Elizabeth Duval (born 25 August 2000) is a Spanish novelist, poet, philosopher, philologist, critic, and trans rights activist. She is the current secretary of communication for the electoral alliance Sumar.

Elizabeth Duval
In 2022
Sumar Secretary of Communication
Assumed office
27 April 2024
Preceded byPosition created
Sumar Spokesperson for Feminism, Equality, and LGTBIQ+ Freedoms
In office
4 July 2023 – 27 April 2024
Preceded byPosition created
Personal details
Born (2000-08-25) 25 August 2000 (age 23)
Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
Education
OccupationWriter, philosopher, philologist, activist

Biography

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Duval was born in Alcalá de Henares, and subsequently spent six years of her childhood in Plasencia.[1] She earned a licentiate in philosophy from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and a degree in French philology from the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle.[2][3]

She was a staunch defender of the reform of the Ley Trans, a 2023 law that permits gender self-identification in Spain.[4] In 2017, she appeared on the cover of the magazine El País de las Tentaciones [es], interviewed alongside Topacio Fresh [es] and Valeria Vegas in a report titled El futuro es trans (The Future is Trans).[5] In 2021, she received the ICON Cultural Agitation Award from the fashion magazine of El País.[6] In 2022, she hosted the interview podcast La noria for the Podimo platform, with guests such as Nacho Vigalondo, Nerea Pérez de las Heras [es], and Juan Manuel de Prada [es].[7]

Duval headed the equality secretariat of the Madrid Union of Journalists from May 2023 until her resignation that July, when she was appointed Spokesperson for Feminism, Equality and LGTBIQ+ Freedoms for the left-wing coalition Sumar's campaign for the general election.[8] In 2024, she was number seven on Yolanda Díaz's electoral slate for the Sumar Coordination Group, being elected in her first assembly.[9][10]

She has been a regular contributor to the RTVE program Gen Playz and LaSexta's Al Rojo Vivo [es], and has participated in other current political programs such as El Objetivo [es], in addition to writing for media outlets such as elDiario.es, Público, El País, and CTXT.[8][11][12]

Work

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In a 2021 interview

Duval began publishing in 2018, in the anthology Cuadernos de Medusa, from the Amor de Madre publishing house.[13] In 2019, she participated in an anthology of queer narrative stories titled Asalto a Oz (Assault on Oz).[14] Her first collection of poems, titled Excepción, and her first novel, Reina, were published in February and March 2020.[15]

In 2021, she published Después de lo trans (After Trans), an essay about transsexuality from a perspective of looking beyond the activism of the trans movement towards other critical and political viewpoints.[16][17] Her work has been translated into English and German, with outlets such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Tageszeitung calling Después de lo trans "a foundational text for all future trans theory" and "an example of independent thought."[18][19] The Irish Times included Madrid será la tumba (Madrid Will Be Their Tomb) on its list of best foreign fiction novels of 2023.[20]

Books published

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  • Excepción, Letraversal, 2020
  • Reina, Caballo de Troya, 2020
  • Después de lo trans. Sexo y género entre la izquierda y lo identitario, La Caja Books, 2021
    • German translation: Nach Trans. Sex, Gender und die Linke, Wagenbach Verlag, 2023
  • Madrid será la tumba, Lengua de trapo, 2021
    • English translation: Madrid Will Be Their Tomb, Fum d'Estampa Press, 2023
  • Melancolía, Planeta, 2023
  • Poserótica, Letraversal, 2023[21]

