Bruno Blog

This week we are at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which we hope will be fruitful for everyone in the sector. As always, the agency team is working hard to get our authors translated into many languages, so that they can be read around the world. This is not an easy task, as there is a lot of competition, but our authors have awesome books that deserve to cross borders, so we can do this!

Besides, Frankfurt is the meeting place for all our friends in publishing, with whom exchange so many emails, but whom we only see twice a year. And just for that, it´s worth doing the trip: being able to talk in person, being able to give a hug… It is priceless, and it is also a way to keep nurturing these friendships we have created by working together for years. It´s one side of the job I love.

So, I wish you all a very good fair, and let´s hope everyone loves our catalogues as much as we love them.

Here you can download the complete catalog of the titles represented by Sandra Bruna Literary Agency.

And for publishers working in the Spanish, Portuguese and LATAM markets, here you can download our NEWBOOKSNEWS, with a selection of the hottest titles from the proprietors we represent.

I was convinced that the day I would write about Francesc Miralles and Álex Rovira’s new book, ALEGRÍA (Joy), I would do it with a smile on my face because it’s a book that, that using the letter format, gives you guidelines to discern what is really important in life and to overcome the adversities and sad moments we all experience at some point in our life. I must admit that this week I’m sad and I can’t write with that smile on my face because of all of that happened last Sunday in Barcelona. I’m not going to talk about politics, but I just want to say that violence has always saddened me. I would never accept it as I have always defended dialogue. To have this dialogue you need two interlocutors willing to talk to each other, but there are fewer and fewer people who want to do so, and fewer people who want or know how to listen, therefore I don´t think we are going in the right direction. This is why reading ALEGRÍA again has given me serenity, perspective and calm. I think we could all use a little in our daily life, this week.

According to the authors, many of us miss out on the small moments of joy looking for happiness, and they are right, because we do have these joys, however small they are, but it’s possible that sometime we don’t value them as such, so we should make a list of these joys to overcome the sad feeling that sometimes embraces us in such an overwhelming way that we can´t even think. This is why I´d like to share with you my own little joys, they are just small things that make me smile, such as watching the sunrise by the sea with my friends or meditating listening the waves. The smile on my son´s face when he looks at me also makes me happy, so does the fact that my friends are family are able to achieve their goals and fulfill their dreams, however small they are… The list could be much longer I assure you, since sometimes a stranger´s smile can also create joy. Since I´ve read the book, I think I have enjoyed these moments much more. I have been doing some of the exercises that the authors propose, thus turning the book into a small treasure that helps me getting up every morning with the conviction that there will be sad moments, but that I must know how to manage them because sadness is part of our emotions and we can learn to fight it and even to live with it, always with a smile which will open other horizons, because we must always look further and move forward.

Congratulations to Álex and Francesc for once again being a terrific duo with the ability of making us feel optimistic even in challenging moments, and of helping us to cultivate JOY. So thank you for a book like this, now and always.

This last weekend has been very sad. A friend, an author from the agency, died suddenly from a heart attack. He was cheerful, nice and was always doing a thousand things: organizing literary events, helping other people, writing, and working to make a living that could allow him to write (because, in this country, almost no one can live by being only a writer —the truth is that only a few make it). That’s where he put all his energy: into his literature. He told us that he knew he had to slow down, but he didn’t, and life has done it for him. Being stressed out, wanting to do everything, not putting any limits, all of this comes with a cost, and I feel such sadness that I couldn’t say goodbye to him. My schedule is always tight and I can barely take a break. I couldn’t even call him after summer and wish him a great start to the academic year. We’ll miss you, José Manuel, and I truly thank you for giving us that smile and that positive spirit that was such a characteristic part of you. I won’t forget you and I know that, wherever you are, you’ll be fine and you’ll be a good guide, my friend from the stars.

The truth is that news like this make you reflect, though they also shock you and make you wonder what life are you leading. However, we don’t listen to ourselves and we’re always moving forward, thinking that things like this won’t happen to us, but José Manuel also thought like this, and he’s not here anymore. So, let’s try to live life intensely but calmly, although that might seem like a contradiction –which it isn’t. Let’s find time for ourselves, to enjoy what we really like, and let’s make room for those things that let us disconnect. Many of us like doing sports, and personally it’s changed my life to practice it. Nonetheless, there are also lots of mistakes that are made while practicing them, because even though we all know it’s really good for us, sometimes we don’t know what is our limit. For this reason, the book EL LÍMITE ES TU SALUD (Your Health is the Limit), by Emma Roca, published by Zenith in Spanish and Ara Llibres in Catalan, is a basic tool for all of those who practice sport, from beginners to professionals. Emma has competed for more than 20 years at an international level, in total she’s run 170,000km, which is like doing eight laps around the world by bike or 4,000 marathons, and in each one of these kilometers she’s managed to test her physical and mental limits to conquer every single challenge.

This book has all her knowledge and experience so you can reach your goals, whichever ones you have, small as they might seem. Health plays a key role to reach your desired goal, and it’s completely indispensable to prepare the body on the inside and the outside, so it doesn’t fail you when you need it the most. If you like doing sports and you want to get better at it or you want to start moving your body, here you’ll find the best training tips, along with advice about when to rest and what to eat, the three fundamental parts to make everything work –we can’t forget effort, perseverance and motivation. Attitude is always important, and without it we wouldn’t get up from our chair, but let’s not forget our health. Only if we have the whole pack we’ll be able to enjoy at its fullest, but within our limits, the sport we like the most.

