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Wilder Winds
In Wilder Winds, writer and translator Bel Olid presents a stunning collection of short stories that draw on notions of individual freedom, abuses of power, ingrained social violence, life on the outskirts of society, and inevitable differences. Alongside these they place small acts of kindness capable of changing the world and making it a better place. Like a flower that stubbornly grows and blooms in the cracks of the pavement. Olid’s work seeks out beauty without renouncing truth, and never avoids conflict or intimacy. Wilder Winds creates scenes and fragile, yet hardy characters that will stay with the reader for years to come.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
79 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2016
7 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Bel Olid
113 books78 followersBel Olid (Mataró, Maresme, 1977) is a writer, translator and literature and creative writing teacher.
They have been very active as a translator into Catalan and, to a lesser extent, into Spanish, mainly of children's books, from German, English, French, Italian and Spanish.
They became known as an author in 2010 when they received the Documenta Prize for their novel Una terra solitària and the Rovelló Essay Prize for their study Les heroïnes contrataquen. Models literaris contra l'universal masculí a la literatura infantil i juvenil. Two years later they received the Roc Boronat Prize for La mala reputació, a collection of short stories which was very well received by readers and critics alike. In 2016 they published another short stories collection, Vents més salvatges, the picture book Gegantíssima and they were awarded the Apel·les Mestres Prize for Viure amb la Hilda (i els seus inconvenients). In Vides aturades (2017) they portray the testimony of people seeking refuge in Europe. In Feminisme de butxaca, kit de supervivència (2017), which reached its fourth edition within a year, they reflect on gender discrimination in our society. In 2018 they published their first book of poems, in a bilingual edition Catalan-Spanish: Ferida, udol, viatge, illa, in 2019 Follem? De què (no) parlem quan parlem de sexualitats, and in 2020 A contrapel: O per què trencar el cercle de depilació, submisió i autoodi.
Bel Olid regularly collaborates in many branches of the cultural media and written press. They were president of CEATL (European Council of Literary Translators' Associations, 2013-2015), and, from March 2015 to March 2022, president of Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC – Association of Catalan Language Writers).
They have been very active as a translator into Catalan and, to a lesser extent, into Spanish, mainly of children's books, from German, English, French, Italian and Spanish.
They became known as an author in 2010 when they received the Documenta Prize for their novel Una terra solitària and the Rovelló Essay Prize for their study Les heroïnes contrataquen. Models literaris contra l'universal masculí a la literatura infantil i juvenil. Two years later they received the Roc Boronat Prize for La mala reputació, a collection of short stories which was very well received by readers and critics alike. In 2016 they published another short stories collection, Vents més salvatges, the picture book Gegantíssima and they were awarded the Apel·les Mestres Prize for Viure amb la Hilda (i els seus inconvenients). In Vides aturades (2017) they portray the testimony of people seeking refuge in Europe. In Feminisme de butxaca, kit de supervivència (2017), which reached its fourth edition within a year, they reflect on gender discrimination in our society. In 2018 they published their first book of poems, in a bilingual edition Catalan-Spanish: Ferida, udol, viatge, illa, in 2019 Follem? De què (no) parlem quan parlem de sexualitats, and in 2020 A contrapel: O per què trencar el cercle de depilació, submisió i autoodi.
Bel Olid regularly collaborates in many branches of the cultural media and written press. They were president of CEATL (European Council of Literary Translators' Associations, 2013-2015), and, from March 2015 to March 2022, president of Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC – Association of Catalan Language Writers).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 28, 2022
This is a provocative collection from Catalan writer Bel Olid, translated by Laura McGloughlin. Although a slim 70-some pages, the volume includes 16 stories. Many of these were quite interesting. Perhaps this would have been better if the best, say, 5-10 stories were developed further and everything else dropped. At times, this felt like a collection of story starters rather than fully realized stories. This is perhaps in keeping with Olid’s background as a poet where stories are evoked and plenty is left unsaid.
January 22, 2022
January 21, 2022 Update Added a few italized comments in [square brackets] with additional background information from yesterday's excellent book release event on Zoom with author Bel Olid and translator Laura McGloughlin organized by Southampton's independent bookshop October Books.
Powerful & Moving Shorts
Review of the Fum d'Estampa paperback (January 2022) translated by Laura McGloughlin from the Catalan language original Els vents més salvatges (March 2016)
I'll declare my bias immediately that due to my own Baltic Estonian heritage my rating is motivated by this book having stories related to several national independence movements or peoples' uprisings. In microcosm, the other stories have the same resonance, with their tales of individual coming of age, childhood struggles, sexual awakening, relationship issues, women's identity and safety, immigration and refugees.
The stories and the book are short, 16 stories in 79 pages, but it is all the more impactful for that. I did notice that the Catalan original is 144* pages, but all 16 original stories are translated in this English language edition, so the difference must be due to spacing [This was confirmed at yesterday's online book release event, although author Bel Olid did say that Catalan texts are about 15% longer than their English language equivalents]. The Fum d'Estampa Press edition is tightly packed, without blank separating pages between stories.
Story synopses:
1. She's A Woman A young girl/woman has encounters in a household where she is temporarily staying with her aunt which influence her perceptions of life forever after.
