Francisco Casavella

Prematurely deceased, Casavella is a cult figure among the Spanish authors of the 21st century.

Barcelona, 1995: Fernando Atienza, an ageing and somewhat comical careerist, is commissioned to write a confidential report about one of those obscure characters who indistinctly frequent the pages of court cases and the society columns of the newspapers. In a context marked by the dissolution of democracy due to political and financial scandals and a series of small and large concessions, Atienza prepares to review the history of his city and his country. But also his own life. 

First published in three volumes between 2002 and 2003, El día del Watusi marked the consecration of Francisco Casavella as one of the finest literary talents in the Spanish language.

“Francisco Casavella’s literary legacy is guaranteed.” Times Literary Supplement

“One of the most talented fiction writers of his generation.” Juan Marsé

“A luxury for our literature." José María Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC 

“With this work, Casavella establishes a strong position among the storytellers that make his novels essential. Without them, the world would be a poorer place; it would have less truth in it.” Enrique Turpín, El Periódico 

“The tremendous, critical vision of a sleepwalking city and era.” Ana María Moix, El País

“El día del Watusi represents the full validation of this author. With time, he will acquire the weight solely reserved for those books that are a brilliant and enduring reference for subsequent works.” Jesús Martínez Gómez, Quimera

“What Casavella achieves in his heroic literature is the revelation of secrets that tell the story of a Barcelona whose existence has been wholly rejected.” Javier Pérez Andújar, El País

“A novel whose beginning is inspired by rumour and the ease with which Casavella is able to capture an oral saga, and culminates in a conspiratory world reminiscent of today’s.” Jordi Costa, El País

“The perfect antidote to the worst of diseases a society can suffer: self-importance. We believe that we are before the novel of the transition itself.” Andrés Pau, Levante

“El día del Watusi is the stark portrait of one of the years that everyone wishes to sweep under the carpet of memory. Only those excluded from history, those who always lose the battles, may appropriate the ‘W’ for Watusi that hovers over the novel.” Joan Riambau, L’Avenç

La historia discurre en el siglo XVIII. Martín de Viloalle es el hijo menor de un noble gallego y está destinado a entrar en la Compañía de Jesús desde la cuna. Con un carácter introvertido y esquivo, Martín siente desdén hacia su entorno. La expulsión de los jesuitas de España lo sorprenderá siendo aún novicio. Inexplicablemente, decide seguirlos al exilio. Esta será la primera de sus muchas partidas y afiliaciones, que lo condenarán a una vida precaria y transitoria, a caballo entre la Roma papal, los principados alemanes y el París de la Revolución. 

Esta inquietante novela narra los sucesivos y tronchantes reencuentros del protagonista con su hermano mayor, un jugador ye-yé acosado por el ansia metafísica y por un ejército de matones. El relato engarza trepidantes aventuras, ardides, fugas inverosímiles y multitud de peripecias en el mundo de los bajos fondos. Antonio Chavarrías Ocaña escribió el guión de la película Volverás, basado en esta novela.

An endearing Holden Caulfield lost in the effervescent Barcelona of the 1980s.

Daniel is a motherless teenager who does not fit in anywhere and describes himself as “a real oddball”. He already was in his childhood, in the countryside where he grew up among the cows in the meadows under the eccentric tutelage of his grandfather. And he feels even odder in Barcelona, a tumultuous city where he discovers love, false friendship and “the secret of the parties” that his grandfather was always talking about.

An exciting novel about coming-of-age, full of football tables and slot machines, local people and unforgettable characters, which portrays the first generation who decided to live on the sidelines of the moral devastation of one of the darkest times in the history of Spain.

Unexpectedly sprightly, light-hearted and at times hilarious, tender and thoughtful, it quickly became a cult work, an emblem of the spirit of an entire generation.

 “A book that is 100% Casavella: well written, fun, and with the shudder of true literature” Ignacio Vidal-Folch.

“My favourite novel: El secreto de las fiestas. The novel that I have gifted the most in the past ten years… In the entirety of Casavella’s book there is happiness. Happiness as an antidote for all the bad things in life: even when you are neck deep in corruption, you can still find the courage to smile; when it seems like things couldn’t go worse, a rumba starts to play. And El secreto de las fiestas captures that happiness in the best way.” Mario Bravo, Diagonal

 “Pure Casavella, with his unique style, his touches of humour and his endearing characters. [...] A book with the explosive impact of real literature.” El País

“He mixes humour and reflection with great charm… He makes readers enjoy themselves in two different ways, because El secreto de las fiestas complements the usual comical nature of Casavella’s literature with a constructive invitation to reflect about the hard reality of adolescence.” ABC

 “One of the few writers from recent times who has proven that true literature still exists.” Silvia Taulés, El Mundo

 “The literary survival of Francisco Casavella is guaranteed.” Times Literary Supplement

“In the style of a Holden Caulfield from Barcelona and during the 80s, swearing but talking to you—the reader—with respect, Daniel will try to adapt to a city that is evolving faster than he is, and that throws at him love, broken and fake friendships, real school—which is a big lie— and life in general; which is something like dealing with an alcoholic father that knows how to play an instrument better than how to raise a child.” Víctor González, Libros y Literatura.

Relato ambientado en el mundo de la música pop, narrado con cuñas humorísticas y experimentales.

"Francisco Casavella’s literary legacy is guaranteed." The Times Literary Supplement

In Barcelona during Spain’s transition to democracy, the Raval district is up in arms, fighting for control of the streets. New waves of immigrants, junkies and mafias have turned it into a territory for survivors ruled by Gandhi and his ex-legionnaire friends. Boy, son of a missing singer of whom only past splendour remains, and his friends, Stick, Mole and Toast, dream of success to the rhythm of Catalan rumba. But when Boy discovers the reasons for his father’s disappearance, ignored by the outdated order imposed by the soldiers of the fatherland, he must choose between his desire for revenge and his eagerness to succeed. What might have been an initiation story for Boy and his friends becomes a dangerous coming-of-age tale in which they must choose between dreaming or sleeping, singing or dying. 

In his first novel (awarded the Tigre Juan Prize, adapted for the cinema by Mireia Ros in 2006, recovered by Anagrama and now transformed into a classic in this Cátedra edition), Casavella reinvents hero literature with an audacity and vitality that flees from boredom at all times. El Triunfo is a game of cards in which the die is already cast, the story of a time that has already changed. One generation is affirmed over the other, and youth can only survive by devouring the power and control of old age.

Reúne diversos trabajos publicados por el autor en diferentes medios, desde revistas de música o de cómic (Cairo, Rock de Lux, Ajoblanco, Co&Co...) hasta los principales suplementos literarios españoles (ABC, El País, El Mundo...). La música, el cine y, sobre todo, la literatura son los temas principales de unos textos que destilan el universo de Casavella.