The story of Manci, a rebellious and resourceful woman, comes to Coahuila

For 20 years, Argentine writer and screenwriter Silvia Pasternac carried with her a story that spans nearly eight decades. A series of events involving her great-aunt, which, due to their force and timing, stayed with her until they finally became a novel.

“Manci” (Lumen, 2025) is the author’s first novel, which tells the story of a rebellious and ingenious woman who fought “against everything and everyone” in the 20th century, when women were just beginning to regain their rights, and which will be presented this weekend at the 2025 Coahuila International Book Fair (FILC).

“That story stayed with me for too long. I was told it in 2003, and that same year I started to find out something about my aunt, and the truth is I didn't get much out of it, and I returned to Transylvania years later. But in my profession as a screenwriter, I've generally had very little time to write things other than commissions or for filming,” the writer told VANGUARDIA.

From Argentina, her voice has left its mark on literature and on screen. Silvia Pasternac arrives at #FILC2025 with her novel "Manci." 🗓 May 3

🕓 4:00 PM #ReadingIsForGiants #CoahuilaPaDelante #APasosDeGigante pic.twitter.com/c0AUbFxxkO

— FIL Coahuila (@FILCoahuila) April 18, 2025

“What happened was that in 2022, almost 20 years after I was told the story, I became unemployed due to the pandemic, and that's when I got the courage. I was very afraid of writing literature, since screenwriters tell us it's a bit of a bastard's writing, so that inhibited me. But the truth is, when I started writing, it flowed quite quickly; in about six months, I had already written the novel,” she added.

The author confesses that this woman's story caught her attention because she felt "a little envious" when she heard the things she was capable of doing at a time when most women were self-sacrificing and submissive.

"She's not just any survivor," she asserted, "she's a rogue. She's someone who will do whatever it takes to survive and will overcome anything and anyone. That made me kind of envious. You're not like that, because you were taught that you have to be good, and she survived because she wasn't that good, let's say. Not that she was bad, but she was a bit of a troublemaker."

And although he thrives in the film industry through screenwriting, he points out that there has never been an opportunity for this character to sneak into any of his work over the past few decades.

“At first, when they told me the story, I tried to adapt it to a script and to Mexico. I thought about making a story about the highlands of Jalisco during the Cristero War, but I was leaving out a lot of stories. Because Manci survived 80 years and in that time, she survived a huge amount of things , so it didn't quite work, so I let it be. I tried both ways, but if it were to be filmed, it would be very expensive,” he recalled.

"It's the story of a life. If you film that in a series or a movie, you have at least five different costumes, five different actresses of five very different ages, and even five locations, because it's not just Transylvania, it's Argentina, the United States, Mexico, etc.," he added.

Follow the story of MANCI, the heroine in Silvia Pasternac's work, whose childhood was marked by poverty and her family's indifference. 📖🪽

Get it here 👉: https://t.co/NWzRWytxmH pic.twitter.com/QLdvoJVMym

— Literary Lobster (@Langosta_Lit) April 14, 2025

She also shared that being around this story for so long allowed her to mature it, and by the time it came to writing, the process was fairly straightforward. Now that it's published, she's also found a response to the character that, she believes, would have been very different if the story had been released earlier.

“ I realized when it was published that it was like a representation of something that maybe women should really care about doing [...] And I feel like this is a very good time to reflect on selfishness, the small amount of selfishness necessary to survive. I feel like it's a more fertile time for 'Manci' than 20 years ago, when we weren't fighting as much, or at least on the down low,” she said.

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: Tribute to Piazzolla at the Coahuila International Book Fair

“I'm currently writing something about the first year I spent in Mexico, when I was a child. I'd like to reflect on... I didn't experience exile, but my parents did. Migration, adaptation, and putting down roots elsewhere. And yes, it has to do with Manci, but that's a different story. It's inspired by things that happened, but I'd like it to be a fiction novel ,” she concluded.

“Manci” by Silvia Pasternac will be presented on Saturday, May 3 at 4:00 p.m. in the Manuel Acuña Room of the FILC, with comments by Martha Sánchez-Cobiza.