2. Static A young woman drives to her mother's birthday while remembering the comfort that the white noise of early onscreen TV screen static gave to her in childhood.
3. Sea of Maimunà A young girl travels along with her aunt, who volunteers at a refugee camp whose inhabitants live in shipping containers. She makes friends with a refugee girl named Maimunà.
4. Anna, Anne, Anna A woman remembers her childhood and her attachment to an abandoned tattered copy of The Diary of Anne Frank which she picked up off the street. Her mother told her "That book is for adults... Don't read it anymore." After her mother throws the book away, even later in life when she could have obtained another copy, instead:
6. Windows A woman becomes obsessed with observing a neighbour through her windows.
7. Red While scavenging for food in the midst of an unidentified city's wartime siege, a young girl becomes fixated by the scene of a woman giving birth in the ruins.
9. Sybille The protagonist becomes an apprentice to a shoemaker named Sybille, and in turn seeks to mentor their own successor.
10. Plus Ultra Probably the most difficult story to define and understand. Appears to be a science fiction tale of a future world where most of humanity has been eradicated by the immortal survivors who gather frozen relics of life.
11. Linda Vignettes of three women in reaction to cat-calling on the street.
12. Invisible The protagonist travels (while fare-jumping) from their room to their factory job in a warehouse district and thinks about the "city where every day so many people live without living."
13. Three A woman looks back on her life and her own three children after she has retired from her job as a supervisor in a prison nursery where the children of inmates are sent away for adoption when they turn the age of three.
14. Sand Through Her Fingers A woman takes a teaching job to language/learning challenged children (possibly refugee children?) at a beach town away from her own family. She swims at the beach in her free time and lets the sand run through her fingers while remembering her own childhood.
16. Dainuojanti Revoliucija (Lithuanian: Singing Revolution) Vignettes of several of the martyr families and some participants of the Lithuanian Singing Revolution (1987-1991) in the Baltic States. Specifically the events of Bloody Sunday January 13, 1991 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
I read Wilder Winds as the December 2021 selection from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month (BotM) club. Subscriptions to the BotM support the annual Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers.
Trivia and Links
* You can examine an excerpt from the original Catalan edition including its index page at the publisher Editorial Empúries' site here.
If you are reading this before January 20, 2022 you can still register for the (free) book release event for Wilder Winds organized by Fum d'Estampa Press and October Books on Eventbrite here.
As far as I can determine, Wilder Winds is the first published English language translation of a work by Bel Olid, but there is another one coming up very shortly, the non-fiction based Hairless: Breaking the Vicious Circle of Hair Removal, Submission and Self-Hatred (expected publication May 2022), also translated by Laura McGloughlin from the Catalan original A contrapelo. O por qué romper el círculo de depilación, sumisión y autoodio (November 2020).
[Not related to Wilder Winds, but author Bel Olid talked about how readers' interpretations would often differ from author's intents. An example given was the story Casa Tomada (House Taken Over) by Julio Cortazar which was read as a political allegory by readers. The story can be found in the English translation collection [book:Blow-Up and Other Stories|53410]]
Powerful & Moving Shorts
Review of the Fum d'Estampa paperback (January 2022) translated by Laura McGloughlin from the Catalan language original Els vents més salvatges (March 2016)
I'll declare my bias immediately that due to my own Baltic Estonian heritage my rating is motivated by this book having stories related to several national independence movements or peoples' uprisings. In microcosm, the other stories have the same resonance, with their tales of individual coming of age, childhood struggles, sexual awakening, relationship issues, women's identity and safety, immigration and refugees.
The stories and the book are short, 16 stories in 79 pages, but it is all the more impactful for that. I did notice that the Catalan original is 144* pages, but all 16 original stories are translated in this English language edition, so the difference must be due to spacing [This was confirmed at yesterday's online book release event, although author Bel Olid did say that Catalan texts are about 15% longer than their English language equivalents]. The Fum d'Estampa Press edition is tightly packed, without blank separating pages between stories.
Story synopses:
1. She's A Woman A young girl/woman has encounters in a household where she is temporarily staying with her aunt which influence her perceptions of life forever after.
2. Static A young woman drives to her mother's birthday while remembering the comfort that the white noise of early onscreen TV screen static gave to her in childhood.
3. Sea of Maimunà A young girl travels along with her aunt, who volunteers at a refugee camp whose inhabitants live in shipping containers. She makes friends with a refugee girl named Maimunà.
4. Anna, Anne, Anna A woman remembers her childhood and her attachment to an abandoned tattered copy of The Diary of Anne Frank which she picked up off the street. Her mother told her "That book is for adults... Don't read it anymore." After her mother throws the book away, even later in life when she could have obtained another copy, instead:
But I preferred not to. There are memories that shine like a brand-new coin on the pavement when touched by the midday sun and you, walking with your head bowed and looking at the ground, wake up suddenly, pick it up and feel you are very lucky. That, I still carry in my pocket.
[At yesterday's online book release event, author Bel Olid said that this story was based on their own childhood experience.]5. Baba Luba (Ukrainian: Granny Luba). An older woman joins the protesters of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution (2004/05) at the Maidan (Independence Square) while carrying a mirror to reflect the images of the regime's enforcement troops back on to themselves.
