Interview - Anna Punsoda

Born in the small village of Concabella, Catalonia, Anna Punsoda is one of the most exciting voices in Catalan language literature working at the moment. Philosopher, novelist, journalist and translator, she has published numerous titles and contributed an piece to our essay collection, The Seven Deadly Sins. In October of this year, we will publish her Other People’s Beds in Mara Faye Lethem’s translation. In it:

Punsoda shines a light onto the darkest corners of the soul with a clean, sharp prose that is punchy, devastating, and tender at the same time. Punsoda beautifully highlights her protagonist's body, a body that has been carved out of stone by her father’s alcoholism and her mother’s frustrated apathy. This character’s stolen innocence leads to her to losing herself in other people’s beds. As shocking and sad as it is funny and liberating, Anna Punsoda’s Other People’s Beds has won unanimous plaudits in her native Catalonia. This powerful debut is written so beautifully and with such ease and fluidity that Punsoda is most definitely one to watch.

Anna Punsoda, interviewed by Lily Rachel.

1.     How did you start writing?

With my personal diary. There wasn’t much to do in my village, so from a very young age (1992) I spent time before bed writing what I had done during the day. I still do sometimes. For me, it’s about explaining the truth in the simplest and most accurate way possible.

2.     Any highs or lows of your writing career so far?

With every long text that I write. There is always a moment when I feel like it is completely uninteresting and that it would be better to give up.

3.     Which authors inspire you? Has anyone influenced your writing?

I am a literary magpie and so when I write I try not to read the authors (women, for the most part) that I feel closest to.

4.     Please tell us about your writing process: do you listen to anything while you work? If so, what? And where do you most like to write?

I don’t listen to anything. Before, I needed silence. Now, it is enough not having little humans roaring around the office, wanting snacks, wanting to go to the park, wanting to pop balloons. I write in my house, the only place in the world where I feel both calm and happy.

5.     Do you feel that what you write has an impact on your daily life? Or viceversa?

Yes, because I can order the thoughts dancing through my head. It allows me to orient myself in the world and calms me down. The moments in which I’m managing best, in which I feel my text makes sense, I’m also in a better mood.

6.     As a translator yourself, how do you feel about your work being translated to English?

I like it, more or less. English has established itself as the gateway to the world (or at least to our world). So really, I’m excited and grateful.

7.     Any peeves about the publishing industry? Anything you would change?

I would change a lot of things to do with to the Catalan publishing industry (things like cultural politics, that are going too far right now), but personally all the publishers I have worked with have treated me well. 

8.     Three songs that sum you up?

‘Una storia sblagliata’ by Fabrizio de André. Like everyone, I have made mistakes with things that mattered to me. The song is connected with that feeling.

‘Girls And Boys’ by Blur. I should probably be embarrassed but when I was a teenager it was important to me. “Girls who are boys, who like boys to be girls”.

‘Homes i dones cap dret’ by Quimi Portet. For the many, many times it has made me cry.