We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Marina Penalva Halpin as literary agent at Pontasfrom 2nd of January 2013. We already had the pleasure to work with her (from mid-2000 until October 2007) and we can’t wait to have her on board again. Marina is a real traveler in life, a hard worker with proven skills and a passion for books and films across cultures that has always connected with the ”soul” of our company. We do hope this next step in our common journey will take us to the most interesting projects with our clients!
Marina says: ”I feel honored and privileged to join an agency with so much talent and international scope, an agency where I have always felt at home. I look forward to working hand in hand with authors and publishers all over the world and being able to contribute with my experience to this very special process, which is the relationship between writers and readers – and the indispensable bit in the middle.”
“Born in 1980 into an Irish-Spanish family. Raised speaking English, Catalan and Spanish, I was adopted by Barcelona in 1998, when I began my BA degree in Audiovisual Communication in the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. I graduated five years later, having lived and studied also in Munich and Copenhagen.
I joined Pontas as an intern in 2000 and worked alongside Anna Soler-Pont for seven years, getting to know the publishing industry from a privileged position. I then joined the publishing house Ara Llibres, first as a fiction editor, and later as head of the retail book division, which included 60 titles a year by Catalan and foreign authors. Some of the authors which I worked with are Toni Morrison, Camila Läckberg, Khaled Hosseini, Colm Tóibín, Fred Vargas, Jhumpa Lahiri or Michael Chabon, among many others. I walked the main trade fairs for ten years and participated in different international Fellowship programs. I read Catalan, Spanish, English, French, and understand German and Swedish.
Traveling is my Achilles heel, and I have trampled the world as far as my budget and curiosity have gone. I am interested in Central Asia and its history, in the Arab world and in off the radar destinations. I also enjoy trekking, and no trip goes by without some blisters. I live in Barcelona because everything I like, everything I need and everything I want, is here. My most cherished possession is my travel literature collection and I have recently started taking cooking lessons, a long-due resolution.”