Víctor Gay Zaragoza (born 19 June 1982 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain) is a writer, adjunct professor at

IE Business School IE Business School is a graduate and undergraduate business school, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1973 under the name Instituto de Empresa (lit. Institute of Business) and is part of IE University since 2007. IE Business School is ...

, trainer and consultant on

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

. He is author of the essays "Filosofía Rebelde" (''Rebel Philosophy''), "50 libros que cambiarán tu vida" (''50 books that will change your life'') and the historical novel "El defensor" (''The defender'').

Career as a writer

At 26, he published his first book ''Filosofía Rebelde'' (Editorial Kairos), which is an essay on the common essences of religions and philosophies from around the world. At 28, he published his second book ''50 libros que cambiarán tu vida'' (Alienta), a literary criticism book. His third book ''El Defensor'' (Columna y Suma de Letras) is a historical novel set in 1940 ( Nationalist Spain era) during the days of the trial and execution of Catalan president,

Lluís Companys Lluís Companys i Jover (; 21 June 1882 – 15 October 1940) was a Catalan politician who served as president of Catalonia, Spain from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War. Companys was a lawyer close to the labour movement and one of the mo ...

. The protagonist is Ramon de Colubí, Companys military defense lawyer. Both individuals are relatives of the author.

Discovery of the relationship between Lluís Companys and his lawyer

During the research phase of ''El defensor'', Zaragoza discovered that Ramon de Colubí and Lluis Companys were also related; a relationship that had never been unearthed by biographers and historians. The novel's documents contain birth certificates which prove that the grandfather of Companys (Ramon Maria Jover i Viala) was a first cousin of Colubí's grandmother (María de la Asunción de Viala Masalles), and at the same time relatives of the author.

Literary criticism

His books ''Filosofía rebelde'' and ''El Defensor'' received positive reviews in relevant newspapers, such as

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

and

La Vanguardia ' (; , ) is a Spanish daily newspaper founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan. It has its headquarters in Barcelona and is Catalonia's leading newspaper. Despite being mostly distributed in Catalonia, ...

(Spain) or

El Espectador ''El Espectador'' () is a nationally circulated Colombian newspaper founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez in 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It was initially published twice a week, 500 issues each, but some years later became ...

and El Tiempo (Colombia). His other book ''50 libros que cambirán tu vida'' reached number 1 rank amongst the best-selling books at amazon.es.

Trainer and consultant on storytelling

Gay Zaragoza is a trainer, consultant and lecturer on storytelling. While writing ''El Defensor'', he created his own methodology which combines narrative with his personal experience as a trainer and consultant. Currently he helps individuals and organisations becoming true storytellers to create their own stories and communicate it better both on offline and online channels (transmedia storytelling). More than 4000 people and companies in Spain and LATAM have taken part in his projects.https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorgayzaragoza

Published books

* ''Filosofía Rebelde'' (Editorial Kairós), ensayo. * ''50 Libros que cambiarán tu vida'' (Alienta), ensayo. * ''El Defensor'' (Columna y Suma de Letras), novela histórica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaragoza, Victor Gay 1982 births Living people Spanish novelists