An unpublished short story collection by the renowned Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar will be published in an English translation by Frank Wynne next year.
The Last Dream, which Almodóvar describes as a “fragmentary autobiography” and a “little cryptic”, contains 12 stories that reflect common themes of his cinematic work, including comedy, autofiction, parody, pastiche and the gothic.
The stories, written between the late 1960s and the present day, will be published in September 2024 by Harvill Secker, an imprint of Vintage at Penguin Random House UK.
Almodóvar’s films include All About My Mother, which won an Oscar for best foreign language film, and Talk to Her, which received many awards, including an Oscar for best original screenplay and a Golden Globe for best foreign language film. His latest film, Strange Way of Life, is a queer western starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke.
In the introduction to the collection, Almodóvar writes: “I’ve been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I’ve always refused; it’s also been suggested that I let someone else write my biography, but I have always felt somewhat resistant to the idea of a book entirely about me as an individual.
“I’ve never kept a diary, and whenever I’ve tried, I’ve never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little cryptic.”
The title story, The Last Dream, is about the death of Almodóvar’s mother. Others in the collection include a love story between Jesus and Barabbas, the primary version of his film Bad Education, a story about a film director searching for painkillers on a bank holiday weekend and a gothic tale of a repentant vampire.
The book has sold in 20 territories and will be published by HarperVia in the US. Ellie Steel, senior editor at Harvill Secker, said that it was “thrilling” to hear that Almodóvar had been writing stories since he was a teenager, and that the imprint “couldn’t be prouder” to be publishing his work.
“These stories are a real celebration of the relationship between life and art, fiction and reality. Fans of Almodóvar’s films will recognise many of his hallmarks: an artist unafraid to write about our most intimate moments, exploring desire, mortality, loneliness and the pain and glory of artistic creation, laced with playful humour and a deep love of literature and culture,” Steel added.
