Laura Galve: "The family can also be a hostile place where violence and abuse are perpetuated"

Barcelona"Laura Galve's first novel unfolds with intelligence and audacity the story of a girl who tells us, in the first person, a piece of adolescence marked by her mother's abandonment and living with an alcohol-addicted father". With these words, Mariana Enriquez, president of the jury for the Diana Zaforteza award, endowed with 20,000 euros, presents the winning work of the third edition of the prize, Dime, niña bonita, which Galaxia Gutenberg will release on November 4th. Its author, Laura Galve (Barcelona, 1996), combined journalism and cultural communication before working as a literary scout. "Between one job and the other, I have been looking for gaps to write this story, and it has not been easy for me for two reasons: because I could not find the time and because of the book's subject matter," acknowledges Galve.

Dime, niña bonita is a novel that stems from a personal need: "I needed to explain a truth that had been suffocating me for a long time and that had to do with my family. The bond with my father, who was an alcoholic, prevented me from doing it from an autobiographical point of view, and that was how I decided to use fiction". This mechanism ended up complicating things for her: "It allowed me to expand on memories and delve deeper into what I had lived". The book follows Manuela's emotional process during the summer of her 15th year, in which her mother leaves home and she stays with her father, accompanied by her grandmother, who tries to maintain order in the house. "The family can also be a hostile place where violence and abuse are perpetuated —affirms Galve—. What happens between the four walls of the family home has effects on the protagonist's body, and also on her friendships. Even in the choices she makes regarding her sexuality".

For Mariana Enriquez, Dime, niña bonita is a novel of great "moral complexity," where "love, guilt, and pain" are intertwined. "We are not obligated to forgive; it can also be okay not to, and it might end up giving you peace," continues Galve. "At some points in my life, I would have liked to read a book that destroyed the sanctity surrounding the family. This idea of breaking family ties was the subject of a La Turra podcast I participated in a few months ago. One of the ideas that came up recurrently was how the family often demands that we sacrifice ourselves for their well-being and set aside our own comfort." Galve assures that having put an end to the story has been good for her. "I don't expect any major change regarding a part of the family," she comments. "For a long time, we have been far from the possibility of that happening."

The Diana Zaforteza prize was created two years ago as a tribute to the Mallorcan editor, who died at 43, with the goal of recognizing young literary talent in the Spanish language. Laura Galve has been preceded by the Madrid-born Pablo Gallego and the Argentine Matías Gotelli.