Leaving the office, the machine coffees, the emails. And dedicating oneself to writing. Under that premise María Folguera (Madrid, 1984) builds her essay La prisa y la espera (Siruela), where she delves into the mystery of the creative process, with its opportunities and its ability to generate a new form of temporality.
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In her essay she reflects on the creative process in a parenthesis from office work. What lessons does she take back to the office? For me, for now, it is not a parenthesis. For now it is a life change, and I don’t know how long this stage will last or where it will take me. I have always dedicated myself to narrative and theater, but also to convening and organizing, so I will never deny my facet as a cultural manager.
If inspiration doesn’t come when required, in what ways can we invoke it? Lydia Davis has several very useful tips, at least for me. Going out to the street, taking note of other people’s conversations to practice listening, exploring etymologies, or simply washing the dishes and letting the mind rest the ideas meanwhile.
What book made you a reader? The books of Roser Capdevila, Adela Turín or Elena Fortún, and the beautiful illustrations that accompanied the texts.
And a writer? Perhaps the poems of Gloria Fuertes awakened the pleasure of sonority, the play with words. In adolescence I was impressed by In Cold Blood, by Capote, Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, and The Time of Cherries, by Montserrat Roig.
What is the best review you have received? That, in the maremágnum of content we are in, someone tells you they remember your book with love, is the best review.
And the worst? The comments at the end of any article in the press. I think all comment sections should be renamed directly “Contempt,” because that is mainly what is done there.
What book do you currently have on your nightstand? Se vive y se traduce, by Laura Wittner; Sabina Urraca lent it to me.
One you couldn’t finish? My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh.
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What is the most beautiful bookstore in the world? I enter all the ones I find and all seem beautiful to me.
What song would you use as a self-portrait? Con los ojos en paz, Cecilia.
What song plays on loop in your head? Any salsa track by Nathy Peluso.
What movie have you seen the most times? Some Like It Hot, by Wilder.
A recent release you loved? On the go, by Julia de Castro and Maria Gisèle Royo.
What was the last series you binge-watched? The Studio, by Seth Rogen.
In which museum would you stay to live? I often think about the Isabel Quintanilla exhibition at the Thyssen. When I stay quiet for a while my memory returns there.
Do you have any guilty pleasure in cultural matters? Whenever I catch a ¡Hola! around I look at the report on the first pages, which shows luxury houses. I never buy the magazine, I can’t stand its editorial line. But if it’s at hand, I peek at the Swiss cabins, Tuscan palaces, and Miami mansions.
What job would you never accept? Babysitters and ostriches make me very uneasy. But I suppose I could come to appreciate them if I had to work near them.
What is your favorite historical event? The moment when someone in the Paleolithic took a bird’s egg, dropped it on a hot stone, and discovered that it was delicious. And also that it could be dipped in the yolk.
What is socially overrated? The hustle, the attempt to do everything with a full schedule. Says a person who lives for it.
If you hadn’t dedicated yourself to writing, you would have liked to be… A trampoline acrobat. But it’s very hard, I think at the first hit I would realize it’s just a fantasy.
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