Elvira Navarro holds a licentiate in Philosophy from the Complutense University of Madrid. In 2004 she won the City Council of Madrid's Young Creators Competition, and enjoyed a creative scholarship at the Residencia de Estudiantes. She has published two complementary books: La ciudad en invierno and La ciudad feliz, as well as the novels La trabajadora and Los últimos días de Adelaida García Morales. Her work has earned the, the for Best New Author, and the Fnac New Talent Distinction. Navarro is also the author of the blog Periferia, an ongoing work on the neighborhoods of Madrid that explores bordering and undefined spaces. In 2010 she was included in the magazine Grantas list of the 22 best Spanish-language novelists under 35. In 2013 she was selected as one of the Spanish voices with the greatest futures by El Cultural, and in 2014 the same magazine rated La trabajadora one of the ten best Spanish-language novels of the year. Portions of her work have been translated into English, French, Swedish, Italian, Turkish, and Arabic. She has written for magazines such as El Cultural, Ínsula, Letras Libres, ', Turia, and Calle 20, and for the newspapers Público, eldiario.es, El Mundo, and El País. She has performed literary criticism for Qué Leer, Revista de Libros, and the blog '. She became editor of the Caballo de Troya imprint in 2015, and teaches writing workshops.
Controversy
Her novel Los últimos días de Adelaida García Morales was harshly criticized by the filmmaker Víctor Erice in El País. Erice accused Navarro of trivializing the figure of Adelaida García Morales, and causing grief to her loved ones by writing "a sort of fake fiction documentary" rather than a well-researched biography. Navarro's retort and various public interventions by other writers increased the controversy and the debate over the limits of fiction.
Works
Novels and short stories
La ciudad en invierno, Barcelona, Caballo de Troya, 2007; Debolsillo, 2008; Debolsillo 2012;
Los últimos días de Adelaida García Morales, Barcelona, Random House, 2016,
Collective works
Quince golpes en la cabeza, compilation by Ernesto Pérez Castillo, Havana, Editorial Cajachina, 2008
Elegías íntimas. Instantáneas de cineastas, coordination by, Documenta Madrid, 2008
Asamblea portátil. Muestrario de narradores iberoamericanos. Antología de última narrativa, selection and prologue by, Lima, Editorial Casatomada, 2009
Madrid / Barcelona. Literatura y ciudad , editing, introduction, and reading guide by, Madrid, Iberoamericana Editorial Vervuert and Cátedra Miguel Delibes, 2009
The best of young Spanish language novelists, New York, Granta, 2010; Los mejores narradores jóvenes en español, Barcelona, Granta – Duomo, 2010
Siglo XXI. Los nuevos narradores del cuento español actual, editing by Gemma Pellicer and Fernando Valls, Palencia, Menoscuarto Ediciones, 2010
Chéjov comentado, editing by Sergi Bellver, Madrid, Nevsky Prospects, 2010
Pequeñas Resistencias 5. Antología del nuevo cuento español , editing by Andrés Neuman, Madrid, Editorial Páginas de Espuma, 2010
Los oficios del libro, various authors, Madrid, Libros de la ballena, 2011
La ciudad contada: Buenos Aires en la mirada de la nueva narrativa hispanoamericana, editing by, Buenos Aires, Ministry of Culture of the City of Buenos Aires, 2012
Cuentos en blanco y negro, editing by Miguel Ángel Oeste, Ministry of Culture of the City of Melilla, Manigua, 2012
En breve. Cuentos de escritoras españolas. Estudio y antología, editing by Ángeles Encinar and Carmen Valcárcel, Madrid, Editorial Biblioteca Nueva, 2012
Mar de pirañas. Nuevas voces del microrrelato español, editing by Fernando Valls, Palencia, Menoscuarto, 2012,
Madrid, con perdón. Editing and prologue by Mercedes Cebrián. Anthology of texts about Madrid by,,,, Jimina Sabadú, Antonio J. Rodríguez, Óscar Esquivias, Natalia Carrero, Grace Morales,,, Iosi Havilio, Roberto Enríquez, and Elvira Navarro. Editorial Caballo de Troya, 2012
Cuento español actual, compilation by Ángeles Encinar, Editorial Cátedra, 2013
