Gibraltarian writer Humbert Hernandez delivered an online presentation earlier today to third year students at the University of Vigo, Spain.

The purpose of the talk was to give students direct contact with the work and opinions of a Gibraltarian writer while also gaining an insight into how Llanito has evolved during Hernandez’s lifetime.

The talk started with an overview of the linguistic and social makeup of Gibraltar with Hernandez arguing that what is spoken in Gibraltar was “most definitely not Spanglish; it is Llanito, a mark of our identity.”

During a biographical sketch, Hernandez explained that Spanish “was the language of my heart” while growing up in 1940/50s Gibraltar. He said he found that speaking English was “a trial”, with fluency only coming later on in his teens via his engagement with amateur dramatics. 

Hernandez also touched on his fight against military conscription which landed him in jail. He said “I am immovable if I believe I am in the right” later adding: “It was very clear to me that the law is not the same as justice…”

Turning to the poetry collections and volumes of short stories he has published since retiring as a teacher, Hernandez said he had moulded his experiences of growing up and living in Gibraltar into fiction. 

He told the students that he considers it important to write stories about our civilian way of life, a region of experience “often frowned upon by the colonial authorities.” He said he aimed to give a voice to the joys and misfortunes of ordinary people, in writing that often exposed uncomfortable truths - a “warts and all” approach. 

Hernandez also talked about his language choices when coming to write prose and poetry. As one of the few Spanish prose writers in contemporary Gibraltar, he explained that one of the reasons he chose this language was the sheer power of its swear words.

Hinting at future publications, Hernandez said that a fifth volume of 20 short stories in the Historias de Gibraltar series is due out soon as is his first novel, titled Luciano, which promises to be a moving tale of a Gibraltarian in London in 1970. 

The presentation was followed by a lively question and answer session, with Hernandez replying to many written questions submitted by students in advance.

Elena Seone, the Professor in the Department of English, French and German of the Faculty of Philology and Translation at the University of Vigo who hosted the talk, said: “It’s been fantastic to host this online talk with Humbert Hernandez. Within the topic of World Englishes and multilingualism, our students have been exploring Llanito and the linguistic landscape of Gibraltar, in which Llanito coexists with Gibraltar English, while Spanish has decayed. To hear first-hand from a Gibraltarian writer about his relationship to these languages has undoubtedly enriched their learning experience.”