Beginnings, until 1985 Pilar de Vicente-Gella started writing during her childhood. She recalled having been runner-up in a literature contest at the age of 14. During her two-year stay in New Delhi, from 1978 to 1980, she published a few articles, reports and chronicles about India's culture and social relations for the
Heraldo de Aragón newspaper. She also published several tales for this newspaper. It was this regional newspaper which released her first book:
El Transplante y Otras Narraciones para Casi Adultos (The Transplant and Other Narrations for Almost Adults), in 1981. She dedicated it to her husband and to her children and her father wrote several pages
As a Preface. After this first book, she wrote
The Man with White Slacks in English. The book was published in the United States in 1985, with
Vantage Press. Even though, up to that point, both of her released books were written in prose, the second one might be considered a transition towards her most active period, in which she focused on poetry, since
The Man with White Slacks prose is more poetic than the short stories in The Transplant. She dedicated the edition to the memory of the man who showed her the way to love butterflies, her father.
Most productive period in poetry: 1987–2000 From 1985 on, Pilar de Vicente-Gella focused on poetry. Her first published book of poems was
La Eterna Prometida (The Eternal Bride), in 1987, in the Acuario poetry collection of Andromeda Editions, which was led at that time by
Leoncio Garcia-Jimenez, who also wrote its preface. The Eternal Bride's vision was to describe death as something longed for without fear, as a bride, sister, mother or lover, which makes us all equal and enables us to reach peace. It was dedicated to her mother. The same year, Pilar de Vicente-Gella was selected to be included in the
Voces Nuevas (New Voices) publication, by
Torremozas editions, under the leadership of
Luz Maria Jimenez Faro. Four poems were included in the book:
Can you imagine? (
¿Te imaginas?),
Incandescent Flight (
Huida incandescente),
And Came the Knights (
Y los jinetes llegaron) and
With Ten Pigeons Did He Come (
Con diez palomas vino). It was the first collaboration between the poet and the editor. They would work together several times until they both died, only about a year apart. Two years later, she released in
Bilbao A Través de mi Noche (Through My Night), with the Editorial Projection Studio. In 1990, Pilar de Vicente-Gella released "Cuarto Creciente" (Waxing Crescent), in the Tagore poetry collection, from Andromeda Editions, a collection led, once again, by Leoncio Garcia-Jimenez. This work is a lovers' dialogue in a garden of
Al-Andalus, the Moorish Spain. For this poetic composition, the author researched and used a significant number of Spanish words with Arabic origin. The edition includes a couple of pages by Palestinian poet
Mahmud Sobh "as a way of preface". She dedicates it to the memory of her uncle
Fausto Vicente Gella, "Poet in Madrid's institutions" ("poeta del foro"). The book was presented on 6 June 1990, in Madrid's National Library, including Leoncio Garcia-Jimenez, Mahmud Sobh and poet and philologist Antonio Gonzalez Guerrero as participants. In 1990 and 1991, Pilar de Vicente-Gella was awarded "spike" and "bakery", respectively, in the "Wheat Bread" poetry awards of
La Solana,
province of Ciudad Real. In 1993, she published
A orillas del Yamuna -On the Banks of the Yamuna- in New Delhi, even though she actually wrote it before The Eternal Bride,. In this work, she expresses her fascination for India and especially for its capital city. She wrote it in Spanish and it was released in a Spanish-English bilingual edition. It was translated by Professor of Spanish, Shyama Prasad Ganguly, director and editor of the
Indian Journal of Spanish & Latin American Studies. He also wrote the preface. In 1994, Pilar de Vicente-Gella won the poetry contest of the La Solana (province of Ciudad Real) Town hall. In 1995, Pilar de Vicente-Gella published "La Casa Abandonada" (The Forsaken House), with, Ed. Torremozas. In this work, the author describes her feelings when she had to pack all her parents belongings and evict the apartment in 23Paseo de la Independencia, in Zaragoza, after the passing of her mother, in July 1993. In 1997, she won the "
Nicolas del Hierro" poetry awards, by the