6. Windows A woman becomes obsessed with observing a neighbour through her windows.
7. Red While scavenging for food in the midst of an unidentified city's wartime siege, a young girl becomes fixated by the scene of a woman giving birth in the ruins.
[At yesterday's online book release event, author Bel Olid said that this story was inspired the Siege of Barcelona during the War of Spanish Succession 1714.]8. Wild Flowers Gabriela travels to an isolated rural house left to her by her grandmother where she paints and gathers flowers. She returns to Lisbon where she meets her partner Arnaldo in the midst of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution (1974).
9. Sybille The protagonist becomes an apprentice to a shoemaker named Sybille, and in turn seeks to mentor their own successor.
10. Plus Ultra Probably the most difficult story to define and understand. Appears to be a science fiction tale of a future world where most of humanity has been eradicated by the immortal survivors who gather frozen relics of life.
11. Linda Vignettes of three women in reaction to cat-calling on the street.
12. Invisible The protagonist travels (while fare-jumping) from their room to their factory job in a warehouse district and thinks about the "city where every day so many people live without living."
13. Three A woman looks back on her life and her own three children after she has retired from her job as a supervisor in a prison nursery where the children of inmates are sent away for adoption when they turn the age of three.
14. Sand Through Her Fingers A woman takes a teaching job to language/learning challenged children (possibly refugee children?) at a beach town away from her own family. She swims at the beach in her free time and lets the sand run through her fingers while remembering her own childhood.
[At yesterday's online book release event, author Bel Olid clarified that the school was inside a prison for juveniles, which I hadn't picked up on as some outside trips were allowed.]15. Cabaret In an interview, a woman laments her life after being required to lose weight after a heart attack.
16. Dainuojanti Revoliucija (Lithuanian: Singing Revolution) Vignettes of several of the martyr families and some participants of the Lithuanian Singing Revolution (1987-1991) in the Baltic States. Specifically the events of Bloody Sunday January 13, 1991 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
I read Wilder Winds as the December 2021 selection from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month (BotM) club. Subscriptions to the BotM support the annual Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers.
Trivia and Links
* You can examine an excerpt from the original Catalan edition including its index page at the publisher Editorial Empúries' site here.
If you are reading this before January 20, 2022 you can still register for the (free) book release event for Wilder Winds organized by Fum d'Estampa Press and October Books on Eventbrite here.
As far as I can determine, Wilder Winds is the first published English language translation of a work by Bel Olid, but there is another one coming up very shortly, the non-fiction based Hairless: Breaking the Vicious Circle of Hair Removal, Submission and Self-Hatred (expected publication May 2022), also translated by Laura McGloughlin from the Catalan original A contrapelo. O por qué romper el círculo de depilación, sumisión y autoodio (November 2020).
[Not related to Wilder Winds, but author Bel Olid talked about how readers' interpretations would often differ from author's intents. An example given was the story Casa Tomada (House Taken Over) by Julio Cortazar which was read as a political allegory by readers. The story can be found in the English translation collection [book:Blow-Up and Other Stories|53410]]
January 2, 2022
Wilder Winds is Laura McLoughlin's translation of Bel Olid's Els vents més salvatges (2016).
This is the last book for 2021 from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month book club which showcases the finest fiction from UK & Irish small presses. Sign up here - https://www.republicofconsciousness.c... - you won't regret it.
The book is published by Fum d'Estampa Press:
Wilder Winds is a collection of short-stories, almost sketches, 16 of them in just 71 pages, with barely a wasted word, indeed in interviews in Catalan the author has said (google-translated) that if if something can be said with five words, "better not use eight." The literary agent's preview of the book pre-translation described the collection perfectly:
The first story She's a Woman (interestingly also called that in the Catalan original) is a good example, with the narrator recalling an incident she was a child. Her mother was in hospital, seriously ill, and she was left in the care of her Aunt. Her Aunt lived in as a maid with a richer family, and she was invited to stay there and to play with the daughter of the family. Rather intimidated by the luxury of the house, she seeks refuge in the bathroom only to interrupt the mistress of the house shaving her armpits, her calm reaction to the intrusion making a strong impression:
Sempre més he trucat a les portes abans d'aven-turar-me a obrir-les, sempre més he entrat als lava-bos de les cases alienes temorosa i expectant. Sempre més m'ha fascinat la meva pròpia imatge al mirall, despullada, quan m'afaito les aixelles. Sempre més aquella música ha fet olor de fruita, de pell de seda, de mort de fons a punt d'esdevenir-se.
Since then I've always knocked on doors before daring to open them, since then I've slways entered the bathrooms of unfamiliar houses both nervous and hopeful. Since then I've always been fascinated with my own undressed image in the mirror when I shave my armpits. Since then that music has always had the scent of fruit, of skin like silk, of pending death in the background.
Other stories have a similar flavour (such as Static; Anna, Anne, Anna; Sybille; Invisbible; and Windows) although this is a varied collection, Plus Ultra essentially science-fiction, imagining an afterlive among beings who save those who are dying from the cold, and Cabaret by a former star who weighed in at 140kgs but has had to drastically lose weight after she had a heart attack.