I don’t even think about a life without doing sports, but after reading Emma’s book, I also don’t think about one without taking care of myself, because elite athletes aren’t the only ones that should do it –we all must do it. And we should do it not only because we like to work out, but in order to live peacefully and without letting stress freeze our thought.

Chasing what you need, and what you really want, is a challenge. It is like so because many times we aren’t brave enough to face our own truth, or we aren’t ready enough to listen to ourselves. However, reading IKIGAI by Francesc Miralles and Héctor García was the first step, for me, to understand why I get up from bed each morning, what is it that really brings me joy, what is my purpose in life. I must confess that I’m not sure I’ve already discovered it, because the hard thing, for me, is to find only one thing that inspires me. That’s why the publication of FINDING YOUR IKIGAI hits the mark.

A second book, by the same authors, where they tell you how to put into practice that theory or, if you already know which is your IKIGAI, Francesc and Héctor teach you how to embrace it and exploit it. In order to achieve it, they suggest thirty-five routes, with practical exercises and essential lessons to get what you want and reach that peace of mind that you truly need in life. This is the only way, according to the authors and what they’ve learned from this Japanese philosophy. Happiness and wellbeing, something that everyone wants to reach, can come up naturally within us. Penguin Random House and Ara Llibres publish this practical part, which isn’t a sequel per se, but an ‘extra’ to those who’ve already found their IKIGAI and want to have the tools to strengthen it, take care of it, and be honest with themselves to finally do what they really want to do.

It’s a path, a training session, but I can assure you that it’s worthy of it, and that the change, which doesn’t happen out of a sudden, it’s like a balsam that helps us live within this society –more stressed and convulsed each day that goes by. If you know how to use the right tools, that magic word that is happiness and that many people never get to discover, will appear in a natural way. We all carry it in our DNAs, but we have to discover it, uncork it and nourish it to the best of our abilities. We only have one life and we need to learn how to enjoy it. Today, right here and right now, not tomorrow. No one said that it was going to be easy, but it doesn’t have to be difficult either, you simply need to want it -which you can decide whenever you want. It’s in your hands, it’s up to you, that’s why Francesc and Héctor show us the way with guidelines, because it’s very easy to read the theory, but another thing is to put it into practice. But, trust me, you’ll be able to reach your IKIGAI and make it huge.

IKIGAI (Urano in Spanish and in Catalan) and EL MÉTODO IKIGAI / FINDING YOUR IKIGAI (Penguin Random House in Spanish and Ara Llibres in Catalan) are two bedside books to put in your backpack and travel with them. Reread them whenever you need to, because life is a rollercoaster and keeping balance is hard, but not impossible. You just have to go for it.

We’ve all come back from the holidays, and we’ve all returned to our routine and schedules. That translates into the fact that another year has come and gone and I feel like I’m getting older, because it gets harder every year to go back to normalcy. However, this also means that I’m enjoying everything that I do, and so I’ve made the most of the summer and loved every second of it. Maybe that’s why returning to “school” is hard, but when I stepped into the agency, went into my office, and saw my bookcase filled with successful book and heaps of them waiting to be published this autumn – waiting to become great sellers-, my adrenaline kicked in and I thought: how lucky I am to be working in something that truly speaks to me and makes me happy. So, I put away the nostalgia I had felt and I thought that I have to keep enjoying every second, with whatever it brings, be it the new books of the season or the smell of autumn.

The first book I want to recommend to you is special for many reasons, the first one being because her author, Coia Valls, is one of the best writers I have the pleasure to represent. She’s also one of the best people I know and that I can call friend, and this book -a small gem- deals with a topic that she’s clearly passionate about: empathy. This works wonders for her, as she’s also one of the most emphatic people I know.

However, having empathy isn’t easy, nor it is to define what exactly empathy is. The most accepted definition would be: TO KNOW HOW TO PUT YOURSELF IN SOMEBODY’S SHOES. Have you ever thought how many times have you ever truly done that? It’s a very interesting thought, because there are jobs, such as mine, in which almost every day I have to put myself in someone else’s shoes and try to understand why they do what they do -let me assure you that it’s not easy, but it’s very fulfilling. Coia’s book, called SI TÚ ME ESCUCHAS (‘If you listen to me’), has reminded me of what it is that I do every day. A good friend, also a writer, once told me that without having empathy I couldn’t be an agent and, maybe, he’s right.

John Cavage is the typical successful American man: a young family father with an amazing job, who has overcome any obstacle that life has thrown at him without having to ask for anything to anyone, without having to empathize with other people’s miseries. But the foul play of a colleague who wants his position leaves him without a job and that will force him to look beyond himself. When John is pushed to accept a job as a commercial to maintain his family, he realizes his lack of empathy nullifies him as a person, that there’s something lacking in all his relationships. Luckily, a friend of his will tell him about a mysterious course, done via regular post that will change his life. Stepping into someone else’s shoes opens up a window that maybe you’d have never opened otherwise. To try to understand who you’ve got in front you is a pending task for most of us, and it takes work, but it can be highly satisfying as well. Therefore, this treasure that Coia has to offer to us is the ideal book with which you can treat yourself. Give it, as well, to those who you truly love, because it’s a life lesson, beautifully written by an author who never forgets the most important thing: to smile to her readers. Happy reading!