Piedrabuena Town hall, in the province of Ciudad Real, with her book, "Si por mi Nombre Alguna Vez me Llamas" (If by My Name You Ever Call Me). The panel included
Joaquin Benito de Lucas, Pedro Antonio Gonzalez Moreno, Francisco Caro Sierra and Nicolas del Hierro. Mercedes Navas Laguna served as secretary of the panel. She dedicated it to her friend and professor of art history Juan Jose Junquera. Almost simultaneously, she won the second award in the 1997 Puente de Ventas contest with her novel "Por Amor a Wolfgang Amadeus" (For love to Wolfgang Amadeus), a narration about a divorced nurse with a sick mother, a daughter studying in London, a friendly neighbour and a lover ten years younger than her. She lives at the Donostiarra Avenue, in the Ventas del Espíritu Santo neighbourhood, likes visiting the Eva Perón park and the
Fuente del Berro fountain, as well as shopping at the Canillas Marketplace. However, she is now responsible for taking care of her mother and she shares her joys and hardships with Mozart. She dedicated this book to her children. The panel included Enrique de Aguinaga as chair; Luis Prados de la Plaza, Angel del Rio, Rafael Simancas, Manuel Lindo, Angel Sagredo, Juan Van-Halen, Javier Delgado, Pedro Calvo Hernando, Jose Fradejas, Valentina Gomez Mampaso and Lorenzo Lopez Sancho as members; and Vicente Diez Zazo as secretary. In 2000, the government of the
Province of Zaragoza published "En el Fragil Costado de la Infancia" (In Childhood's Fragile Side Stand). Poet Rafael Soto Verges wrote the preface for her. She dedicated it to Rosa Maria Aranda, who had also published poetry, and to Aranda's daughter, a fellow dancer in Monte Carlo in the 60s. Apart from the books that were published, during this period, she wrote many unpublished works such as, "Volver al Yamuna" (Back to the Yamuna) in poetry, and, in prose, "La Niña Azul" (The Blue Girl), about her childhood memories, or "El Rapto" (The Kidknap).
Least active period: 2000–2014 After 2000, her literary work progressively lost momentum, as her health also deteriorated. On 23 April 2003, Pilar de Vicente-Gella participated in Arco Poetico, hosted by Jesus de la Peña. She took about six years to prepare her following published book, "Requiem de Julio" (Requiem of July), released by the Torremozas collection in 2006. The main feature of this work is its duality between, on the one hand, the grievance brought about by the death of her friend, poet from Zamora Claudio Rodriguez, in 1999, and, on the other, the mixed feelings coming from finding a close friend from the 80s in Abu Dhabi again, two different things that occurred simultaneously. She dedicated the book to the poet and to his widow. However, this volume brought to her much unrest since she heard rumours indicating that many readers, including the poets widow herself, misunderstood completely the duality in the book. As a consequence, it took her about eight years to find the necessary motivation to write again.
Final stand: 2014–2016 In March 2015, she published "Tornaviaje" (Return) with the Torremozas collection. She dedicated it to her late elder brother, Agustin, to whom she had been very attached during her childhood. "Tornaviaje" also describes how the author managed to get over the sadness that the misunderstandings about her previous book had caused her. It was the last book that Luz Maria Jiménez Faro sent to press and the first that was actually released after her death. The passing away of her mother's best friend, Enriqueta Castejon, led Pilar de Vicente-Gella to resume writing and return to square one. In fact, the original title in Spanish, "Tornaviaje" comes from explorer
Andrés de Urdaneta, known for discovering and documenting the Pacific Ocean route between the Philippines and Acapulco, known as the Urdaneta route or Tornaviaje, in Spanish. In a way, it means coming back to the starting point but through a different and enlightening route. In December 2015, she published "A Contratiempo" (A Setback Against The Tide), with Torremozas, her last book and the first one in a new literary genre: aphorisms. She dedicated it to her two granddaughters, whom she nicknamed Michmich and Bibich, apricot and fawn in Arabic. It was composed as a compendium of her life philosophy which, at the same time, she hoped would guide her granddaughters through their teenage years in the future. On 30 April 2016, she died in her residence in Madrid, while she was working on a second volume of "A Contratiempo". ==List of works==