References

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  1. ^ Seglers, Txema (30 March 2022). "Elizabeth Duval: 'Cuando salí del armario, el colegio católico al que iba me invitó a irme'" [Elizabeth Duval: "When I came out of the closet, the Catholic school I went to invited me to leave"]. Critic (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  2. ^ Vicente, Álex. "Elizabeth Duval: 'Ser trans no significa tanto en mi vida'" [Elizabeth Duval: "Being trans doesn't mean that much in my life"]. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Quién es Elizabeth Duval, el 'fichaje estrella' de Yolanda Díaz para el equipo de Sumar" [Who is Elizabeth Duval, Yolanda Díaz's "Star Signing" for the Sumar Team]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). Madrid. 7 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  4. ^ Vargas, Isabel (24 September 2021). "Elizabeth Duval: 'Nadie ha propuesto en la Ley Trans que se realicen operaciones quirúrgicas a niñas'" [Elizabeth Duval: "No one has proposed in the Trans Law that surgical operations be performed on girls"]. El Español (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  5. ^ "El futuro es trans: ya está en tu kiosko el nuevo Tentaciones" [The Future is Trans: The New Tentaciones is Now at Your Kiosk]. El País de las Tentaciones (in Spanish). 24 June 2017. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Flash, posado, acción: las estampas más memorables y divertidas de la fiesta de ICON" [Flash, Pose, Action: The Most Memorable and Fun Pictures From the ICON Party]. El País ICON (in Spanish). 5 November 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  7. ^ Estrada, Javier (17 March 2022). "Elizabeth Duval: 'España es un país fantástico que tiende a menospreciarse de manera brutal'" [Elizabeth Duval: Spain is a fantastic country that tends to Be brutally underestimated]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Spain. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b Ortiz, Alberto (4 July 2023). "Sumar incorpora a la escritora Elizabeth Duval como portavoz de feminismo de la campaña" [Sumar Brings on Writer Elizabeth Duval as the Campaign's Feminism Spokesperson]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  9. ^ "Yolanda Díaz lanza su candidatura a la dirección de Sumar con figuras de su 'núcleo duro' como Urtasun, Duval y Errejón" [Yolanda Díaz Launches Her Candidacy for the Direction of Sumar With Figures From Her "Hard Core" Such as Urtasun, Duval, and Errejón] (in Spanish). Madrid: Europa Press. 9 March 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  10. ^ Monforte Jaén, Marta (23 March 2024). "'Sumar ha venido para quedarse': la candidatura de Yolanda Díaz se impone en la asamblea fundacional" ["Sumar has come to stay": Yolanda Díaz's Candidacy Prevails in the Founding Assembly]. Infolibre (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  11. ^ Barragán, Carlos; Cid, Guillermo (16 November 2021). "Dentro de Gen Playz: la revolución de RTVE es un debate de jóvenes en una mesa de ping pong" [Inside Gen Playz: The RTVE Revolution is a Debate of Young People at a Ping Pong Table]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Spain. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Elizabeth Duval critica la estrategia de la izquierda frente al ascenso de Vox: 'El discurso del miedo a la extrema derecha no sirve para pararla'" [Elizabeth Duval Criticizes the Left's Strategy Against the Rise of Vox: "The discourse of fear of the extreme right does not serve to stop it"] (in Spanish). LaSexta. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  13. ^ Salóz, Joan Carlos (12 November 2013). "¿Quién es Elizabeth Duval? La célebre poeta trans de 19 años" [Who is Elizabeth Duval? The Famous 19-Year-Old Trans Poet]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  14. ^ Elidrissi, Fátima (10 December 2019). "'Asalto a Oz', un espacio queer para encontrarse" ["Assault on Oz", a Queer Space to Meet]. The Objective (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  15. ^ Ródenas de Moya, Domingo (5 May 2020). "'Reina': un 'yo' trans camino del trono" ["Queen": A Trans "I" on the Way to the Throne] (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  16. ^ Ordoqui, Agustina (26 September 2020). "Quién es Elizabeth Duval, la escritora trans escuchada y leída por miles de jóvenes en España" [Who is Elizabeth Duval, the Trans Writer Heard and Read by Thousands of Young People in Spain]. Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  17. ^ Soto Ivars, Juan (2 March 2021). "Elizabeth Duval: 'El obrero racista y machista merece que la izquierda no lo demonice'" [Elizabeth Duval: "The racist and sexist worker deserves not to be demonized by the left"]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  18. ^ Eimermacher, Martin (6 May 2023). "Trans oder gar nicht" [Trans or Not at All]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  19. ^ Hubernagel, Julia (29 April 2023). "Buch 'Nach trans' von Elizabeth Duval: Ein Subjekt stößt auf Identität" [Book "After Trans" by Elizabeth Duval: A Subject Encounters Identity]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  20. ^ Taylor, Catherine (3 December 2023). "The best fiction in translation of 2023". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  21. ^ Rosales, Cristina (12 January 2024). "'Poserótica', de Elizabeth Duval". Nuevatribuna (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2024.