Translation Rights TQE / Life of a Louse Named Mathew

He was born on the nape of an operator’s neck. Matías learns from his very first steps that a louse should always keep his eyes wide open.  He soon must face the soapy floods and the rubbing of the giant’s hand that attempt to throw him out.  He must find refuge from the comb and from the hurricanes caused by the hairdryer.  One day, his sister tells him that they should go looking for the springs close to the ear’s vertical mountain, but they are young and foolish, and soon become prisoners of the King of Dandruff who condemns them to forced labor.  From one adventure to the next, the life of Matías/Matthew, is inspired by the picaresque classics.  It is a hilarious tale of initiation from its original and miniscule point of view:  «People think that all we do is between one sting and the next is lay on our backs all day.  As if we did not have any feelings!»

Fernando Aramburu was born in San Sebastián in 1959. He has a degree in Spanish Language, Literature and Linguistics from Zaragoza University. He currently lives in Germany, where he has worked as a Spanish teacher since 1985. His work has been granted, among others, the Ramón Gómez de la Serna Prize 1997, the Euskadi Prize 2001, and for his short stories Los peces de la amargura (The Fish of Sorrow) the XI Mario Vargas Llosa NH Prize, the Dulce Chacón Prize, and the Prize of the Spanish Language Academy. The movie Bajo las estrellas (Under the Stars) based on Aramburu’s novel El trompetista del utopía (The trumpet player of the Utopia) was awarded a Goya Prize in 2008 for best adapted screenplay by the Spanish Cinematographic Academy.