Join us for a virtual book talk with Drs. Luis Rojas Marcos and Fernando Aleu with an introduction by Richard Bueno Hudson

The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute and the Instituto Cervantes of New York will hold a virtual book talk about “The Barcelona Incident” Monday, May 24th with author Dr. Fernando Aleu interviewed by Dr. Luis Rojas Marcos.

The novel, recently translated to English from Spanish, tells a story between New York and Barcelona of when in World War II, the Allies and Germany agreed to an exchange of wounded prisoners held by each side after the conclusion of the bloody campaigns of Dunkirk and El Alamein. In Barcelona’s harbor, four thousand soldiers were exchanged between four hospital ships on October 27th, 1943. One of the prisoners was a 24-year-old Jewish-German soldier who risked being sent to a concentration camp if he were to be returned to his homeland. An unlikely group in Spain and abroad conspired to plot a daring escape for the strikingly good-looking soldier and great athlete, who attracted attention from both women and men alike.

In this riveting conversation, Psychologist Dr. Rojas Marcos applauds the intrigue in Neurologist Dr. Aleu’s first novel, and Dr. Aleu reveals his eye-witness account that inspired this work of historical fiction. The pair look closely from a medical standpoint into characters’ internal motivations, mental health, and the intense feelings that literature can bring out in a reader and an author. Spanning cultural areas of translation, history, psychology, and literature, this discussion builds bridges through culture.

The event will be streamed online via Youtube premiering on Monday, May 24th at 12 noon EST (18:00 CET).