María Bastarós is an art historian, exhibition curator, cultural manager and writer. She has worked for centers such as the Thyssen Bornemisza in Madrid, the CAAM in Las Palmas or the Instituto Cervantes in Tangier.
In 2015 she created the cultural platform Quién Coño Es and the art critic magazine linked to it. For this, she won the second MAV Prize for Best Initiative for a female author under 35. In December of 2018, she published her first novel, History of Spain for Girls (Fulgencio Pimentel), which won the Puchi Award given by La Casa Encendida and the publisher Fulgencio Pimentel, the Cálamo Otra Mirada Prize, and the Narrative Prize from the Valencian Critics’ Association (CLAVE). That same year, she published the nonfiction Herstory: An Illustrated History of Women (Lumen), with Nacho Moreno and the illustrator Cristina Daura.
In 2019 her text Fantasma opened the short story anthology I Don’t Remember What I Wanted To Be When I Grew Up (Temas de hoy). Her articles have been published in such outlets as Verne, El Diario and Píkara Magazine. At the creative writing school Fuentetaja, she has taught the classes «Car Burning in a Clearing in the Forest» and «With Fists.» She currently is working on two books, a series, and a cultural project in concert with Valencia’s bookstores.
Her latest book is No era a esto a lo que veníamos (Candaya, 2021).
«An author in the purest Bolaño style, but with the concision and pruning that Bolaño often lacked. Addictive, risky and structurally impeccable.»
Aixa De La Cruz
