Cristina Morales (writer)

Cristina Morales
Born
Cristina García Morales

1985 (age 40–41)
Granada, Spain
EducationBachelor's of political science, University of Granada
OccupationsWriter, legal interpreter
Notable workLectura fácil
AwardsPremio Herralde (2018)
Spain's National Literature Prize for Narrative (2019)

Cristina García Morales, better known as Cristina Morales (Granada, 1985) is a Spanish writer who is considered by some critics to be one of the most talented young literary writers.[1][2] One of her best-known works is Lectura fácil (Easy Read) whose protagonists are four women with intellectual disabilities living in Barcelona.[3][4] The novel won the Premio Herralde in 2018 and the Spanish National Literature Prize for Narrative in 2019.[5] In 2021, she was named by Granta magazine as one of the best young writers in the Spanish language.[6]

Career

Morales has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Granada, works as a legal interpreter, and now lives in Barcelona.[7] In 2002 and again in 2006, she won the Contest for Andalusian Novel Writers (Spanish: Certamen Andaluz de Eecritores Noveles) in the categories of short story and novella, respectively. In 2007, she was awarded a grant as an artist in residence at the Antonio Gala Foundation in Cordoba. She has worked as a playwright for the University of Granada and for the young creators' festival Eutopía (Festival de Jóvenes Creadores).[8]

Early work

In 2008, Morales published the short story collection La merienda de las niñas and, five years later, she published her first novel Los combatientes, for which she won the Injuve Prize for Best Novel (Spanish: Premio Injuve de Novela).[9] In 2015, she was a finalist for the Francesc Candel prize with the short story El hombre de los buzones (English: The Mailbox Man).[10]

Malas palabras and reclaiming Teresa of Ávila

Also in 2015, Morales published Malas palabras (English: Bad Words), a commission from the publisher Lumen on the occasion of its five-hundredth anniversary. Morales accepted the task of inhabiting the voice of Teresa of Ávila to write the story in the first person, from the perspective of Santa Teresa herself.[11] Morales recreated a supposed diary entry written by Saint Teresa in 1562, during the period in which this author from the Spanish Golden Age wrote Libro de la vida. Morales reclaimed the figure of Saint Teresa from the perspective of the saint as a human being, writing:[12]

She was the first woman who dared to accuse men of clipping women's wings. She should have been rehabilitated by more radical anarco-feminists. Theresa de Jesús eclipses me. The government or any politician should be shamed into rehabilitating her and few will grant that she was a feminist ... She was a leader of the Counter-Reformation, but was put in a corner and was neutralized. We have not studied her humanistically. A task that, indeed, has been done with her contemporary San Juan de la Cruz.

Moreover, according to Morales, this story remains an injustice for women:[13]

Woolf and Munro and Santa Teresa de Jesús fought for their own rooms, indeed, but this fight is still relevant. They asked why a woman would want nothing of their own, nothing private. We women fight not to work ten hours a day for 800 euros per month. Only a writer who is powerful, or who finds herself subject to the tyranny of the working world, or what she holds, can be allowed to enjoy a room of her own.

— Cristina García Morales. Ellos publican mucho, ellas innovan más

Terroristas modernos

In 2017, under the grant for a masters in literary creation III Beca Han Nefkens from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona,[14] she published Terroristas modernos, a novel in which she reassumes the historical perspective of Malas palabras, narrating the so-called "triangle conspiracy," a foiled uprising against King Ferdinand VII in 1816, which was a plot by the Masons carried out by scholars in exile, participants in the creation of the 1812 constitution (Doceañistas) and heroes from the guerrilla war. Altogether, this invited a comparison with today's politics: terrorism, state violence, manipulation of the press, or the volatility of the concept of the nation, of outraged citizens.[15] Morales explains that "Modern democracy is an act of terrorism against the governed and the territory they occupy. It is the most refined mechanism of control of all. The violent machine that is the State inside its borders and beyond is the most refined that human society has ever known. From the end of the 17th century to our time it has been perfected."[16]

Lectura fácil

In 2018, Morales published the novel Lectura fácil, which takes its title from the term easy read, used to denote the combination of adaptations that should be made to facilitate reading and comprehension for those who struggle with these skills—the intellectually disabled, immigrants, etc.[1]

The novel tells the story of four women with intellectual disabilities who live together in assisted living in Barcelona. The protagonists deal with various forms of social control. "... Marga, Nati, Patricia, and Àngels with family ties and common origins, with varying levels of intellectual disability [who] share an assisted living situation in a mixed and oppressive Barcelona, against a backdrop of unemployment, eviction, lies, squatters, the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, and popular associations." The author reclaims people who are administratively designated as intellectually disabled or with functional diversity.[4]

