Search SFE    Search EoF

  Omit cross-reference entries  

Robles, Lola

Entry updated 12 July 2023. Tagged: Author.

(1963-    ) Spanish writer, essayist and editor. She has published six sf novels and novellas, three essay books, a collection, and about thirty short stories; in addition, she has written some books on Feminism. She has contributed to more than twenty magazines and anthologies with stories and articles. Since 2006, she has run Fantástikas, a science fiction workshop from a feminist perspective.

Her early books have a strong anthropological approach, in the style of Ursula K. Le Guin. La rosa de las nieblas ["The Rose of the Mists"] (1999) shows a clash of cultures between navigators sent on a mission to a remote world and the native feudal society. El informe Monteverde [Monteverde: Memoirs of an Interstellar Linguist] (2005) follows the travels of a Terran scholar on a paradise planet shared by two barely related species, one of them a mysterious people whose congenital blindness forces them to live isolated in caves. Yabarí ["Yabarí"] (2017) is a tribute to The Word for World is Forest (1976) by Le Guin: a journalist arrives in a jungle world and is willing to tell the truth about the companies that exploit the planet.

On the other hand, Flores de metal ["Metal Flowers"] (2007) is a simply correct cyberpunk and El árbol de Sefarad ["The Tree of Sepharad"] (2018) shows a hypothetical reunification of Israel and Palestine under the same flag. Her latest book is Más allá de Concordia ["Beyond Concordia"] (2023), a novella that shows another clash of cultures between an advanced and almost utopian world, and three refugees from a violent and patriarchal planet, centred on the consequences of a rite in which some virgin girls decide – for their own safety or because they are forced – to become men.

In the field of literary research, she has specialized in Spanish science fiction and fantasy female authors, feminism and queer theory. She took part in Ensayos sobre ciencia ficción y literatura fantástica: Primer Congreso Internacional de literatura fantástica y ciencia ficción en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ["Essays on Science Fiction and Fantastic Literature: First International Congress on Fantastic Literature and Science Fiction at Carlos III University of Madrid"] (anth 2009, ed Teresa López-Pellisa and Fernando Ángel Moreno) and other important academic works.

Her essay En regiones extrañas: un mapa de la ciencia ficción, lo fantástico y lo maravilloso ["Into Strange Regions: A Map of Science Fiction, the Fantastic, and the Wonderful"] (2016) won the Ignotus Award and in that year she won a second Ignotus for an article on Spanish science fiction women writers. Shortly after, she published a historical anthology of Spanish science fiction female writers in two volumes: Distópicas ["Dystopias"] (2018) and Poshumanas ["Posthumans"] (2018). Infiltradas ["Infiltrated"] (2019), also winner of the Ignotus Award, assembles essays that focus from a feminist perspective on issues related to science fiction, fantasy and horror in Spain.

Lola Robles is a social activist who defines herself as a feminist, pacifist and queer person. Her narrative does not have a high literary quality but a philosophical one; in it, she poses ethical issues related to the defense of human rights, coexistence and the difficulty in building a personal and collective identity. Some of her most outstanding stories are LGTBI, such as "Savitri" ["Savitri"] (in Dos orillas: voces en la narrativa lesbiana, anth 2008, ed Minerva Salado), "Deirdre" ["Deirdre"] (in Terra Nova, anth 2012, ed Mariano Villarreal and Luis Pestarini) or "El sueño de la nieve" ["The Snow Dream"] (in Ábreme con cuidado, anth 2015). In addition, her literary researches have contributed to the visibility and dissemination of many Spanish science fiction female writers.

In 2020 she was honoured with the Gabriel Award by the Spanish Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror Association. [MV]

Lola Robles

born Madrid, Spain: 17 September 1963

works

collections

nonfiction

works as editor

links

previous versions of this entry



x
This website uses cookies.  More information here. Accept Cookies