Ana B. Nieto. Photography: author's website.
Ana B. Nieto, born in Madrid, is writer and screenwriter. She graduated in Audiovisual Communication and also has studies in Art History, Fine Arts and Advertising, as well as various courses in Ancient and Church History. She carries more than 10 years in literature and his latest novel is titled Candle Light. This interview He tells us about her and other matters. I am very grateful for her time and kindness in assisting me.
Ana B. Nieto
Ana B. Nieto debuted in the literary world in 2013 when he published the Celtic epic saga of The white footprint, which meant being nominated for the Hislibris Awards for historical novels. At the same time, he managed to climb to the top of best-seller positions on Amazon. This novel also jumped to Latin America and was translated into Catalan.
Two years later he published the sequel titled the children of the horse and the adaptation of the successful after-dinner series on TVE Acacias 38 with Manuela, which was translated into Italian.
In 2019 he was a finalist for the Mont Marçal Prize with The 50 Words Club, a magical realism novel, and in 2021 he completed his Celtic trilogy with The backs of the earth. Two years ago he was one of the names that participated in the solidarity anthology Voices from kyiv and the past published Karón Project, his first foray into the futuristic novel, which was a finalist for the Minotaur Prize. But she ended the year by publishing a new landmark title, Candle Light.
Ana B. Nieto — Interview
- CURRENT LITERATURE: Your last published novel is titled Candle Light. What do you tell us about it and where did the idea come from?
ANA B. NIETO: There are many stories of impossible loves, but there are fewer of impossible friendships and this is one of them, since Candelas is a white-collar thief and José Zorrilla is the son of the chief of the Madrid police. This causes the boy to always see himself torn between his father and his idol. The novel takes Candelas as a possible inspiration for Tenorio and it occurred to me when reading the biography of the bandit and seeing all the similarities that he had with Don Juan.
- AL: Can you go back to that first book you read? And the first story you wrote?
ABN: The first books I read were all by mythology, especially Greek, and then I moved on to epic fantasy. The first stories I wrote were versions of the arthurian legends.
- AL: A head writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.
ABN: Tolkien, Philip K. Dick, Edith Wharton, Maryse Condé, Herta Müller, Samantha Schweblin, Ian McEwan, Hermann Hesse, WB Yeats, Scott Fitzgerald... Among the Spanish I love David B. Gil and Mario Villén. I try to read everything.
- AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?
ABN: I am very heathcliff and also very Jay Gatsby.
- AL: Any special habits or habits when it comes to writing or reading?
ABN: As a reader I like books with fabric texture, I find them very comforting and I love touching them while I read. As a writer I always turn on a see her.
- AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?
ABN: For the night, next to the fire.
- AL: Are there other genres that you like?
ABN: I like them all genders except black (with exceptions) and terror (I have it very badly).
Ana B. Nieto — Current Overview
- AL: What are you reading now? And writing?
ABN: I'm reading He disappeared one night, by Dennis Lehane, (here is the exception) and writing a non-fiction book to clear my head a little between historical projects.
- AL: How do you think the publishing scene is?
ABN: Well, I think waiting. Now, with AI, I imagine that this process of digital dissolution will accelerate and I hope that the prestige of labels and well-kept catalogs, with more personal voices, will return. Let's be optimistic. Although I think that, For those who ignore quality, there will be completely customizable readings, generated by the machine based on formulas.
There will be no personal communication, only mirrors of oneself, but the power (of deciding exactly what one wants to read) is very engaging. Unfortunately, it has already been shown in networks that Always choosing what is known, what is most comfortable, dwarfs our vision of the world…but the short term usually rules over the long term.
- AL: How do you feel about the cultural and social moment we are experiencing?
ABN: You have to insist on the need to listen, to approach different worlds and to put ourselves in other, sometimes uncomfortable, shoes. As I said, we run the risk of living in a labyrinth of mirrors where true communication is completely lost, due to pure laziness. Always living in the “I”, in the long run, condemns us. You have to make the effort and go look for the “other.”