The novel won the Premio Herralde prize in 2018[4] and the National Literature Prize for Narrative in 2019.[5]

Other projects

Since 2017, Morales has been part of a contemporary feminist dance group, Iniciativa Sexual Femenina.[17]

In 2020, Morales appeared as a producer on the album La Resaca de Los Muertos by the punk group AT-ASKO.[18]

Works

Novels

  • Los combatientes (2013)
  • Malas palabras (2015), republished in 2020 as an introduction to Teresa de Ávila
  • Terroristas modernos (2017)
  • Lectura fácil (2018)

Short stories

  • La merienda de las niñas (2008)

Awards

  • 2002 Certamen Andaluz de Escritores Noveles for short story
  • 2006 Certamen Andaluz de Escritores Noveles for short novel
  • 2007 Beca en la Fundación Antonio Gala para Jóvenes Creadores (Córdoba)
  • 2013 Premio Injuve de Novela for Los combatientes
  • 2018 Premio Herralde de Novela for Lectura fácil[19]
  • 2019 Premio Nacional de Narrativa for Lectura fácil

References

  1. 1 2 Medrano, Marta; Medrano, Aurora; Belén García, Ana; Pino, Mar; Asension, Violeta (2020). "Cristina Morales: «Nosotras no gestionamos fortunas, gestionamos la miseria»" [Cristina Morales: "We don't manage luck, we manage misery"]. El Topo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 16 February 2026. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  2. ↑ Martín Rodrigo, Inés (24 February 2015). "Cristina Morales: «Me interesa la moral del juego, contraria a la del aburrimiento»" [Cristina Morales: "I'm interested in the morality of the game, in opposition to boredom"]. Diario ABC (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 May 2025. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  3. ↑ Ródenas, Domingo (8 January 2019). "'Lectura fácil': las revolucionarias discapacitadas de Cristina Morales" ["Lectura fácil": Cristina Morales' disabled revolutionaries]. El Periódico (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 "Cristina Morales gana el Herralde con una novela sobre la discapacidad" [Cristina Morales wins the Herralde prize with a novel about disability]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). 5 November 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2025. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Cristina Morales, Premio Nacional de Narrativa 2019 por 'Lectura fácil'" [Cristina Morales, National Literature Prize for Narrative 2019 for "Lectura fácil"]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). 22 October 2019. Archived from the original on 16 August 2025. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  6. ↑ "Cristina Morales". Granta. Archived from the original on 12 February 2025. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Malas palabras, de Cristina Morales" ["Malas palabras" by Cristina Morales]. revistaparaleer.com (in Spanish). 7 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Presentación del libro "Los combatientes" de Cristina García Morales" [Presentation on the book "Los combatientes" by Cristina García Morales]. juntadeandalucia.es (in Spanish).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ TAPIA, JUAN LUIS (12 May 2013). "'Los combatientes'". Ideal (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Lliurats els Premis Francesc Candel 2015". barcelona.cat (in Catalan). 10 June 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Cristina Morales: 'Santa Teresa, de mojigata, no tenía nada'". Diario Córdoba (in Spanish). 13 February 2015. Archived from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  12. ↑ Riaño, Peio H. (11 March 2015). ""Ya quisiera yo el coño de santa Teresa"". elconfidencial.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 November 2025. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  13. ↑ Massot, Josep (14 August 2016). "Ellos publican mucho, ellas innovan más" [Men publish more, but women are innovating]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 August 2026. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Cristina Morales publica la novela Terroristas modernos, fruto de la III Beca Han Nefkens del Máster en Creación Literaria" [Cristina Morales' novel "Terroristas modernos," result of the III Beca Han Nefkens grant for literary creation, to be published]. UPF-BSM (in Spanish). 29 March 2017. Archived from the original on 13 April 2026. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  15. ↑ Pardo, Carlos (29 May 2017). "La revolución postergada" [The Delayed Revolution]. El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Archived from the original on 4 October 2025. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Riaño, Peio H. (27 June 2017). "Cristina Morales: "El DNI es un artefacto terrorista"" [Cristina Morales: "National ID cards are a terrorist artifact"]. El Español (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "Iniciativa Sexual Femenina". Antic Teatre. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  18. ↑ "Cristina Morales". Guanda (in Italian). Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  19. ↑ "Cristina Morales: "Yo no sabía que tenía una identidad hasta que vine a Barcelona"" [Cristina Morales: "I didn't know that I had an identity until I came to Barcelona"]. ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 5 November 2018. Archived from the original on 10 November 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
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