Gabriela Ybarra (b. 1983) is a Spanish writer. Her novel, ''The Dinner Guest'', was nominated for the

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize was announc ...

in 2018.

Life

Ybarra was born into a politically active family in Vizcaya, in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Her grandfather, Javier de Ybarra y Bergé, was a former mayor of

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, and fought on the side of the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. In 1977 he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

separatist group,

Eta Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

. Ybarra lives in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, works as a social media analyst, and has one son.

Writing

Ybarra's book, ''The Dinner Guest'', is a work of

autofiction In literary criticism, autofiction is a form of fictionalized autobiography. Autofiction combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely autobiography and fiction. An author may decide to recount their life in the third person, to mod ...

, based on her own family's history. She has drawn on her grandfather's kidnap and murder by

Basque separatists Basque nationalism ( eu, eusko abertzaletasuna ; es, nacionalismo vasco; french: nationalisme basque) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the poli ...

in 1977, as well as her family's experience of receiving bomb threats, and her mother, Ernestina Pasch's diagnosis with cancer, for the book. The book was published in Spanish in 2015, and was translated to English by Natasha Wimmer for publication in 2017. Screenwriter Angels González-Sinde and producer Isabel Delclaux have indicated that they intend to adapt ''The Dinner Guest'' to film.

Bibliography

* ''The Dinner Guest'' (translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer) (Harville Secker)

Awards

* 2016 - ''The Dinner Guest'' won the Euskadi de Literatura in Spain. * 2018 - ''The Dinner Guest'' was nominated for the International Booker Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ybarra, Gabriela 1983 births Spanish writers Women writers (modern period) People from Biscay Living people Writers from Madrid 21st-century Spanish women writers 21st-century Spanish writers