Three stories are set at times of peaceful (at least on the revolutionaries' side) uprisings. Although dates aren’t given in the stories, from the details Daiauojanti Revoliucija is set during the January 1991 events in Vilnius, Lithuania, Baba Luba in the February 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, and Wild Flowers in the April 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon. A 4th, Red, is set during an unspecified siege of a city.
And another theme is that of children incarcarated for various reasons. Sea of Maimuna is set in a refugee centre in Malta, Three in a young children’s unit in a women’s prison, and Sand Through Her Fingers in another centre for migrants.
The strongest story is perhaps Linda, whose 5 pages manage to cover three narratives set in Santa Rosa (Venezuela), the Sababell district of Barcelona and Brooklyn, New York. Three women fight back against cat calling, literally in one case (a woman shooting two men - I think possibly based on a true story) and artistically in another, fictionalising the Stop Telling Women to Smile of street artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh.
Overall, an interesting and relatively varied collection. Its length did leave me a little unfulfilled and I hope to see some of the author's novels translated in due course.
3.5 stars
This is the last book for 2021 from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month book club which showcases the finest fiction from UK & Irish small presses. Sign up here - https://www.republicofconsciousness.c... - you won't regret it.
The book is published by Fum d'Estampa Press:
Brought to fruition in 2019, Fum d’Estampa Press brings award-winning Catalan language poetry, fiction and essays to English translation. We work with some of the most exciting and well-known translators to bring English-language readers the very best in European translated literature in books that are beautiful to both read and hold.
Wilder Winds is a collection of short-stories, almost sketches, 16 of them in just 71 pages, with barely a wasted word, indeed in interviews in Catalan the author has said (google-translated) that if if something can be said with five words, "better not use eight." The literary agent's preview of the book pre-translation described the collection perfectly:
The short stories that make up Vents més salvatges are about individual freedoms, the abuse of power, the social machinery of violence, the life that beats at the margins of society, the unavoidable differences and also about those small acts of kindness that help to change the world and make it a better place to live.
The first story She's a Woman (interestingly also called that in the Catalan original) is a good example, with the narrator recalling an incident she was a child. Her mother was in hospital, seriously ill, and she was left in the care of her Aunt. Her Aunt lived in as a maid with a richer family, and she was invited to stay there and to play with the daughter of the family. Rather intimidated by the luxury of the house, she seeks refuge in the bathroom only to interrupt the mistress of the house shaving her armpits, her calm reaction to the intrusion making a strong impression:
Sempre més he trucat a les portes abans d'aven-turar-me a obrir-les, sempre més he entrat als lava-bos de les cases alienes temorosa i expectant. Sempre més m'ha fascinat la meva pròpia imatge al mirall, despullada, quan m'afaito les aixelles. Sempre més aquella música ha fet olor de fruita, de pell de seda, de mort de fons a punt d'esdevenir-se.
Since then I've always knocked on doors before daring to open them, since then I've slways entered the bathrooms of unfamiliar houses both nervous and hopeful. Since then I've always been fascinated with my own undressed image in the mirror when I shave my armpits. Since then that music has always had the scent of fruit, of skin like silk, of pending death in the background.
Other stories have a similar flavour (such as Static; Anna, Anne, Anna; Sybille; Invisbible; and Windows) although this is a varied collection, Plus Ultra essentially science-fiction, imagining an afterlive among beings who save those who are dying from the cold, and Cabaret by a former star who weighed in at 140kgs but has had to drastically lose weight after she had a heart attack.
Three stories are set at times of peaceful (at least on the revolutionaries' side) uprisings. Although dates aren’t given in the stories, from the details Daiauojanti Revoliucija is set during the January 1991 events in Vilnius, Lithuania, Baba Luba in the February 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, and Wild Flowers in the April 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon. A 4th, Red, is set during an unspecified siege of a city.
And another theme is that of children incarcarated for various reasons. Sea of Maimuna is set in a refugee centre in Malta, Three in a young children’s unit in a women’s prison, and Sand Through Her Fingers in another centre for migrants.
The strongest story is perhaps Linda, whose 5 pages manage to cover three narratives set in Santa Rosa (Venezuela), the Sababell district of Barcelona and Brooklyn, New York. Three women fight back against cat calling, literally in one case (a woman shooting two men - I think possibly based on a true story) and artistically in another, fictionalising the Stop Telling Women to Smile of street artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh.
Overall, an interesting and relatively varied collection. Its length did leave me a little unfulfilled and I hope to see some of the author's novels translated in due course.
3.5 stars
January 6, 2022
I received this book as part of my subscription to The Republic of Consciousness Book Club. This book club is an excellent way to discover new small presses publishing exciting books, although if, like me, you also subscribe to a number of small presses individually, it does also mean duplicate copies of some books. For me, that’s a price worth paying for the new books I get and for the support that goes to the prize.
This book comes from Fum D’Estampa Press. On their website we read:
Brought to fruition in 2019, Fum d’Estampa Press brings award-winning Catalan language poetry, fiction and essays to English translation. We work with some of the most exciting and well-known translators to bring English-language readers the very best in European translated literature in books that are beautiful to both read and hold.
