“If a book can be read unpunished,
It is not worth taking work.
When the books are really, they breathe;
And one puts them in his ear and feels breathing
And his words are contagious,
Dangerously, affectionately contagious… ”
Eduardo Galeano
This reflection arises as a consequence of a gathering that I wove with several people within the framework of the Book Day and focused on the impact of the filbo in the literary and creative universe. One of the lawyers asked and if there is a generational relief from writers or we stayed with Gabriela Mistral and other Latin classics? That exploded my head a little (in the good sense of the word) I told myself, there is definitely much to do, books, literature and creativity in general, have women as protagonists and you have to continue doing pedagogy with a gender perspective that includes everyone, all and all.
Neither literature, nor any of the arts are away from women, however, the patriarchal world seems to give more strength to male voices than female, and I do not intend to establish a discussion of competition between genres, on the contrary, I want to emphasize the importance of literature being released from verticality and begins to transit genuinely through broad avenues of diversities, inclusions and freedoms. That they are not only letters and voices of a sector, ethnicity or social class, but in an intersectional and plural way, they are given prominence to Afro, indigenous, children’s, youth, LGBTIQ+, rural and female letters, without any limitation.
Long live books, live literature and live women and their powerful lyrics, this must occur in equality, equity and nonviolence. I write here what I answered to the lawyer who was my gathering partner, – Women writers do exist and deserve all guarantees to make their lyrics with power -.
Although some people consider that there are no women in the literature, beyond the classics, they are wrong, because if there are and are many! Hopefully the letters do not exclude anyone.
I consider that each book that is woven with social consciousness and with commitment to the social-political incidence represents everything for those who write it and for those who participate in the research, anecdotes, stories or dialogues that give existence to that book. The books are living – current or futuristic legends, which captivate us, shiver or change us.
I have heard of Gabo’s testimony many times with the process of his book One hundred years of loneliness and the challenges he had to face with his beloved Merce. Just that project with which they traveled by debts, crises and chaos, brought it not only to the Nobel but to immortalize and touch millions of lives, in several languages and in different areas.
I know many writers for whom their books are their One hundred years of lonelinessalthough the book impacts many lives, in several languages and in different countries, the first, that changes and moves is its existence and what beautiful to know that a book is not an inert role, but that it is a universe, a life, an incessant and penetrating throbbing that does not leave a particle of the body immune.
And I say this with total sincerity, given that I am one of those dream writers and dream makers, I did not study literature, I am not an academic expert in letters, however, from my childhood the exercise of writing is my salvation, my existential elixir, my encounter with the space where I am always happy. By this I mean that while it is absolutely respectable what those who rudely study literature believe, it does not imply that anyone should be limited to participate, because it is important to give the creative opportunity to beings that we are vibrating with each experience and we make every moment a story worth reading and delight.
I finish this column, sharing a news that has my uterus vibrating high, and it launches my sixth book, one that has blood Guajira, force of indigenous women, respect for the origin and for the worldview Wayuu. In this construction I fired several versions of Fabrina That they made me weight, I rewrite my resilient license, turned on a few feminist hopes and fell in love more and more of my land #Laguajira
This new book is titled Women and the spiritual value of winds and will be born on June 5 between the Northeast Riohachero and the mad love of my people, they will sound vallenatos in ways And ancestral uteros will vibrate what we can no longer see, but we do feel. That hope never dies, that the sensible feathers and full of creative resistance are never silenced.
Long live books and women.
