She presented her first novel “Estela” published by the ISIC
For me, writing has been a challenge and I really like challenges, although sometimes they are frustrating, said Fanny Orrantia Dworak excitedly during the presentation of her novel “Estela”, published by the Instituto Sinaloense de Cultura.
Surrounded by a wide audience – some had already read the book – made up of readers, family and friends, the new Mazatlecan writer confessed that she never thought that her work would be chosen to be edited and published by the Instituto Sinaloense de Cultura.
“The truth is that I never thought they would publish a book for me, in my fifties, a housewife, with a peaceful life, it gave me a lot of joy, especially for one reason, because writing is a solitary action, so this is the moment in that I can share it with the people who live with me, my daughter Lucía and my husband,” she emphasized.
The author highlighted that it gives her excitement to be able to share what she enjoys so much about herself and for her family to see that there is something specific, as a result of those hours that she locks herself in her room to write every day.
“Let them see something concrete about what I wrote,” she emphasized during the presentation of her book, which coincided with the celebration of the 19th anniversary of the La Casa del Caracol bookstore, so that night the joy was double.
Fanny Orrantia was presented by Laura Medina, who has directed La Casa del Caracol since its creation, which in addition to reading clubs has formed a new generation of readers who began in her workshops as children and today are young adults interested in literature.
“First I am going to thank the Instituto de Cultura, Raúl Rico who has always had faith in this project, and the ISIC of course,” said the cultural promoter as she began her participation in the presentation of “Estela” and then referred to its author.
“Fanny knows that writing a book, in addition to discipline, requires a lot of will, studying, reading, taking a workshop to learn to narrate requires many things, patience, dedication, time to start doing things well, writing is a commitment that not everyone we can comply,” he mentioned.
She then left the microphone to the writer of “Estela” to talk about her love for reading and studying.
“I could be an eternal student, I would be happy studying all the time, so the (creative writing) workshop has those two things, it is a challenge and it is learning and the truth is that both things fit me like a glove, now I am More interested in reading, I study a little what I read precisely to be able to generate better texts,” she said.
When talking about the origin of “Estela”, – presented within the framework of the Festival Cultural Mazatlán 2023, Fanny Orrantia expressed that the novel began with an image in her mind and when the time came to have to write a new text, in her head saw two lovers saying goodbye in the early morning without knowing that they would see each other again.
“And that unoriginal image had me very excited because it had the mystery that I did not know what was before or after this story, I was discovering it as I was writing and well it is like taking a trip to a unknown place, that had me very excited.”
Before dozens of readers, Orrantia clarified that the characters in her story are not relatives or friends of hers and do not reflect her life, although the novel takes place in Mazatlán. Regarding the name, she said she chose “Estela” because she likes its sound and the aesthetics of writing it without an h.
She also talked about the organization and planning phase (of a book) that can generate frustration, because if she compares the original idea she had with what was published, it can be said that the shell is there.
“The same love triangle continues, we have Estela who was a married woman; Hernán who was a single, divorced man and another man who was a friend of both of them.”
During the presentation of the novel, the author shared what the creation process was like and clarified that she never considered Estela as a narrator because she wanted her to preserve that halo of mystery, she wanted the reader to read the text and imagine Estela’s motives, to act as she acted, or not to act as she did on many occasions in the text. Let each reader give their interpretation.
During her dissertation Orrantia Dworak shared that she has been writing formally and constantly for seven years and she belongs to a creative writing workshop led by maestro Mario González Suárez, who accompanied her during the presentation of her debut work.
A round of questions and answers sealed this very endearing night for the author of “Estela” who was accompanied by her husband Rafael Dominguez Kelly and her daughter Lucía, among other special guests.
