Before the topics, humor!
Quan Zhou Wu (Algeciras, 1989) belongs to that generation of children of immigrants born in Spain. He grew up in a town in the Andalusia of the 90s with his two sisters around the Chinese restaurant that his parents ran.
He captured all those experiences when he made his debut in the world of graphic novels with sweet and sour gazpacho (Astiberri, 2015), a comic willing to based on humor break all the topics about the Chinese population settled in the skin of a bull.
Now she's back with Andaluchinas around the world , a second part where the Zhou sisters spread out across the planet: Quan goes to Madrid, where she would study to graduate later in England; Fu, her eldest, crosses the pond to pursue her dreams for the United States; and Qing, the little one, settles first in Malaga to end up in France.
The author is ready to answer our questionnaire with the same good work that she exudes in her vignettes.
- Bittersweet Gazpacho was born as a webcomic, when did it become your first graphic novel?
It was a literal Friday morning. I already had in mind to make the graphic novel, how I was going to structure it (the chapters in the form of menu items), what I was going to narrate and the end of the first part. So I jumped in I wrote to the guys from Astiberri and that same afternoon they already told me that they had loved the idea and we stayed in a meeting to close details.
Ten years of life in 137 pages
- Success was immediate: book signings all over Spain, collaborations on Radio 3, talks at universities... Did you expect such a good reception from the public and the press?
No way! If everything has come by surprise. I hadn't drawn for years and years and, all of a sudden, a project that was going to be so small, personal and family, became gigantic. I'm telling you, it was my childhood dream to be a comic book artist, I never thought it would come true.
- It wasn't all pats on the back though. You appeared in a report in El País about children of immigrants born in Spain who feel Spanish and that sparked all kinds of comments on the Internet, many of them negative. What was your first reaction when reading them?
Angry, obviously. I wanted to set them on fire. But hey, since that's not possible, I calmed down and sometimes I still make the mistake of reading those kinds of comments that don't contribute anything to anyone. And sometimes they leave you feeling dusty when you see how much garrulous there is on the loose today, in Spain in 2018. There is a lot of 'political correctness' that doesn't look beyond their noses loose out there. Those who call me racist the most, precisely, are Spanish.
- It was one of the reasons why Andaluchinas por el mundo, the continuation of Bittersweet Gazpacho, has a more intimate and personal approach. Is it so?
Right, if you're a good person (which is a very, very important nuance) and if you scratch a little, you see that we are not so different, because the essential and good is there. It's something I always say. We cry for the same thing, and we rejoice for the same thing.
Anecdotes, anecdotes and more anecdotes
- Bittersweet gazpacho collected the story of your life from your childhood until you left your Andalusian town. What moment does Andaluchinas gather around the world?
Since I arrived at the door of what would be my first apartment in Madrid until almost today. But as I mentioned before, It is not only my story, but also that of my sisters told in the first person. Each one has a journey and, which is compressed into about 137 pages, are approximately ten years of our lives.
- Does your family help you when writing or thinking about the stories?
My family reminds me of anecdotes when we get together and then sometimes stories are made. Sometimes they fit, sometimes they don't.
- And when you read them, do you take it with humor?
Of course. In the first part of Bittersweet Gazpacho something happens with my little sister, who accidentally killed a hamster. When she first read it she told me: "Quan, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry in embarrassment."
"If you scratch a little, you see that we are not so different, because the essential and good is there"
- In some vignettes of your blog you talk about traveling to the houses of friends who live outside of Spain, a fairly common practice in our generation. What advantages and disadvantages do you see in this way of traveling?
Disadvantages... the only one I see is the lack of intimacy perhaps. Advantages, all the others: you have friends who make you feel at home, that take you to places that are not tourist traps, who also have more friends who welcome you. You feel that you are not passing through a city, but in a place to return to, I don't know if I'm explaining myself.
- Of the countries you have visited, which do you most want to return to?
Uff... I couldn't tell you, look, I just got back from China about a month ago, and I left there wanting to go back.
- And of those you don't know yet, which one would you like to travel to?
To Sri Lanka, the Cook Islands, New Zealand... All very close. I love traveling very much.
-Will there be life after Andaluchinas? Will we have a third part of your adventures?
In the medium term I have nothing planned in the bittersweet Gazpacho saga, but who knows. However, in March I publish The Big Book of Extraordinary Children , together with Nuria Labari. It is an interactive illustration book for children. Nothing to do with sweet and sour Gazpacho, but I look forward to it with great enthusiasm.