Miren Edurne Portela Camino (born 1974) is a Spanish historian, philologist, university professor, essayist, and novelist.

Edurne Portela
At Literaktum [eu] 2021
Born
Miren Edurne Portela Camino

1974 (age 49–50)
Santurtzi, Spain
Education
Occupation(s)Academic, writer
AwardsEuskadi Literature Award [es; eu] (2022)

Biography

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Edurne Portela was born in Santurtzi in 1974.[1] She earned a licentiate in history from the University of Navarra in 1997. She furthered her studies in the United States, where she also developed her professional career as a teacher and researcher. She completed a master's degree in Hispanic literature in 1999, and a doctorate in Spanish and Latin American literature in 2003, both at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, becoming an associate professor there from 1999 to 2001. In 2003, she moved to the College of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where she taught as an associate professor from 2003 to 2008, directed the Humanities Center from 2008 to 2014, and directed the college's International Initiatives from 2013 to 2014.[1][2]

In 2010, she co-founded the International Association of Spanish Literature and Cinema of the 21st Century (ALCESXXI), serving as its vice president from 2010 to 2016 and a member of the editorial board of ALCES XXI Magazine.[1]

In 2016, Portela finished her academic career in the United States and returned to Spain in order to dedicate herself completely to writing, through the publication of essays and novels, as well as pieces for print and digital media outlets such as La Marea [es], El Correo, El País, RNE, and Cadena SER.[1]

In 2018, she received the Best Fiction Book award for her novel Mejor la ausencia from the Madrid Bookstores Guild.[3]

Her novel El eco de los disparos: cultura y memoria de la violencia received the Euskadi Literature Award [es; eu] for Literature in Spanish in 2022.[4]

Both in her work as a novelist and in her essays, Edurne Portela addresses and investigates the theme of violence in different aspects, from that experienced in Basque society during the rise of ETA (as in El eco de los disparos) to the everyday violence of toxic relationships (as in Formas de estar lejos).[5][6][7]

Awards and recognition

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  • 2018 – Best Fiction Book, awarded by the Madrid Bookstores Guild in its 18th edition, for Mejor la ausencia
  • 2022 – Euskadi Literature Award [es; eu] in the Literature in Spanish category, for Los ojos cerrados

Works

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Essays

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  • Displaced Memories: The Poetics of Trauma in Argentine Women Writers. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press, 2009. ISBN 9780838757321.
  • El eco de los disparos: cultura y memoria de la violencia (The Echo of the Shots: Culture and Memory of Violence). Barcelona: Galaxia Gutenberg SL, 2016. ISBN 9788416734115, 9788416734344.

Novels

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Scientific articles

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Santos, Carmen R. (2 February 2018). "Edurne Portela: '"Duelo", de Halfon, es un libro sutil, reflexivo, poético'" [Edurne Portela: "Halfon's 'Duelo' is a Subtle, Reflexive, Poetic Book"]. ABC Cultural (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  2. ^ Gehman, Geoff (2013). "Putting More Humanity into the Humanities" (PDF). Acumen: The Magazine of Lehigh University's College of Arts and Sciences. pp. 18–19. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  3. ^ Ortega Lucas, Miguel Ángel (23 November 2018). "Los premios de la comunidad lectora de Madrid" [The Madrid Reading Community Awards]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Edurne Portela, Koro Navarro, Irati Jiménez y Teresa Maldonado completan el resto de reconocimientos de los Premios Euskadi de Literatura" [Edurne Portela, Koro Navarro, Irati Jiménez and Teresa Maldonado Round Out the Rest of the Recognitions at the Euskadi Literature Awards] (in Spanish). Basque Government. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  5. ^ "Edurne Portela habla de las relaciones tóxicas en 'Formas de estar lejos': 'La violencia siempre produce silencio'" [Edurne Portela Talks About Toxic Relationships in "Ways of Being Far Away": "Violence always produces silence"] (in Spanish). Madrid: Europa Press. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  6. ^ Gascón, Daniel (15 February 2017). "'La sociedad vasca ha sido silenciosa'. Entrevista con Edurne Portela" ["Basque society has been silent". Interview with Edurne Portela]. Letras Libres (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  7. ^ Seoane, Andrés (8 March 2019). "Edurne Portela: 'Hay violencias tan íntimas que a veces ni las reconocemos'" [Edurne Portela: "There is violence so intimate that sometimes we don't even recognize it"]. El Cultural (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2023.
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