The writer Anna Punsoda (Concabella, 1985) has published 'La terra dura' (Pòrtic Edicions), a journalistic chronicle organized through a monthly diary where she narrates the return to her origins through personal experiences, conversations and historical research. The common thread is her arrival in the Segarra region – with her children and her husband from Barcelona – along with the purchase of a house that they will have to fix in order to settle.
In an interview, Punsoda maintains that he has always felt his land as a “refuge.” "The relationship we have with ourselves is the same one we have with our land," she says.
The creation process has been relatively quick and the author explains that she completed it in almost a year and a half. One of her objectives was to reflect on her relationship with this harsh, geographically central and at the same time very ignored land.
The author attributes this to a “mixture of factors,” among which, for example, is the fact that less literature has been produced. Therefore, another of the purposes of the book is to put it on the map.
"I would like you to come see it, to generate cultural history, interest, visits and also money for the people here," he admits. In her case, returning "home" has been a very positive process that has allowed her to "make the region her own." "Before, everything happened through the eyes of my family of origin and now that I have my own family and house, the look I have is also my own," she acknowledges.
In fact, for Punsoda, the soul and the landscape "penetrate each other" in a way that is not always understood. For this reason, she is convinced that oneself is directly related to her land, although – sometimes – it is not held in good regard.
“Sometimes others must come and tell you that this region is fantastic! Look at the esplanades, the horizon, the light... and you start to believe it,” she insists. In his case, he remembers that he has always needed “origins” and that he has never had any kind of “self-hatred” for his land.
The writer's new book is complemented with historical information, as well as multiple voices from residents of the area, who address topics such as work, sustainability, the economy, population and roots.
“I have done quite a few interviews, but above all I have gone to the town bar a lot, it is my library,” he jokes, “in Barcelona, for example, when you meet parents from school you talk about some things, here we talk about others.”
The process has allowed him to "look at the earth with different eyes" and confirm that the future must go through a "re-rooting."
"Globalization is not only a phenomenon of loss of identities, but also of disconnection of oneself from one's area," he laments. For this reason, he "hates" when he identifies "a certain contempt" from the urban world towards the rural one.
Once the initial process is over, Punsoda's balance is positive, although he recognizes that it ends up going down "more than Barcelona would like." “It is still difficult to decentralize culture and I spend many hours in the car, on the train... there is a dependency that pisses me off,” he concludes.
