La Jornada: Alicia Mares invites you to revive the voices of childhood with her book of stories Tornasol

The past and memory from childhood are the center of Litmusa book of short stories by the writer Alicia Mares (Mexico City, 1996), published by the independent publishing house Ocelote. The nine stories that make up this title were born from a mixture of mystery, affection and terror.

In interview with The Daythe author spoke about her creative search, in which she invites readers to return to her past to relive those stories that she has been losing: “my stories are voices that I have protected since my childhood. I was fortunate that my family gave me many good memories. Initially I studied to dedicate myself to classical singing, but little by little the intention of writing began to emerge. In every practice I did, I thought: ‘what I could be writing right now.'”

The idea of ​​music was an inheritance, from which he decided to separate himself and follow his own path. Her grandparents, who took care of her due to the constant trips her parents made for work reasons, were the ones who introduced her to the world of opera and singing.

That is why he decided to study a master’s degree in Barcelona, ​​Spain, where he understood the importance of mixing the rhythms that music gave him with literary inspiration. “I left about five years ago and took classes with the master storyteller Samanta Schweblin; however, the pandemic reached us there and during the period of confinement I took the opportunity to write. During that period I was greatly affected by the nostalgia that being far from my home generated in me and I evoked my childhood.”

Alicia Mares, who last year won the National Prize for Fantasy Literature from the University of Sonora, commented: “I want my stories to sing, I think the tonality and rhythm of these stories is essential because the reader has to be encouraged to stay glued to the book. When I write it is a very organic process because I can’t concentrate without music and I write better when I’m singing. It’s a natural dichotomy for me, but I think it combines very well with my writing method.

“Litmus It is deeply marked by the death of my brother in 2015, in each story there is something that pays tribute to him, there is an omnipresent loss in the book, but it also leaves me with the wonder of childhood and the amazement that the natural world leaves in it. It’s as if I returned to that stage because there is my brother alive. I extend this narrative because I feel that this way their life span is prolonged,” he explained.

For the writer, the path she took Litmus It is closer to the pain of reality than to the flights of fiction. “It seemed to me that I had to explore my brother’s tragedy much more. As I write, I understand better that it is not about overcoming what I experienced, but about learning to flow with it.

“I want readers to once again learn to return to childhood, to see it as if it were a new light and, of course, to face that internal darkness that we also carry due to the experiences at that stage of our lives, to talk about their losses with other people, to approach them and to experience in a different way these pains that fall into our lives. If my readers manage to conceive those experiences again, I will be very happy,” she concluded.

the book Litmus It can be purchased on the Ocelote publisher’s website at a cost of 259 pesos.