Marta Marín-Dòmine: "This award provides a lot of visibility and is important for a writer's career."

With a 45-year history of supporting Catalan literature, the BBVA Sant Joan Award—organized by the Fundació Antigues Caixes Catalanes with the support of BBVA—continues to recognize the most prominent and innovative voices on the literary scene and promote their talent globally. In the 2023 edition, the award went to Marta Marín-Dòmine, for a work that captivated the jury with her profound insight and unique literary style: 'Diré que me lo he inventado' (I'll Say I Made It Up). We spoke with the author about her career, her connection to the Catalan language, and what it means to receive an award with such a well-established history.

How do you assess the work of foundations and organizations like BBVA, which support culture and literature with these types of awards?

— The fact that diverse institutions, in this case a bank, are involved in culture and literature seems extremely important to me, even if they are not directly related institutions.

How do you think awards like this strengthen your literary work?

— The selection process for the winning work is transparent and anonymous. This ensures that all types of writers have the opportunity to win this prize. Furthermore, the award comes with a significant cash prize and allows you to focus solely on writing for a long time, at least.

Can winning the BBVA Sant Joan Award mark a turning point in a writer's career?

— Yes, because it has a lot of visibility and is an important award within Catalan literature. If we look at all the people and works that have received this award, they weren't so well-known at first. Or, if they were, they become part of a whole network of writers who make up what is becoming the bulk of Catalan literary production. In this case, it's an award that people talk about, it's well-publicized and well-promoted. Without a doubt, it's important for a writer's career.

And on a personal level?

— Personally, it wasn't the first award I received, but it was the first I won after many years of living abroad, 23 to be precise. For me, it's the reward of returning and of a welcome, which I greatly celebrate and for which I am humbly grateful.

— Being recognized has amplified my recognition and also made me more important when it comes to thinking about and considering me as another writer here.

How did you receive the news that you had won the award?

— It's funny. I was sitting somewhere where I really wanted to eat some cake, and I got a call from the awards secretary announcing that I had won. I was so excited, and at that moment, it was as if I was already in the lead-up to a small celebration with that cake I was eating. It moved me. How can most people who receive recognition be moved?

He won the prize for his novel 'I'll Say I Made It Up.' What's it about?

— It's a novel that speaks of a daughter's reflections, of what it has meant for her to be a daughter and to have the mother she had. Human relationships, especially with parents, and in this specific case with the mother, are quite complicated. In this case, it is even more so because of the mother's uniqueness. That's why I felt the need to divide the book very clearly.

In what way?

— In three parts. The first is like a horror story in which I recreate childhood fear. This one is very difficult to recreate because by the time we do, we're already adults. And the clearest way to recreate it has been to turn, precisely, to horror stories told during childhood.

And the second one?

— In the second, I reflect on what it was like to be a mother. In this case, it's an attempt to understand the mother, a character as controversial as she is emotionally volatile. I place her in a historical context, that of Franco's regime, and in a family context, that of a foreign family. All of these elements help explain the mother's strangeness.

And to finish...

— If we were to look at a third, more "extra-literary" objective, it would be my interest in confronting the figure of the mother, which is always very sacred. And saying: "Okay, we're under no obligation to love anyone—not even our mothers."

Are there any projects we'll be able to see soon?

— Yes, my plan is to finish an original in September. And I'm also writing an essay on the literature of the feminine self. It will be a book somewhere between an essay and a work of fiction, which will explore feminine myths. In this case, the relationship between women and dreams.