Bibliotopia 2026 | Interview with Rosa Montero and Patrick Lemoine (in Spanish)

Madness and Creation
Moderated by Pascal Schouwey

Rosa Montero is a Spanish writer and journalist who has been contributing to the daily newspaper "El País" since 1976. Her prolific literary output, spanning fiction and non-fiction, has won numerous awards and been translated into some thirty languages, blending the personal with the political. Among her books published in English are "The Delta Function" (UNP, 1992, trans. Yolanda Molina Gavilán) and "Beautiful and Dark" (Aunt Lute Books, 2010, trans. Adrienne Mitchell). A rich collage of scientific essay and personal narrative, "The Danger to Be Sane" (Europa Editions, 2026, trans. Lindsey Ford) examines the notion of madness and its role in artistic creation, offering a vital ode to unreason.

Patrick Lemoine, a French psychiatrist and doctor of neuroscience, is the author of over forty essays and popular science books dealing with mental disorders, sleep and the placebo effect. Published by Odile Jacob, his works include "Histoire de la folie avant la psychiatrie" (with Boris Cyrulnik, 2018), "La santé psychique de ceux qui ont fait le monde" (2019) and "La santé psychique des écrivains et de leurs personnages" (with Sophie Viguier-Vinson, 2025). In these last two books, Lemoine dissects aspects of the lives of political and literary figures, and offers, not without humour, illuminating diagnoses of human frailties.

Fondation Jan Michalski, Friday 29 May 2026