Sant Jordi confined, but in good company: meet 7 authors from the IRB Barcelona community

This Sant Jordi will be unsual, but luckily we will be able to read good books. Confinement due to the state of alarm has left us a panorama of empty streets of people, book stands and stunning roses. It has been confirmed that the celebration of this day will go to July 23, which will allow us to celebrate it properly. In the meantime, how about celebrating it our way? This may be a good time to rescue some of the stories that have made us fly and travel to imaginary worlds that have made us smile when we did not expect it or that have even changed the way we see things. Maybe we have a brand new novel on a shelf or maybe ... maybe this confinement provides the right time and place to start writing. Do you know someone who has ever dared to do it? Did you know that the IRB Barcelona community also has people who at some point have dared to write and publish? Meet them below, along with some of his works. Have a good read and happy Sant Jordi!

Maria Rovira

María Rovira, HR Talent & International Mobility Coordinator of IRB Barcelona, wrote the novel "13 mesos" (2017)" 4 years ago, during the time she was living in England. It is a story full of feelings in which everyone can feel identified: "A very heartfelt story, where the protagonists get angry, cry, laugh and, above all, fall in love. It describes a way of living in which material things are left behind, and what is important are small things and with whom you share them. A roulette wheel of feeling passion, loneliness, grief and joy. As simple and as intense as life itself".

Jordi Casanova

Jordi Casanova is a researcher at IRB Barcelona, ​​where he directs the Drosophila Development and Morphogenesis laboratory. He published the book "Petita història dels humans" ("Little History of Humans") in 2009. It is a compilation of reflections on how novel and continuous scientific findings force us to review many of the ideas we have about ourselves and the world around us. In just over one hundred pages, written in a clear and close style, the author helps us understand that the successive scientific knowledge is conditioning human thinking about nature, morals and the evolution of our society. "Every day we have more information about our human nature. Scientific knowledge, and in particular biological knowledge, reveals to us what we are like, how we work, what path our species can follow”. So fragile, so complex and, at the same time, with so many resources. 

Miquel Duran

Miquel Duran is an associate researcher in the Laboratory of Structural Bioinformatics and Network Biology at IRB Barcelona. In his book "Més o menys jo" ("More or less me") tells us about the stories of a very peculiar family told from the perspective of the adolescent member of the house. A costumbrist story written with an original language and in the first person in which the narrator tries to find "normality" in an environment that at first sight does not seem “normal”.

Álvaro Rol

Álvaro Rol is an alumni of IRB Barcelona, ​​where he completed his doctoral thesis in 2015. "The Ascent of Válary" is the first novel in the literary trilogy "Fe & Thaumaturgy", which is followed by the book "El sino del Virtuoso" . The trilogy opens with the story of the young Válary Talio, a recently graduated miracle worker, who is forced to leave his hometown to fulfill his dream of reaching the highest levels of magical power. 

Ignasi Belda

Ignasi Belda is IRB Barcelona alumni, ​​where she completed her doctoral thesis. Further to other publications such as "Minds, Machines and Mathematics" (RBA, 2011), in 2018 he published the book "Artificial Intelligence" (RBA), where he talks about the unprecedented boom in artificial intelligence, which is leading us to design machines with capacities comparable to those of human beings. 

Manuel Gris 

Manuel Gris is an alumni of IRB Barcelona, ​​where for many years he worked as a laboratory technician. Writing being his passion, he has published several novels in recent years, including: “Quizá tampoco esto sirva para nada” ("Maybe this is not good for anything either") (Oblique editions), “A las doce de la noche del día de mi cumpeaños” ("At twelve o'clock on the night of my birthday") (Libros.com), "Cuaderno 001" (“Notebook 001”) (Inkreadible Books), "Eterno" (“Eternal”) (Apache Libros) and "Viejo" (“Old”) (Apache Libros). In addition, he is a founding member of the association Plataforma de Adictos a la Escritura (“Platform of Addicts to Writing”), which aims to achieve new milestones in the publishing world through the union of authors.

Montse Clotet

Montse Clotet is an illustrator from Barcelona, who is also author of the texts and illustrations in her books. He uses watercolors, acrylic paints, colored pencil, collage and digital media as his artistic techniques. "La increïble història d'un núvol" ("The incredible story of a cloud") is her first published illustrated book. The subject of this title, meteorology, has a close personal relationship with the author. A cloud discovers the man of time. But who is he, this daring man who dares to make his privacy public? A rhyming, tender and fun story, in which the two protagonists will play hide-and-seek until, inevitably, they meet ... In addition, 50% of the copyright of this story will go to the Metastasis Challenge IRB Barcelona.