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Linguistic Biographies And Patuka Press In Joint Book Launch

04 October 2024
Linguistic Biographies And Patuka Press In Joint Book Launch

A joint book launch was held yesterday evening in The Wine Shop on Main Street. An academic book featuring the linguistic biographies of Gibraltarians was presented by Professor Elena Seoane from the University of Vigo. Three publications released over the last two years by Patuka Press were also launched. 

‘Gibraltarians and their Language’ comprises 22 linguistic biographies written by Gibraltarians. The book was edited by a team of academics, including the Gibraltarian writer Mark Sanchez, Professor Elena Seoane (University of Vigo) and Professors Cristina Suárez-Gómez and Lucía Loureiro-Porto (University of the Balearic Islands).

Speaking at the launch, Professor Seoane said: “From an academic standpoint, Gibraltarians have been the subject of many studies, but their own voices have seldom been heard when it comes to expressing their thoughts on language. This book aims to change that. For the first time in academic history, Gibraltarians are being given a platform to openly share, in their own words, what language means to them—their personal connections to Llanito, Spanish, and English. And we are deeply grateful to all 22 contributors, some of whom are here now.”

She concluded: "By presenting the linguistic biographies of Gibraltarians from all walks of life, this book challenges outdated attitudes and misconceptions about Llanito. It shows, once and for all, that Llanito is a rich, distinctive language worthy of respect, recognition, and preservation.”

The book is now on sale at the Heritage Trust shop.

Giordano Durante, one of the founders of Patuka Press, an independent, self-funding publisher of local literature, explained how the press was set up by him together with Gabriel Moreno, Jonathan Teuma and Mark Sanchez. 

He said: “From the very beginning we wanted to produce a regular literary journal to showcase stories, poems, memoirs and non-fiction by Gibraltarian writers and we wanted this journal to be independent and self-funding. This was important to us because we wanted complete creative freedom.”

Sophie Macdonald, Patuka’s co-editor, said: “There has been a growing focus on Llanito — as our language and our heritage — and Patuka Press endeavours to help preserve Llanito through literary forms. We encourage writing in Llanito and call on writers to freely express themselves in whichever language they choose. Patuka aims to promote Gibraltarian writing and we will continue to call on Gibraltarian writers to put their best creative foot forward!”

The three published editions by Patuka — ‘Shit Jobs’, ‘Borders and Boundaries’ and ‘Llanito’ — are on sale in the Heritage Trust shop and BookGem. The press renewed its call for submissions for its next edition on the theme of the ‘Upper Town’. 

There were readings from short stories published by Patuka from Rebecca Calderon, Jackie Anderson and Jackie Villa. Two extracts from the linguistic biographies were read by Humbert Hernandez and Claire Trinidad.