Elisabet Benavent and the revenge of the romance genre: "Romance isn't detached from reality; it speaks to what concerns us."

Elisabet Benavent , the star of the Spanish romance genre, was crowned this Saturday in Buenos Aires, with a packed José Hernández Auditorium on the last Saturday of the Book Fair . From her first visit, when she gathered fans in a bookstore, to selling out the largest room at La Rural, just three years passed. Now, the Valencian author has gathered more than 500 people—and more who stayed outside—for a 40-minute chat about the universe of characters and twists she creates in her novels.

Although many people know the Benavent universe from the Netflix adaptations of her works —the Valeria saga is the best known, but the platform also made a series adaptation of A Perfect Story —she has 22 novels under her belt and many more to come. In Argentina, her books are published through Suma, one of the publishing houses of the giant Penguin Random House.

She's currently in the final stages of her latest book, before it goes to press. As a teaser, she mentioned that she's returning to the female narrative voice after relinquishing it to the male protagonist in her last book, Snob . She also revealed that it will be set in the city of León, that it will explore the audiovisual world (perhaps influenced by her role as executive producer on her Netflix adaptations?), and that the protagonist will be named Julia .

But before her 22 books, her Netflix debut, and her audiences packed with fans across the Atlantic, Benavent graduated with a degree in Audiovisual Communication and even has a master's degree in the subject. She had an office job and wrote in her spare time. " I self-published a book and suddenly I'm here. It's all happened so fast, it's all been very dizzying. It's kind of scary, there are so many books ," the author said.

With a narrative 100% anchored in the themes surrounding romance today and young characters, Benavent has a group of followers who are barely 30 years old . They are mostly readers who, when the romance genre had its revenge with the Fifty Shades of Grey saga, many, perhaps, had not yet learned to read . The writer took advantage of the tailwind and threw herself into writing. The first time an editor contacted her, it was through Twitter (now X) and she never stopped.

“I thought I'd publish a book, at most two, and I could say 'I published a book.' Things have gotten a bit complicated, ” she says jokingly. It got so out of hand that for everyone who was outside the maximum capacity of the room, the talk was streamed .

Benavent is part of a group of authors who proudly carry the slogan 'romance novelist'. " Romance isn't detached from reality, even if they think they're love stories. It's rooted in today, in who we are; it speaks to things that concern us : job insecurity, mental health, toxic relationships. Everything around me feeds the stories of what will come out tomorrow," she says.

The writer is authentic with her audience. She admits she still struggles with the fear of the blank page; she fears that one day she won't be able to create at the same pace she has so far. In this, she resembles her protagonists: they aren't perfect; at times, they're anti-heroines; they make mistakes; they can be snobbish, arrogant, and irresponsible, but somehow, love saves them.

“I'm very anxious, I'm always thinking, just in case, 'Don't get your hopes up.' I would have enjoyed it more if I weren't so anxious , if I hadn't been so scared,” she admits openly, but without losing her smile, perfectly framed by red lipstick, a color she's often seen wearing in her Instagram posts, the other universe Benavent created.

The writer manages her own Instagram account with a completely transparent approach: she speaks to her readers on camera, showing her writing process, her weaknesses, her tastes, her style, her readings, her travels to different cities. She draws inspiration from it, receives criticism, and words of encouragement, but she keeps in mind that the messages are very "subjective" and tries not to be influenced by the tastes of others.

Benavent knows that the authenticity and transparency with which she presents her characters, with their lights and shadows, their triumphs and failures, has made her stand out in her literary career. “I try not to think in commercial terms when I write because in some ways it distorts the process; you have to do it in a more visceral way ,” she admits. “I prefer to do something I've been passionate about and see how it's received. We have to take risks ,” she says of her writing process.

However, she said that the few times she rereads her stories, she finds things she wouldn't write today. "I'd cancel myself today," she says with a smile, recalling some elements incorporated into Silvia 's saga. And she also acknowledges that some of her resolutions haven't been successful: "Valeria thinks she's going to change a man for love, and she goes and changes him. It's a terrible example for the new generations."