And this book is a collection of short stories (translated by Laura McGloughlin) which that same website goes on to say draw on notions of individual freedom, abuses of power, ingrained social violence, life on the outskirts of society, and inevitable differences. It has to be said that “short” here really does mean short: 16 stories in 71 pages means that none of them outstays its welcome. In fact, for me I think many of them were really too short and I wish they had been longer. I think it’s fair to say that these stories capture individual scenes rather than telling us complete stories.
Many of the stories relate ordinary episodes. In the very first story a young girl opens a bathroom door to find the owner of the house disrobed and shaving her armpits, for example. Others have a more surreal or fantastical element to them, such as Plus Ultra which I had to read twice and I’m still not sure I know what was going on!
Having said that the stories felt too short for my taste, it’s interesting that my two favourite stories, Linda and Dainuojanti Revoliucija (Singing Revolution), both work by telling groups of much shorter stories: Linda is set in three different locations and the other has four different narrators taking a turn. It could be the subject matter of each that made them the most powerful for me.
Overall this is an interesting collection of episodes that never quite caught fire for me, although that is probably a reflection of my reading tastes and isn’t a reflection of the quality of the writing/translation.
This book comes from Fum D’Estampa Press. On their website we read:
Brought to fruition in 2019, Fum d’Estampa Press brings award-winning Catalan language poetry, fiction and essays to English translation. We work with some of the most exciting and well-known translators to bring English-language readers the very best in European translated literature in books that are beautiful to both read and hold.
And this book is a collection of short stories (translated by Laura McGloughlin) which that same website goes on to say draw on notions of individual freedom, abuses of power, ingrained social violence, life on the outskirts of society, and inevitable differences. It has to be said that “short” here really does mean short: 16 stories in 71 pages means that none of them outstays its welcome. In fact, for me I think many of them were really too short and I wish they had been longer. I think it’s fair to say that these stories capture individual scenes rather than telling us complete stories.
Many of the stories relate ordinary episodes. In the very first story a young girl opens a bathroom door to find the owner of the house disrobed and shaving her armpits, for example. Others have a more surreal or fantastical element to them, such as Plus Ultra which I had to read twice and I’m still not sure I know what was going on!
Having said that the stories felt too short for my taste, it’s interesting that my two favourite stories, Linda and Dainuojanti Revoliucija (Singing Revolution), both work by telling groups of much shorter stories: Linda is set in three different locations and the other has four different narrators taking a turn. It could be the subject matter of each that made them the most powerful for me.
Overall this is an interesting collection of episodes that never quite caught fire for me, although that is probably a reflection of my reading tastes and isn’t a reflection of the quality of the writing/translation.
January 11, 2022
A slim volume of short stories.
Wilder Winds is a wonderful collection, flawlessly translated by Laura McGloughlin.
It is an exquisite, almost physically painful read with an iterative image of water, redolent of birth, baptism and cleansing woven into many of the stories so that they almost seem to wash away the reader’s delusions and self-deceptions, giving them an insight into the live of those on the edges of society so sensitively portrayed by Bel Olid.
The author brings to the forefront of the reader’s consciousness those aspects of life they often only half acknowledge – brutality, homelessness, refugees for example – and makes them real and vivid. What Bel Olid does in Wilder Winds is to hold up a mirror to society in exactly the way Baba Luba does, making that character a metaphor for the entire collection. Alongside the challenging aspects of life, such as racism and prejudice, the stories are balanced by tenderness, burgeoning sexuality and a wistful longing so that they draw in the reader completely.
Whilst some of these stories are only a few paragraphs long, Bel Olid imbues them with emotion and true to life, fully rounded characters that the reader cares about making Wilder Winds as important a book as it is an engaging and entertaining one.
Intense and intelligent, interesting and affecting, Wilder Winds resonates with the reader in countless ways. It’s difficult to convey how impressive the writing actually is, but I thoroughly recommend this humane and humanising collection.
Wilder Winds is a wonderful collection, flawlessly translated by Laura McGloughlin.
It is an exquisite, almost physically painful read with an iterative image of water, redolent of birth, baptism and cleansing woven into many of the stories so that they almost seem to wash away the reader’s delusions and self-deceptions, giving them an insight into the live of those on the edges of society so sensitively portrayed by Bel Olid.
The author brings to the forefront of the reader’s consciousness those aspects of life they often only half acknowledge – brutality, homelessness, refugees for example – and makes them real and vivid. What Bel Olid does in Wilder Winds is to hold up a mirror to society in exactly the way Baba Luba does, making that character a metaphor for the entire collection. Alongside the challenging aspects of life, such as racism and prejudice, the stories are balanced by tenderness, burgeoning sexuality and a wistful longing so that they draw in the reader completely.
Whilst some of these stories are only a few paragraphs long, Bel Olid imbues them with emotion and true to life, fully rounded characters that the reader cares about making Wilder Winds as important a book as it is an engaging and entertaining one.
Intense and intelligent, interesting and affecting, Wilder Winds resonates with the reader in countless ways. It’s difficult to convey how impressive the writing actually is, but I thoroughly recommend this humane and humanising collection.
