SANTANYI MAGAZINE 01

Santanyí magazine 31 ··· Cultura I Cultura I Culture I Kultur This situation overwhelmed her and accompanied by a friend she arrived in Cala d’Or. In a world dominated by men. Rejection was immediate. It was frustrating. There was no labour law and I started seeing exploitation of labour froma close range. Themajority came from outside and ended up crestfallen. Victims of abuse and exploitation. She needed to keep on writing and found herself in a dilemma. Should she write about the ambiance lived on terraces and beaches, about amusement and festivity or about the downside and the labour’s criticism. She chose the latter. That is how 39° degrees in the shade came into being, which won the Sant Jordi prize in 1967. A book, which she wrote sat in a bathroom. She shared her roomwith a comrade and in order not to disturb her at night she there wrote the pages which should formher novel. It wasn’t easy at all. While she worked at the hotel’s front desk she received a notice that if she continued to cover the tourism issue she would never find a job in all of Mallorca again. Barcelona Blues Her stay in Barcelona wasn’t very satisfactory. Looking out the window I saw a grey and dirty sky caused by factories which in these days still were located in the city. Inevitably my craving for blue sky was more powerful. I left Barcelona’s literary world for a piece of clean sky. Since then fourteen books have seen the light of day and currently she is writing in her house in Palma Terreno. It is there, that one fine day she decided after having dreamed of her father, to convert these feelings into a series of poems, which form her recent book Lovely . The literature world’s future she sees with a discerning eye, the same force that drove her off the streets in the sixties. There is too much striving after protagonism and bestsellers at the expense of good literature. We clearly have to be prepared for change due to new technologies, but we must not forget the sensuality of touching a piece of paper as if it was skin. “ - we must not forget the sensuality of touching a piece of paper as if it was skin “- Interview: Nélida Domínguez / Francisca Burguera Writing: Pere Pons I Photograph: Javier Viguera