This Friday, March 28, at 18:30, writer, translator, and educator Rafael-José Díaz will unveil his latest poetry collection, The belongings, a compilation of works penned between 2019 and 2022, published by the Chilean-Spanish house Editorial Ril. The launch event will be held at the Institute of Canarian Studies (Ossuna Casa, 4, La Laguna), with Ainoha Cruz and Víctor Ruiz presenting the book.
The belongings is the twelfth poetry collection from the Santacrucero author, comprising 29 predominantly lengthy poems. These can be interpreted as a fragmented and erratic autobiography, traversing various settings and time periods. “From reminiscences of places tied to the author’s childhood to poems set during their stay in Germany in the late nineties, along with pieces that scrupulously investigate the urban landscapes of numerous cities or the forest and coastal views of the islands, the book is a showcase,” as highlighted in a press release from the author.
The work of Rafael-José Díaz, “which has increasingly approached the indistinction or blending of genres, is presented in this collection as a realm of interplay between the meditative, the elegiac, the celebratory, and the nostalgic.” It further states: “The experiences gathered over four years intertwine with the exploration of moments buried in increasingly obscure memories. The loss of friends who departed too soon, initiations, or emotional breakups, solitary strolls at dusk, evenings filled with explorative adventures, a body discovered in a swimming pool, gatherings beside a river in the morning – all provide the author with inspiration to craft river-like poems that invite the reader to sometimes halt and engage in a swimming venture resonating well with the essence of these texts: some poems.” The poet acknowledges that these works are “more like writings to immerse oneself in and even dive into rather than just skim the surface.”
With an extensive body of work already presented to readers
Born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1971, Rafael-José Díaz is a poet, essayist, and translator. He holds a degree in Hispanic Philology from the University of La Laguna. He served as the editor of the magazine Paradiso during 1993 and 1994. From 1995 to 2000, he worked as a Spanish reader at the universities of Jena and Leipzig in Germany. His first six poetry collections are compiled in a volume entitled Crepitation (2012).
He has since published A shroud (2015) and Under the eyelids of those who move away (2021) alongside four entries of his diary, as well as the essays Routes and rituals and On the edge of the abyss and beyond: Gustave Roud, Anne Perrier, and Philippe Jaccotte. He has also released story collections such as Some of my tombs and lethargy, the novel Duémete, bite body, and prose works including Transmissions: Twenty-four places and a letter along with Light. Moreover, he has published numerous translations of works by authors from the French, German, and Italian languages.