May 30, 2022
Details are funny things, They seem insignificant when compared to the big picture, they are overlooked, even skipped as deemed unimportant and yet that detail can solve a mystery, and serve as a link to a major work, thus actually becoming part of that bigger picture.
Such is the basis of Bel Olid’s collection of short stories. It could be someone walking onto a person changing, a dribble of blood, observing a woman work or even a pair of boots. yet these details shape the characters’ lives permanently. Mostly there is a loss of innocence, a jump into the adult realm or a harkening back to a memory. In any case details are important.
Most of these stories are short and read quickly but that does not mean that they are forgettable. I can assure you that all 16 stories in this collection are of a high calibre and that is quite rare as short stories do tend to be inconsistent. I do like to shout out one in particular which is called Sea of Maimunà, which is a story about a burgeoning relationship which takes place in Malta AND mentions our Peace Lab ,the description being accurate. Later on I found out that Bel Olid did visit the island a few years ago.
Wilder Winds is great. Sixteen top quality stories that will cause the reader to reflect and reread. As always with Fum d’Estampa, I am glad that they are bringing Catalan authors to a wider audience as I am amazed at how rich the literature is over there.
Such is the basis of Bel Olid’s collection of short stories. It could be someone walking onto a person changing, a dribble of blood, observing a woman work or even a pair of boots. yet these details shape the characters’ lives permanently. Mostly there is a loss of innocence, a jump into the adult realm or a harkening back to a memory. In any case details are important.
Most of these stories are short and read quickly but that does not mean that they are forgettable. I can assure you that all 16 stories in this collection are of a high calibre and that is quite rare as short stories do tend to be inconsistent. I do like to shout out one in particular which is called Sea of Maimunà, which is a story about a burgeoning relationship which takes place in Malta AND mentions our Peace Lab ,the description being accurate. Later on I found out that Bel Olid did visit the island a few years ago.
Wilder Winds is great. Sixteen top quality stories that will cause the reader to reflect and reread. As always with Fum d’Estampa, I am glad that they are bringing Catalan authors to a wider audience as I am amazed at how rich the literature is over there.
June 7, 2016
Em sap greu, però no. No m’ha agradat “Vents més salvatges“. M’ha agradat la idea d’utilitzar l’òptica femenina en tots els contes. M’ha agradat que apareguin realitats injustes que cal difondre i combatre. Però m’hi ha faltat consistència, profunditat. Potser aquesta mancança és l’eina que l’autora escull per fer arribar la seva voluntat exhortativa davant d’aquestes injustícies, però no hi he entrat.
I està clar que em costa escriure sobre un llibre que no m’ha convençut. Per això em quedaré amb allò que hi he trobat de bo: “Baba Luba”. Un conte preciós, en forma i contingut que m’enduré posat. En aquest si que hi he trobat la mesura justa d’allò que m’ha carregat en els altres.
I està clar que em costa escriure sobre un llibre que no m’ha convençut. Per això em quedaré amb allò que hi he trobat de bo: “Baba Luba”. Un conte preciós, en forma i contingut que m’enduré posat. En aquest si que hi he trobat la mesura justa d’allò que m’ha carregat en els altres.
December 1, 2019
Cuando leo a esta autora en los relatos cortos, me la imagino como una bailarina de danza contemporánea, una Isadora Duncan que entendiendo la música va realizando los movimientos que le pide el alma. Así son sus cuentos, una dosis de humanidad, de ternura, de pasión y dolor, realidad y ficción mezcladas para atrapar al lector y seducirlo con lo que sale de su espíritu.
Más cuentos breves, cargados de emociones, de la propia vida en dosis concentradas que estremecen a quién lo lee. No me han dejado indiferente, todos me han aportado una sensación de bienestar y de dolor, de querer continuar el relato y explorar el después, lo que la autora ha dejado en su corazón.
Con la misma fluidez que sus libros anteriores es capaz de transmitirnos la humanidad de sus personajes, su vivencia y sensaciones, transportandonos al interior del cuento. Todo es tan natural, todo es tan sencillo que resulta hasta propio y vivo.
No me canso de leerla y quiero seguir descubriéndola...
Más cuentos breves, cargados de emociones, de la propia vida en dosis concentradas que estremecen a quién lo lee. No me han dejado indiferente, todos me han aportado una sensación de bienestar y de dolor, de querer continuar el relato y explorar el después, lo que la autora ha dejado en su corazón.
Con la misma fluidez que sus libros anteriores es capaz de transmitirnos la humanidad de sus personajes, su vivencia y sensaciones, transportandonos al interior del cuento. Todo es tan natural, todo es tan sencillo que resulta hasta propio y vivo.
No me canso de leerla y quiero seguir descubriéndola...
January 2, 2025
so so soooo good. perfect reading on the 1st of january at the beaches of barcelona as well as the trainride to madrid
May 1, 2016
Pel meu gust, massa irregular. Alguns relats m'han agradat, alguns m'han deixat indiferent.
Em quedo amb Baba Luba, Roig i Linda.
Em quedo amb Baba Luba, Roig i Linda.
