The Great Latin American Novelist and Essayist Sergio Ramirez Met with Students Studying Spanish
The writer's first literary visit and discussion with students in Bulgaria
The UNWE and the Cervantes Institute - Sofia organized a meeting with the Nicaraguan politician, intellectual, journalist and writer Mr. Sergio Ramirez in two events - a meeting with the UNWE students studying Spanish and a meeting with literature lovers.
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"It is a great honour and pleasure for me to welcome an outstanding writer, publicist with a memorable style and interesting personality - Mr. Sergio Ramirez - as a guest at our university", welcomed the guest Prof. Dr. Matilda Alexandrova, Vice-Rector for Educational Activities. She added that UNWE for a consecutive time presents the work of great writers from all over the world, winners of international awards and established authors in international literature. "So is today's meeting. I was impressed by his writing style, the humour that goes to the point of sarcasm. It will be a great pleasure for Spanish speaking students to meet this writer." Prof. Alexandrova explained that such events are what make the UNWE a cultural centre. "This meeting is part of a series of events in partnership with the Spanish Embassy and the Cervantes Institute and I am delighted to open it."
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Prof. Dr. Matilda Alexandrova |
The Director of the Cervantes Institute - Sofia Mrs. Maria Santos said that she was happy to see so many young people interested in the Nicaraguan writer. She pointed out that Mr. Sergio Ramirez had also won Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the Spanish equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Literature. She also expressed her special gratitude to the publishing houses Tonipress and Matcom that have been published in Bulgarian five of Sergio Ramirez's novels, including his latest novel Tongolele Could Not Dance.
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The Director of the Cervantes Institute - Sofia Mrs. Maria Santos is presenting the author's latest book translated into Bulgarian Tongolele Couldn`t Dance and Prof. Dr. Stefka Kozhuharova, moderator and translator of the event, lecturer in Spanish at the Foreign Languages and Applied Linguistics Department |
Mr. Sergio Ramirez expressed his thankfulness to the participants for sharing his books and work with them. He said that he had been in Bulgaria a long time ago but it was his first literary visit to the country and his first conversation with Bulgarian students.
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| Mr. Sergio Ramirez |
The meeting was attended by students studying Spanish and International Relations, one of the editors - Antoaneta Yordanova, lecturers in Spanish literature at St. Climent Ohridsky University of Sofia.
The novel Tongolele Couldn`t Dance was published in 2021 and banned by the Nicaraguan authorities. Because of the book the author was accused of betrayal against the country and a warrant for his arrest was issued which led to his departure for Spain. The novel Tongolle Couldn`t Dance is the third one in the saga of inspector Dolores Morales.
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Sergio Ramirez has published his first short story, The Student, in the magazine Ventana in 1960. His first book, a collection of short stories called Stories, was published in 1963. His first novel, Fire Time, was published in 1967. Since then he has published more than 50 books, translated into many languages, in the fields of journalism, drama, historical fiction, crime fiction and documentary fiction. Over the years he has been awarded the Carlos Fuentes International Prize for his complete works and the most prestigious prize in Spanish literature - Miguel de Cervantes Prize. Sergio Ramirez is the author of more than 20 novels, including Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea, which won Spain's Alfaguara Prize. His other novels translated into Bulgarian are Fire Time, God's Punishment, Heaven Weeps for Me, No One Weeps for Me Anymore.
Interview with Sergio Ramirez
The interview is based on questions prepared by the students and lecturers from the UNWE and St. Climent Ohridski University of Sofia University
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What is the relation between the literature and politics in your work?
This relationship depends on the country in which a writer was born, and it is common for Latin American writers to have a public voice and to have their opinions heard in political debates. Rarely there is a writer who doesn't have an opinion. Perhaps it is because the problems of public life are very visible - dictatorships, corruption, rebelion, drug trafficking, mass emigration to the US. All these issues force writers to express their opinions and it leads to a very close relation between the literature, politics and public life. The lives of the characters in novels are always affected by what happens in the society. In 1979 there was a revolution in Nicaragua that overthrew a right-wing dictatorship. Many intellectuals like me were part of that revolution. But then the new government became a dictatorship itself. Today I live in exile in Spain, my nationality was taken away by the dictatorship born of that revolution. Public life has become my own.
The problem of dictatorships in Latin America is an old one. Do you see a solution?
The struggle in Latin America is between the totalitarianism and democracy. The countries are young and democracy is not consolidated. The countries are weakly institutionalized.
Do you see any means to tackle the corruption?
The problem is institutional. The control bodies must be independent, there must be transparency in the public authority and the officials must be responsible for their lives also as private persons.
How do ordinary people in Nicaraguan live nowadays?
Nicaragua is a country of 7 million people and in the last three years 1 million people have left the country, about 3 000 people have been imprisoned, more than 20 priests are in prison. Our population is mainly young. A few years ago the pupils and the students protested against the government and about 400 young people were shot. There is no opposition. The regime's objective is to impose fear and silence through repression. This is the situation now. We are a country of the silence.
Where do you get the ideas for your books, what is your motivation for writing?
As a writer I'm very attracted to history, to stories that feel like a novel. Everyday events are amazing, extravagant, sometimes much more powerful than the fictional ones. People's stories and happenings are my inspiration. In my latest novel, for example, I tell how the political power in Nicaragua is controlled by the esoteric, by witchcraft. And it is not my fiction. At the moment our country is run by a couple who believe in occult symbols and they are all around them. The members of the Council of Ministers sits in a circle, the candidate for presidential talks to his dead dog through a medium. It is not fiction, it is not magical realism, it is a real realism.
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The publishing houses promoting Sergio Ramirez's books in Bulgaria, Matcom and Tonipress, will take part for the first time in the 4th edition of the University Book Week which will take place in the period of 6 to 10 November 2023.
Sergio Ramirez Official Website
Other media
Interview for Culture.bg on BNT Channel
