Books on Spain has an interesting list of contemporary Spanish women writers. The list was prompted by another of her post where she notes that women writers from the Spanish speaking world tend to get ignored in translation and best lists. I agree with her completely, and it is also easy to fall into that trap of ignoring them, consciously or not, given the way that the literary world functions. Some of the authors she mentions I have heard of, even seen in interviews, but I must day, I haven’t ready any of them.

Almudena Grandes. Author of erotic classic, Las edades de Lulú, now embarked on monster civil war trilogy, of which first two volumes, Corazón helado and Inés y la alegría have been published so far.

Almudena Solana. Galician-born, writes in Spanish. Her first novel, El curriculum de Aurora Ortiz, was a success in David Frye’s English translation,The Curriculum Vitae of Aurora Ortiz (2005). I love her second novel, Las mujeres inglesas destrozan los tacones al andar (2007; English Women Ruin their Heels Walking), which is about Louise/Louisa, daughter of Galician emigrants in London, and her struggle to be considered ‘an English girl like any other.’ It’s funny and charming, and has serious things to say about the ’1.5 generation’ of children forced to emigrate in their parents’ wake.

Elena Moya Pereira. I’ve mentioned The Olive Groves of Belchite here before. Moya is a Catalan-speaker from Tarragona who wrote her first novel in English, for which she has my utmost admiration, quite apart from the quality of the novel itself, which is an intriguing combination of historical reflection, social observation, family saga, and lesbian love story. Review coming here soon!