Del Busto compiles in a book 50 years of Cronista de Cudillero, his “adopted son”
“What is written is written” is the title of Juan Luis Álvarez Busto’s latest book. He makes number six of a play that has always had Cudillero, his “adopted son” as he calls him, as the protagonist. It is his most recent work and perhaps the most special because it serves to commemorate the 50 years that Álvarez del Busto has been the official chronicler of the council. When he came to that position he became the youngest in Spain at 22 years old and is currently the dean of the country.
The latter helps the jurist Javier Junceda to claim for Cudillero the position of chronicler of Asturias, vacant for decades: “He is the person who should pick up the witness of our last, Joaquín Manzanares, of fond memory for many, among the that I find.” This is what Junceda suggested when presenting this Friday, at the Royal Institute of Asturian Studies (Ridea), Álvarez del Busto’s book, which he defined as a “new exercise in cudillerista ardor” by someone who suffers from “acute cudilleritis, an ailment that “He usually attacks when he does not have any project linked to his beloved homeland at hand.”
The protagonist does not deny this. Quite the opposite. To his wife Toñi, his three children Miguel, Ana and María, and his grandson Pablo he dedicates the book in a gesture of gratitude and also as a way, in part, of apology. “They know that they come first, although sometimes it seems like they don’t. The thing is that they can’t handle me, because they are aware that I have a fourth son, Cudillero, who was born before them,” said the author during the presentation.
His work is a summary of his writings during half a century as a chronicler, from February 20, 1974 to February 20, 2024. It includes articles in the media, proclamations, evocations of characters and friends related to Cudillero… However , the first text is from before he became a chronicler, an interview he did with his grandmother as a writer and reciter of l’Amuravela, the remembered Elvira Bravo. The cover of the book is by Manuel García Linares, an artist from the interior – he was born in Navelgas, Tineo – whom the chronicler defines as “a chamber painter from Cudillero.” The director of Ridea, Ramón Rodríguez, who is in charge of the epilogue, joined Álvarez del Busto and Junceda at the table during the presentation event, which was also attended by family, friends, other chroniclers and members of the institution, in addition to the mayor. from Oviedo, Alfredo Canteli.
Sixth book but not the last. Because Juan Luis Álvarez del Busto does not neglect that fourth “son” and already has the next job in hand, a guide to Cudillero. “It’s a tourist council and it turns out it doesn’t have one,” he said.
