Littpod

After writing non-fiction books and essays about conditions in Spain’s Basque country, Edurne Portela published her novel Mejor la ausencia in 2017. It follows the main character, Amaia, through her upbringing in Bilbao during the 1980s and 1990s, in an environment affected by political violence from the ETA, deindustrialisation and unemployment. The book won the Spanish booksellers’ prize. Portela meets author and historian Sigrun Slapgard for a conversation about how the blood-stained past impacts on the present and about the opportunities for liberation to be found in literature.