Pau Pérez: “All life the great Catalan writers have come to the Ateneu and, with the school, today they are formed here”

Barcelona is not only one of the common settings or backdrops in contemporary literary imagination, but it is also one of the cities where writers are trained and where those passionate about reading come together. This is the purpose of the Ateneu Barcelonès Writing School, the largest literature school on the continent that has just celebrated 20 years of history and has been attended by authors such as Ildefonso Falcones or Sílvia Alcàntara.

Translator and editor Pau Pérez López, who leads the institution alongside Jordi Muñoz, highlights that over these years the school has grown significantly and is now taking a further step towards the professionalization of its studies. In about a year and a half, they will start offering their first Master's in Narrative Writing, thanks to an agreement with the University of Lleida.

What would be your assessment of these 20 years of the school?

The school was inaugurated on April 14, 1998, and from that moment, we experienced two stages. The first one of the initial seven years, in which there was a core group of teachers who came from the Aula de Letras - which is the predecessor of La Escuela de Escritura Ateneu Barcelonès - and the number of students fluctuated around 300 per year. Quality work was being done, but perhaps it was not sufficiently widespread. Then, in 2005, the faculty proposed Jordi Muñoz and me as directors of the school with the goal of disseminating the work being done in the city and throughout Catalonia. At that time, we began to establish a network with all the cultural and institutional centers, both public and private, in Catalonia, and within two years, the school went from having 300 students to having 1,200. From there, there has been a steady growth to the current 2,100 students.

Many media outlets have stated that the Ateneu Barcelonès writing school is the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world, after the New York writing school. This is based on a range of parameters such as it being the school with the most students on the continent, with the highest number of teachers, offering more than 100 courses. In addition, it is noted that the number of publications by the students is spectacular. Alumni publish more than a hundred books each year.

Moreover, this Monday we will have a stop at Sant Jordi with the books that have been published from January 1st until now. There are 91 books, which means a book is published every 60 hours by a student from the school. Therefore, the balance of these years is very positive.

Furthermore, the school has taken a step further towards the professionalization of its studies, how has that work been?

The icing on the cake has been the recognition by the educational-academic system, one of the goals we set from the beginning, which we have now achieved. Since a few weeks ago, the school has been affiliated with the University of Lleida. As a result, we plan to launch an official university Master's degree in Narrative Writing in a year and a half. Currently, there are two such programs in the country, but they are 60-credit master's degrees. In contrast, ours will be a 120-credit program, so it is a truly ambitious project.

Will the option to enroll in the new master's program be available next year?

For this upcoming course, no. It will start in the 2019-2020 academic year. It will be taught here, but the degree is from the University of Lleida.

How did the agreement with the Ateneu Barcelonès to establish the school come about?

When the Aula de Letras project ended in 1998, practically 90% of the faculty from that school reached an agreement with the Ateneu. We were looking for a space to continue teaching classes and the Ateneu needed new blood and to renew activities. It was a happy encounter: we had about 400 students and needed a space, and there was none better than this one.

The Ateneu is the best place where we could be. Furthermore, it has the largest private civil library not only in all of Catalonia, but also the most beautiful. The Ateneu is one of the great Catalan institutions and has been the natural habitat for generations of writers. Throughout history, the great Catalan writers have come to the Ateneu, and today, with the school, they are trained here. Therefore, our establishment here is yet another way of linking this cultural house with the literary world.

Throughout this time, can we speak of illustrious writers who were educated in this house of studies?

There have been many books of significance in terms of sales. However, for us, a great poetry book that will have a niche audience is just as important as other books that have sold a lot. To give two examples, there is the novel Scent of Cologne by Sílvia Alcàntara, which became not only a bestseller but also a TV series on TV3, or Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones, which was featured in school and acknowledged the school's work in the last paragraph of his book.

There have also been many other books heavily promoted by publishers with the selling point that the authors were trained here. This is one of the great things that have changed in the last 20 years. Thirteen years ago, when Jordi and I took over the management, we were interviewed and asked if writing could be taught. Today, no one would ask us that anymore.

Is it possible to speak of a writing style taught by the school?

No, that is impossible. We understand the teaching of writing in the following way. We believe that the formation of a writer is based on three pillars, which include narrative techniques, mastery of the language in which the author expresses themselves, and literary and cultural background. These three things are taught and learned, but each person filters them through their own life experience and the way they view the world. These factors ensure that a set of common learnings are filtered in different ways. If one looks at the range of books that have been published in the last six months, one realizes that none of them are alike.

How would you define the student of the school?

The vast majority of people who enroll in school, and especially in the narrative course, do not come with the idea of becoming a writer or publishing a book. Instead, they seek to learn how to do something they enjoy better. But since our learning system is based on integrating knowledge through the creation of a work, it turns out that by the time the person completes the three-year journey, they have almost inadvertently written a book. At that point, they decide to give it a try and, in many cases, end up getting published.

Which contemporary writers do you think will still be read in the next 100 years?

We live in a world with an absolute breadth of offerings for those interested in literature or the art of storytelling. Storytelling has always been done, but today there are countless high-quality and very appealing formats to enjoy a story, such as literature, television series, cinema, video games, comics, opera. The range of options is so diverse that it's hard to think about trends.

So, what would you like to continue reading?

I can mention specific authors that come to mind and that I find extremely interesting. I like several North American female authors, but one would be Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin or Big Brother. I am very interested in the perspective with which she analyzes the American dream and the American middle class.

Likewise, we can talk about Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian, a work that so many people are reading and through which they are discovering the perspectives of another literature that until now was little known.

Just as there is junk TV, do you think there is also such a thing as junk books?

This is complex. I don't make distinctions of legitimacy between one type of literature and another. I believe that in life you can't spend every day reading Thomas Mann or Marcel Proust. I think you should read them, but then you can also read a novel by Salgari and enjoy literature that plays in a different league, but is interesting in that other league.

Human beings are so changeable that, suddenly, there are books that arrive at certain moments, is it quite personal?

I think the issue is knowing what league you're playing in when you read. So, you should value the book based on the goal it sets out to achieve. If you read a book that is branded as an entertainment novel and has no other purpose, you must judge it based on that goal. The problem is when a book aims for a grand objective and falls flat. That is bad literature. However, sometimes, the reader's criteria are not very well developed.

He mentioned that they will be present on Saint George's Day, how do you experience that day?

With absolute passion. There is no more beautiful day for a book lover than Sant Jordi. We take advantage of this day to promote our students' books. Every year, at the top of La Rambla in Barcelona, we have our stand where only books by students and teachers published that year are sold. This year we will be there from 10 am to 7 pm, offering a hundred books from students and teachers.

Of all the Sant Jordi activities, which do you think contribute the most meaning to literature?

I think the very fact that on a specific day the entire publishing community and so many writers come together to engage with the reading public is beautiful. It's not just about the book signing; it's that in this interaction there are conversations and comments that make the reader-author relationship closer. Moreover, on that day, there is an open house at the Ateneu Barcelonès. Readings of works are held in the courtyard, and any citizen can explore the inside of the building, whose architecture is well worth discovering.