The Literary Phenomenon of Irene Vallejo

Latino USA

Futuro Media and PRX

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2024

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Irene Vallejo never imagined she would become a global literary sensation. In 2019, the Spanish author and academic published an essay about a somewhat obscure topic: the ancient history of books. After a short literary career, she thought it would be the last book she published. Instead, “Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World” has become an international bestseller since then. It was translated into 38 languages, connecting Irene with millions of readers across the world.

In this episode, Irene opens up about the difficult circumstances in which she wrote this book, the ways she managed to make ancient history come to life, and the unwelcome consequences of global success for a female author.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I was writing about the way books can save us and at the same time writing this book was saving me.
0:17.0	From Futura media and PRX it's Latino USA. I'm Mariano Hosa. Today Spanish author Irena Valéiejo and the long history of caring for books.
0:48.0	Dear listener, do you know that it's been more than 5,000 years since books have accompanied us in so many shapes and in so many forms. This history of books has been made, yes in the halls of famous libraries across the world like in Alexandria
0:55.8	in Egypt, but also in the intimacy of a parent reading a bedtime story to their child.
1:02.4	Known and respected for her work in academia,
1:06.0	Irena by Yehjo wrote about this long history of books in
1:11.0	Papyrus, the invention of books in the ancient world which became an international bestseller selling
1:18.6	over a million copies worldwide. Now our co-executive producer here at Latino USA, Penny Lay Ramides, has been fascinated
1:28.1	by Irena Valéjo for years and Penny Lay is joining me in the studio now. Hey Penny lay.
1:34.3	Hello Maria, I'm very very happy to be here.
1:37.6	Yeah, and I'm really happy that you were able to score this interview.
1:40.6	So Penny Quentame, why have you been so fascinated by this author who is really, she's an academic?
1:47.6	Well, you know, I typically don't fan girl, but with Irenne Vallejo is like something different. I have been...
1:56.2	So, wait a second. So this is your first fan girl moment over I reine Vallejo who's
2:00.8	writing about the history of books? I just want to be clear.
2:04.0	Well, kind of, you know, I'm an investigator journalist so I don't run after people saying, oh, can I take a picture with you?
2:12.1	I really want to meet you in person. So when I saw on
2:15.3	Twitter that she was in New York for a few days, I just DM her. And I said, I want to meet you in person.
2:22.1	Your book meant a lot to me and I would love to interview you
2:26.0	It was not in the agenda. It was just literally me fan-girling with her
2:30.8	But also because I think that she's so fascinating that I wanted more
2:35.6	people in the US to know Irena Valéjo and to know her work. What is it that she
	...

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