajero. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1995. Novel.
* Una vida inesperada. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1997. Novel.
* La señora Berg. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1999. Novel.
* La rosa de plata. Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1999. Novel.
* Historia de un abrigo. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2005. Novel.
* Cielo nocturno. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2008. Novel.
* Mi amor en vano. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2012.
* Novel. Música de ópera. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2019. Novel.
Short stories
* El recorrido de los animales. Madrid: Júcar, 1975. Short story.
* Una enfermedad moral. Madrid: Trieste, 1982. Short stories.
* A través de las ondas. Short story in Doce relatos de mujeres. Navajo, Ymelda (ed.) Madrid: Alianza, 1982, pp. 165–177.
* La sombra de una noche. Madrid: Anaya, 1986. Short story.
* La corriente del golfo. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1993. Short stories.
* La hija predilecta. Short story in Madres e hijas. Freixas, Laura (ed.) Barcelona: Anagrama, 1996
* Gente que vino a mi boda. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1998. Short stories.
* A la hora en que cierran los bares. Madrid: Difusión Directa Édera, 1998. Short stories.
* El cuarto secreto. Short story in Relatos para un fin de milenio. Barcelona: Plaza y Janés, 1998, pp. 15–26
* El inventor del tetrabrik. Short story in Vidas de mujer. Monmany, Mercedes (ed.) Madrid: Alianza, 1998, pp. 131–143.
* Un poeta en la piscina. Short story in Cuentos solidarios. Madrid: ONCE, 1999, pp. 13–15.
* La carta desde el refugio. Short story in Mujeres al alba. Madrid: Alfaguara, 1999, pp. 133–136.
* Adiós a las novias. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2000. Short stories.
* Pisando jardines. Short story in Orosia: Mujeres de sol a sol. Jaca: Pirineum Multimedia, 2002, pp. 159–164.
* Ausencia. Short story in Mujeres en ruta. 2005, pp. 41–47.
* Masajes. Short story in Cuentos de amigas. Laura Freixas (ed.) Anagrama, 2009.
* Cantalobos. Short story in Pertubaciones, ed. Juan Jacinto Muñoz Rengel. Salto de Página Editores, 2009.
* Compañeras de viaje. Barcelona. Anagrama, 2010. Short stories.
* El fin. Barcelona. Anagrama, 2015. Short stories.
* Chicos y chicas. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2016. Short stories.
Essays, articles and biography
* El Madrid de "La lucha por la vida". Madrid: Helios, 1971. Essay.
* La vida oculta. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1993. Essay. Premio Anagrama 1993.
* La vida se mueve. Madrid: El País-Aguilar, 1995. Articles.
* Recuerdos de otra persona. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1996. Biography.
* Rosa Chacel. Essay in Retratos literarios: Escritores españoles del siglo XX evocados por sus contemporáneos. Freixas. Laura (ed.) Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1997, pp. 181–182.
* Con mi madre. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2001.
* Lúcida melancolía. Pamplona. Ipso ediciones. 2017. Colección Baroja & Yo. Essay.
Translations into English
* ''Take Six: Six Spanish Women Writers'', edited and translated by Kathryn Phillips-Miles and Simon Deefholts: Dedalus Books, 2022. (Contains a selection of Soledad's stories in English translation).
Buzz Magazine, February 2022
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Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puertolas, Soledad
Living people
1947 births
Spanish women writers
Members of the Royal Spanish Academy