David Uclés brings fado and literature to Trindade

The conversation touched on music, magical realism, and Saramago's impact on Uclés's life

Spanish writer David Uclés was one of the most anticipated presences on the second day of BABELL. At Praça da Estação de Metro da Trindade, in a concert-conversation moderated by Pilar del Río, the author of The Peninsula of Empty Houses showed that his relationship with words goes far beyond the written page.

Before dedicating himself to literature, Uclés travelled through various countries as a street musician. He spent 10 years writing his debut book. On stage, he sang fado and read a paragraph from his novel in Portuguese, surprising the audience and confirming the deep affective bond the writer has been building with Lusophone culture.

That bond has a name and a face: José Saramago. A self-declared admirer of the Portuguese Nobel laureate, Uclés had the signature of the writer he calls "his master" tattooed on his left arm — a gesture that speaks volumes about the depth of an influence that goes from the written word to the skin.

With The Peninsula of Empty Houses already published in Portugal and in its 17th edition in Spain, Uclés is establishing himself as one of the most compelling voices of the new European literary generation — a writer who combines realism, historical memory, and formal imagination, and who found in BABELL the right city in which to introduce himself to the Portuguese public.