Julio Llamazares

Julio Alonso Llamazares (Vegamián, León, March 28, 1955) is a Spanish screenwriter, novelist, narrator and poet.

He was twice a finalist for the Spanish National Literature Prize for his novels Luna de lobos (1985) and La lluvia amarilla (1988).

Biography

He was born in the now-defunct Leonese town of Vegamián, where his father, Nemesio Alonso, worked as a national teacher shortly before the town was flooded by the Porma reservoir.

Although he was born accidentally in Vegamián, his family comes from the Leonese town of La Mata de Bérbula (also called La Matica), located in the Curueño river basin and whose description is included in his travel book El río del oblivion. After the destruction of Vegamián he moved with his family to Olleros de Sabero, in the Sabero coalfield. His childhood in both towns marked his life from now on; he will also do it with part of his work.

Graduated in Law, he abandoned the profession to dedicate himself to written, radio and television journalism in Madrid, where he currently resides.

In 1983 he began writing Luna de lobos, his first novel (1985), and in 1988 he published La lluvia amarilla. Both were finalists for the National Literature Award in the Narrative category. Following these works, in Silent Film Scenes (1994) she gave literary form to some of her childhood experiences.

In 2016 he was a finalist for the Castilla y León Critics Award with his novel Different ways of looking at water. Before the prize was awarded, he issued a statement announcing that he was not aspiring for it and that he would reject it if it were awarded. In a previous call (2014) he had already been a candidate for said award, with Las lágrimas de San Lorenzo, without obtaining it.

Literary work

Julio Llamazares affirms that his vision of reality is poetic. His way of writing is very down to earth, we could say that he is a romantic writer in the original sense, which is the awareness of man's split with nature, of the loss of a fictitious golden age because it never existed.

His works are characterized by intimacy, the use of precise language and exquisite care in descriptions.

Thus, in them he ventures into various genres:

• the Travel literature, in The river of oblivion (1990), which narrates the journey on foot that he made along the Curueño riverbank during the summer of 1981; or Duero's Notebook (1999), chronicle of the route along the provinces through which the river runs, which ended in Trás-os-Montes (1998), originally published by chapters in the newspaper El País with title A Portuguese trip.
• the rehearsalpresent in narratives as The burial of Genarin (1981) or portraits of Travelers from Madrid (1998);
• journalistic disciplines such as article of opinion and reportof which he has published compilations In Babia (which gathers its production in these genres between 1986-1991) or Nobody listens. (1991-1995) and in which he reaffirms in his thesis that “journalism is another aspect of literature, it is also part of the desire to count”.

As a poet, he is linked to the generation of the eighties or postnovísimos.

Narrative

• The burial of Genarin (1981), account
• Moon of wolves (1985), novel
• The yellow rain (1988), novel
• Scenes of silent cinema (1994), stories
• In the middle of nowhere (1995), stories
• Three true stories (1998), stories
• Travelers from Madrid (1998), stories
• The sky of Madrid (2005), novel
• So much passion for nothing (2011), stories
• The tears of San Lorenzo (2013), novel
• Different ways to look at the water (2015), novel

Poetry

• The slowness of the oxen (1979)
• Memory of snow (1982)

Press collaborations

• In Babia (1991)
• Nobody listens. (1995)
• Between dog and wolf (2008)

Travel

• The river of oblivion (1990)
• Trás-os-Montes (1998)
• Duero's Notebook (1999)
• The roses of stone (2008)
• Atlas of imaginary Spain (2015)
• The trip of Don Quixote (2016)
• The roses of the south (2018)
• Primavera Extremadura (2020)

Film scripts

• Bañista portrait (1984)
• The Flander (1985)
• Moon of wolves (1987)
• The source of age (1991)
• The roof of the world (1995)
• Flowers of another world (1999)
• The praise of distance (2009)

Awards

• 1978: Antonio González de Lama Award
• 1982: Jorge Guillén Award
• 1983: Icarus Prize
• 1986: Finalist National Literature Prize
• 1988: CEGAL Gold Book
• 1989: Finalist National Literature Prize
• 1992: Prize for Journalism El Correo Español-El Pueblo Vasco
• 1993: Nonino Award
• 1994: Cardo d'Oro Award
• 1999: International Critical Week Award at the International Festival of Cannes

Quotes

• The slowness of the oxen