José Ovejero is a Spanish writer. He was born in Madrid but has lived outside Spain for the greater part of his life. He has worked in a variety of genres, including poetry, drama, essays, short stories and novels. He won the 2013 Premio Alfaguara for his novel La invención del amor.
Biography
José Ovejero was born in 1958 in Madrid. He studied Geography and History at University in Spain and then moved to the Faculty of Egyptology in Bonn. In 1988 he moved to Brussels, where he worked as an interpreter for the EU until 2001. He now lives mainly in Madrid. His first published work was a collection of narrative poems on Henry Morton Stanley. Since then he has published nine novels and as well short stories, essays and more poetry. He has also experimented with travel writing and drama. Ovejero believes that “literature allows us to deconstruct the apparent order of reality, and from there you can construct new orders or create different unities.” He has won several major literary prizes, including the 2013 Premio Alfaguara for his novel La invención del amor, translated into English as Inventing Love. In 2018, José Ovejero presented three of his stories in a one-man stage show under the title¡Qúe raros son los hombres! , touring theatres in Spain, Latin America, New York and various European cities - including London, as part of the Festival of Spanish Theatre.
Novels
1997 Añoranza del héroe 1999 Huir de Palermo 2003 Un mal año para Miki 2005 Las vidas ajenas Premio Primavera 2005 2007 Nunca pasa nada 2009 La comedia salvaje 2013 La invención del amor Premio Alfaguara 2013 2015 Los ángeles feroces 2017 La seducción 2019 Insurrección
Poetry
1994 Biografía del explorador 2002 El estado de la nación 2012 Nueva guía alMuseo del Prado 2017 Mujer lenta Premio Juan Gil-Albert 2017
Travel literature
1996 Bruselas 1998 China para hipocondríacos
Theatre
2008 Los políticos 2008 La plaga 2017 ¡Qué raros son los hombres!
Short stories
1996 Cuentos para salvarnos todos 2000 ¡Qué raros son los hombres! 2004 Mujeres que viajan solas 2008 El príncipe es un sapo. Y viceversa 2018 Mundo extrañoPremio Setenil 2018
Essays
2011 Escritores delincuentes 2012 La ética de la crueldad Premio Anagrama de Ensayo
Translations into English
2013 Nothing Ever Happens, translated by Philip H.D. Smith & Graziella de Luis, Hispabooks 2017 Inventing love, translated by Simon Deefholts & Kathryn Phillips-Miles, Peter Owen Publishers