January 28, 2022
Exquisitely feminine and full of contrasts. These vignettes captures moments in life, from those that seem inconsequential but go on to leave a lasting impression to moments that are more conventionally thought of as life changing. Many stories are about bodies, the space a body takes up and awareness occupying somewhere. There’s stories of mothering and motherhood, immigration and national independence movements.
Overall, this correction is delicate, emotive and deeply political.
Overall, this correction is delicate, emotive and deeply political.
August 7, 2022
***(*)
May 30, 2023
“Sentir-se estrangera pot ser no trobar la boia que et calma, no tenir prou a prop el mar”
May 1, 2022
Despite its shortness (about 80 pages), this collection of short stories is incredibly rich. It covers a variety of perspectives, from children learning to navigate the world to Baba Luba, who expects nothing more from it but manages to infuse the revolutionary spirit in younger generations with the help of a raised mirror. The stories encapsulate different ways of being a woman, ways of coping in the face of erasure and violence. There is hope and tenderness in Olid’s writing, as well as wilful defiance and resistance.
Generally, memory plays an important part in the lives of the protagonists. Individual memories that make us who we are. A book found on the ground, an open door, a moment of solitude in an old stone house. The collective memory too. That of a nation fighting for its freedom, of all women under the patriarchy.
Bel Olid experiments with genres too. One of the stories is set in a distant future, science fiction reminiscent of Mars by Asja Bakić. Truly this is a collection I want to revisit.
I'll leave you with with a fragment:
📖 “When she had started to think about that first night, she had been afraid of feeling an enormous emptiness. She was surprised to experience the opposite. She found herself alone, not having to put anyone to bed, not having to think about whether she had prepared everything needed for their bags the following day, not having to decide with Paul whether to watch TV for a while or go to bed already. She didn’t feel the terrible emptiness she was expecting. She felt only that she was, not having to do anything concrete for anyone else, she was there. And she realised she had missed herself the last few years.”
Generally, memory plays an important part in the lives of the protagonists. Individual memories that make us who we are. A book found on the ground, an open door, a moment of solitude in an old stone house. The collective memory too. That of a nation fighting for its freedom, of all women under the patriarchy.
Bel Olid experiments with genres too. One of the stories is set in a distant future, science fiction reminiscent of Mars by Asja Bakić. Truly this is a collection I want to revisit.
I'll leave you with with a fragment:
📖 “When she had started to think about that first night, she had been afraid of feeling an enormous emptiness. She was surprised to experience the opposite. She found herself alone, not having to put anyone to bed, not having to think about whether she had prepared everything needed for their bags the following day, not having to decide with Paul whether to watch TV for a while or go to bed already. She didn’t feel the terrible emptiness she was expecting. She felt only that she was, not having to do anything concrete for anyone else, she was there. And she realised she had missed herself the last few years.”
March 1, 2016
2.5 ...
October 30, 2024
Breus no, brevíssims, els contes d’aquest recull, amb un llenguatge molt menys quirúrgic i precís que altres perles de l’autora. M’ha desconcertat, certament.
March 10, 2022
I cannot preface this strongly enough: I am 100% politically aligned with the writer and find no fault with their views. So this is NOT a right wing dismissal review or anything of the kind.
I picked this one because... well, if it is a short story collection... I read it. Doesn't matter who it is written by. I love them. I devour them. But there's a reason that most people don't bother with short story collections. Because short stories are an art form that is amazingly hard to get right. You have to balance brevity with power. A difficult mix.
The writing here is sharp, but a little too unrefined. It isn't 'good raw', it's just 'raw raw'. Which is surprising for a collection both edited and translated. That's like extra levels of protection from failure, one would think. There's very few stories with any subtly or control here.
Where this writer nails things is when they show, rather than tell. Because after some of them I was just left a little exasperated. What was I meant to gain from any of these more overt stories? I already know that some men are evil, that minorities are mistreated and that hurting people is wrong. I already know that being gay shouldn't be a crime.
There are going to be people who see this review and say 'but some people don't, that's the point!' like I'm the idiot. But really think about it. 90% of the people reading this fiction are going to be people who already think the same way, because the back of the book isn't exactly shy about advertising its virtues.
So the remaining 10% who disagree politically are not going to be convinced if all you do is bash them over the head. You need to give us a story that sneaks up on them, that catches them by surprise. So they connect before they get any warning signs and switch off their empathy. If you want hearts and minds changed you couldn't pick a better written format, except maybe poetry! Yet they bungled it.
I want to read stories like Red, not stories like Linda. Basically. And if you've read this collection you'll understand the distinction. And why I say the author just needs to mature as a writer. Because they nailed one and fumbled most of the others.
If you like to be seen to be progressive, you'll love this one and gush over its 'power' - drop it on your booktok or something - if you're actually halfway intelligent you'll find it hollow, preachy, a little pretentious and cloying for about 70% of the experience.
I picked this one because... well, if it is a short story collection... I read it. Doesn't matter who it is written by. I love them. I devour them. But there's a reason that most people don't bother with short story collections. Because short stories are an art form that is amazingly hard to get right. You have to balance brevity with power. A difficult mix.
