For Maria Barbal (Tremp, 1949), being a writer and being a writer are not the same thing. "While I'm promoting my latest published novel, I'm not really a writer, I'm acting as a writer. On the other hand, when I'm alone and I'm faced with words, then I am a writer," she explains. The author, 2021 Catalan Literature Honorary Award, has confronted all these contradictions through the character of Anton Bellart, the protagonist of his latest novel, Misadventures (Column / Destino). The book, which goes on sale this Wednesday, begins with Bellart at university, when he is on his way to a profession but discovers that what he is most passionate about is storytelling and writing. "What he experiences has been experienced by many writers, but not necessarily all of them, nor in the same way," says Barbal.