CULTURE AND HERITAGE CONFERENCE - SEPTEMBER

5:30 PM - NOVELTY ROOM - FREE ENTRY

Conference proposed by Culture and Heritage in Côte Vermeille.

Conference "In the Footsteps of Manolo Valiente" by Manuela Parra
Manuela Parra will share the moving story of Manolo Valiente, a Spanish Republican, imprisoned in the camps on the Roussillon beaches.
Wounded and exhausted, he crossed the border into France in 1939 during the Retirada. He was interned in Barcarès, Argelès, and Bram. He lived for a long time in Banyuls-sur-Mer at mas Calille. Several of his works are visible in Banyuls.

In the Footsteps of Manolo Valiente
By Manuela PARRA, author, committed to promoting the work of Manolo Valiente
President of the association Voices of the Extreme Poetry and Culture – Franco-Spanish Meetings

Manuela Parra will share the moving story of Manolo Valiente, a Spanish Republican, imprisoned in the camps on the Roussillon beaches.
Wounded and exhausted, he crossed the border into France in 1939 during the Retirada. He was interned in Barcarès, Argelès, and Bram, enduring cold, hunger, and humiliation.
In this physical and moral destitution, he wrote poems and engraved on pieces of wood collected from the sand of the camps his despair in the face of waiting, the doubts that assail him, his struggle against death, the sand and the wind, the barbed wire that separates, unites, or that one believes is in their mouth when they can no longer speak....
Ten years later, under the pseudonym Juan de Pena, he published Arena y Viento, a collection of 15 poems and 15 engravings, testifying to the despair, exile, and resistance of the internees.

Daughter of exile, Manuela Parra defines herself as a "Franco-Spanish," living on the line of a poorly sewn border.
For over 20 years, she has traversed the history of the Spanish Civil War and its consequences in France and Spain: repression and exile. She is dedicated to transmitting, especially to the youth, the universal and republican values defended by the Spanish Republicans.
She is part of the Spanish movement Voces del extremo. She founded in France the association Voices of the Extreme, which has been organizing Franco-Spanish Meetings for 7 years.
A poet, novelist, and short story writer, she also publishes accounts of exile and exhibits her engravings, while giving recitals and conferences in France and Spain. On these subjects, her novel Maria-Luz a light in the darkness recounts what happened on both sides of the border. Her book Des frontières et des femmes (Chèvre-feuille étoilée Editions, 2024) won the Binaros Prize for Pyrénéen Literature. Letters to the Absent, imaginary correspondences of women in resistance. (Chèvre-feuille étoilée Editions, 2026) resumes the dialogue between Spanish and French women incarcerated in camps in Germany and in prison in Spain.

This conference will be preceded at 3 PM by a visit to the places where Manolo Valiente lived in Banyuls-sur-Mer, mas Calilla. Manuela Parra will read texts by Manolo Valiente and writings about this extraordinary character. Works by Manolo Valiente will be presented with the support of the municipality of Banyuls.
Due to the limited space, this visit is restricted to 20 people. Entry is free.
Registrations will be accepted in the order of arrival.

Find all practical information and plan your visit.