Sevilla
Carmen Fernández Villalba is a writer, screenwriter and journalist. After initially working in cultural journalism — during which time she was editor-in-chief of Fotogramas magazine and a contributor to media outlets such as TVE and El Diario de Barcelona — she has spent the last three decades creating stories for literature, film and television, centred on identity, family ties and moral dilemmas.
In the literary sphere, she has been awarded the La Galera Young Readers’ Prize for her novel Luzazul. She is the co-author of No me busques / No em busquis (with David Cirici under the pseudonym Sara Medina, published by Rosa dels Vents and Ediciones B), a work currently being adapted for the screen under the title Los Mares del Sur, with a screenplay by the author herself.
As a screenwriter, she has an extensive track record spanning more than twenty television series (Ventdelplà, Infidels, Servir y proteger, Seis hermanas) and feature films such as La Princesa del Polígono, which won the Pilar Miró Award for Best Screenplay. She combines her creative work with teaching screenwriting at ESCAC and the University of Lleida, as well as presenting programmes on RNE.
Bibliography
Novel
Ten literary female assassins with extensive experience in the trade – who, curiously, are sisters – were given a commission a few months ago that they could not refuse: each of them had to carry out a literary murder, based on their own experiences or those of their imagination.
Some of our murderers have been subtle, others brutal; some haven’t got away with it, whilst others have gone too far; some have acted alone, whilst others have formed a team; but, whatever the case, they have all devised murders: ritualistic, brutal, unexpected or clumsy, set in the present day or the last century, in a country cottage, in the woods or in the middle of a cemetery, for love, for revenge, for justice or by mistake.
So, dear readers, watch out!
A fast-paced thriller full of contrasts, centring on two very different women forced to work together in a race against time.
Sílvia, an executive living in the most exclusive and upmarket part of Barcelona, discovers that her son Martí has failed to turn up for his latest session of the rehabilitation therapy he has been undergoing for months. It is then that her worst fears are confirmed: Martí has vanished without a trace. The only news she has of him is a message saying: ‘Don’t look for me’.
After trying to report his disappearance to the police, Sílvia decides to investigate on her own and manages to get hold of Moni, Martí’s ex-girlfriend – an eccentric young woman who deals in cocaine to fulfil her dream of moving to Tonga, a paradise island in the South Seas. Soon Moni also realises she has a reason to track him down: Martí has stolen the last bundle she was keeping at home, which would finally have given her enough money to leave.
Distrusting one another, Sílvia and Moni will delve into Barcelona’s dangerous underworld, where they’ll have to face violence and the threat of El Tigre, the boss of a foreign mafia who could make their worst nightmares come true…
Books for children and young readers
On the planet to which broken-down machines and mutants are sent, a mystery is unfolding that will make us question even the very origin of the universe.
Iris is a perfect little girl, but she is labelled ‘useless’ when it is discovered that she is capable of dreaming: this is forbidden throughout the galaxy. That is why she is sent to the ninth planet, where defective children and broken-down machines end up.
In the worst place in the galaxy, she is helped by a clan of mutant children, comprising the amphibian, the heat-sensitive one, the winged one and the two-headed one.
What is Iris’s mission? Why must she unravel the Enigma of Luzazul? Why is the star dying? The answers to these questions lie in an ancient prophecy; its consequences will affect the very origin of the universe.
SGAE Award for Children’s and Young People’s Theatre, 2003
A reflection on tolerance and a multicultural society.
Dora, a mixed-race girl, and her grandfather live as subtenants in the house of the Heartless Widow, who humiliates them and spies on them with her parrot, Rigoletto. A classmate of Dora’s, Charli, and his Evil Shadow make Dora’s life a living hell. To explain to the girl why her skin colour is different, her grandfather tells her that we all come from Pinganillo, the volcano of bubbles. Dora will manage to overcome the shadows that torment her and win back Charli’s friendship. To do so, the help of Liang, the cook at a Chinese restaurant, will be essential.
Prizes
- 2013 – La Galera Young Readers’ Award for Luzazul
- 2003 – SGAE Award for Children’s and Young People’s Theatre for Dora, la hija del Sol