Although the humility and shyness that have always accompanied him make it difficult for him to express himself with much expansiveness, Maria Barbal (Tremp, 1949) is happy to have, since this September, a literary biography like the one dedicated to her by Carme Arenas (Granollers, 1954), Words for silence (Column). "Carme took an interest in my writing from very early on, and I am grateful to her that it was so. In the end, I ended up becoming one of the sources of documentation for her book —she admits with a minimal smile—. Although at first I resisted the project a little, I must recognize that I have ended up drawing benefits from it. It has helped me to become aware of the trajectory I have had, and also to remember from which people I come".

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.