The writing here is sharp, but a little too unrefined. It isn't 'good raw', it's just 'raw raw'. Which is surprising for a collection both edited and translated. That's like extra levels of protection from failure, one would think. There's very few stories with any subtly or control here.
Where this writer nails things is when they show, rather than tell. Because after some of them I was just left a little exasperated. What was I meant to gain from any of these more overt stories? I already know that some men are evil, that minorities are mistreated and that hurting people is wrong. I already know that being gay shouldn't be a crime.
There are going to be people who see this review and say 'but some people don't, that's the point!' like I'm the idiot. But really think about it. 90% of the people reading this fiction are going to be people who already think the same way, because the back of the book isn't exactly shy about advertising its virtues.
So the remaining 10% who disagree politically are not going to be convinced if all you do is bash them over the head. You need to give us a story that sneaks up on them, that catches them by surprise. So they connect before they get any warning signs and switch off their empathy. If you want hearts and minds changed you couldn't pick a better written format, except maybe poetry! Yet they bungled it.
I want to read stories like Red, not stories like Linda. Basically. And if you've read this collection you'll understand the distinction. And why I say the author just needs to mature as a writer. Because they nailed one and fumbled most of the others.
If you like to be seen to be progressive, you'll love this one and gush over its 'power' - drop it on your booktok or something - if you're actually halfway intelligent you'll find it hollow, preachy, a little pretentious and cloying for about 70% of the experience.
January 24, 2022
Wilder Winds (2018) is a slim volume packing sixteen short stories that whizz by on the page but linger on the mind. Set in various locations and times these are the lives of women and girls living through an unfair world; where inequality is everywhere, be that by gender, race, class, or geography.
While each story is different, there are recurring themes and images dotted around. Olid takes us into several locations where children are incarcerated or to the heart of recent revolutions that brought forth democracy. They show the world’s injustices but also that they can be overcome.
In ‘Sea of Maimunà’, a girl makes a friend in a refugee camp and ponders the disparity in their lives and how they approach this. ‘Three’ considers the flight of a woman’s children growing up with the lives of those cared for in the prison nursery she’s just retired from. ‘Red’ has a girl observe a woman give birth in a city under siege.
Interesting issues as the aforementioned are, I found myself drawn to the smaller moments on offer. In ‘Static’, where a traffic jam and life are conflated; or ‘Anna Anne Anna’, the narrator, who once found a bruised copy of Anne Frank’s diary, finds female representation in print and the value of such. Sexual harassment gets taken on in ‘Linda’, and ‘Invisible’ captures the unseen contribution to society of the low-paid worker.
While a political work Olid’s stories aren’t fiery polemics. Instead they are presented as thin slices of life where the injustices are there, woven into the details, often subtle, daring us to read deeper and get angry. But no matter how bad these characters’ lives are, there’s optimism waiting for them on the next unwritten page.
While each story is different, there are recurring themes and images dotted around. Olid takes us into several locations where children are incarcerated or to the heart of recent revolutions that brought forth democracy. They show the world’s injustices but also that they can be overcome.
In ‘Sea of Maimunà’, a girl makes a friend in a refugee camp and ponders the disparity in their lives and how they approach this. ‘Three’ considers the flight of a woman’s children growing up with the lives of those cared for in the prison nursery she’s just retired from. ‘Red’ has a girl observe a woman give birth in a city under siege.
Interesting issues as the aforementioned are, I found myself drawn to the smaller moments on offer. In ‘Static’, where a traffic jam and life are conflated; or ‘Anna Anne Anna’, the narrator, who once found a bruised copy of Anne Frank’s diary, finds female representation in print and the value of such. Sexual harassment gets taken on in ‘Linda’, and ‘Invisible’ captures the unseen contribution to society of the low-paid worker.
While a political work Olid’s stories aren’t fiery polemics. Instead they are presented as thin slices of life where the injustices are there, woven into the details, often subtle, daring us to read deeper and get angry. But no matter how bad these characters’ lives are, there’s optimism waiting for them on the next unwritten page.
June 4, 2025
En general m'ha semblat correcte però no destacable, excepte la petita joia del recull: "Baba Luba".
Els temes dels relats, en qualsevol cas, són molt necessaris i, encara que la majoria no acabin d'agafar alçada, poden convidar a la reflexió.
Els temes dels relats, en qualsevol cas, són molt necessaris i, encara que la majoria no acabin d'agafar alçada, poden convidar a la reflexió.
April 16, 2022
Era la primera ficció de Bel Olid que llegia. Tot i que els contes han estat bonics i fora de norma, en prefereixo els llibres d'assaig.
February 17, 2023
holy shit that was beautiful
August 8, 2025
Massa breus … 2.5 // Baba Luba i Flors Silvestres els que més m’han agradat
August 12, 2025
Son com situacions: contextos. Sembla com si agafessis tres pàgines qualsevols de diversos llibres i les posessis a mode de contes curts. No m’ha acabat de fer el pes.
December 31, 2016
Molt millor La mala reputació. Què hi farem!!!
May 8, 2017
Fantàstic. La prosa d'Olid és certament excepcional. M'hi quedaria a viure en alguns paràgrafs, per molt que m'hi fes mal.
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