About this Event
Join us for the presentation of Sara´s third book translated in to English and titled ¨The Family¨.
Sara Mesa will be in conversation with Jorge Gárriz.
Event in Spanish with English translations.
Synopsis:
‘There are no secrets in this family!’ proclaims Damián, the father, triumphantly. A secular idealist obsessed with morality and order, he is blind to the cracks in his home’s foundations, the oppression that pervades it, and the elaborate fictions his wife and four children devise to survive it. While he quotes Gandhi and expounds on the virtues of education, charity and thrift, the children retreat into humiliated compliance or seek freedom in the most dangerous of places.
Through a mosaic of interlinked tales, spanning decades, acclaimed Spanish author Sara Mesa turns her unflinching gaze to the family as institution: the ideologies that shape it, the silences that undermine it, and the authority you can never quite escape.
Translated from the Spanish by Katie Whittemore.
'Sara Mesa’s writing is mysterious and fascinating: her characters brush against the limits in environments of fierce false calm. Un Amor is one of her best novels – tense and beautiful like a crouching bird.'
– Mariana Enríquez, author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
'When I read Sara Mesa, I’m there in the Wild West, sifting through the sand. There is a restless enjoyment, an inhospitable beauty, in my sieve. And then something miraculous when gold appears before my eyes.'
–Eva Baltasar, author of Boulder
'Sara Mesa sees the world through the lens of power, exploring how questions of strength and weakness shape human behaviour.’– Annie McDermott, The TLS
Sara Mesa (Madrid, 1976) is a Spanish writer widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Spanish literature. She grew up in Seville, where she still lives, and studied Journalism and Hispanic Philology.
Mesa is best known for her novels and short fiction, including Cuatro por cuatro (2013), Cicatriz (2015), Cara de pan (2018), Un amor (2020), and La familia (2022). Her work often explores power dynamics, social exclusion, family relationships, and the search for personal freedom through psychologically complex characters and unsettling everyday situations.
Her novel Un amor was widely acclaimed, translated into numerous languages, and adapted into a film directed by Isabel Coixet. Mesa's writing has earned several literary awards, including the Ojo Crítico Prize for Cicatriz, and her books have been translated internationally.
Jorge Gárriz is a Spanish cultural programmer, bookseller, and founder of Romancero Books, a London-based bookshop specialising in literature from Spain and Latin America. Trained in Fine Arts, he has worked in cultural events and literary programming, and has collaborated with initiatives including Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest , Stange Perfume and since 2025 works at Instituto Cervantes as their Cultural Coordinator.
Event venue & nearby stays
Instituto Cervantes London, 15-19 Devereux Court, London, United Kingdom
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