Mar Sancho embarks on endless journeys in the search for truth and beauty. Through her texts she shares with us the knowledge she acquires, and we are all moved by her words.

The author from Valladolid presented two of her works this week at the Casino de Salamanca. The first one was a collection of poems entitled Entre trenes (Between Trains), which was published at the end of 2019 but whose presentation was delayed due to the pandemic. The second one was a recent collection of short stories entitled La insensata vida de los santos (“The reckless life of the saints”).

The title of her collection of poems leaves no room for doubt. Mar, notebook in hand, captures instants of time between journeys, transfers them onto paper, converting us into her travel companions. Mar takes us on five journeys, some of them aboard the Amtrak Cascades and the Trans-Siberian Railway, Moscow – Vladivostok, passing through such variegated places as Vancouver, Seattle, Krasnoyarsk, Mahanadi or San Antonio de los Cobres. In fact, each poem bears the name of a place and takes us amidst its lines just as its streets would do.

Accompanied in Salamanca by poet, Antonio Colinas, Mar Sancho also presented her most recent publication. On this occasion, leaving aside the familiar verse, the saints are the ones who give title to each of the fifteen stories. Once again, the author acquaints us with places, characters and lives that will forever imprint on our minds if we dare delve into this narrative.

Thank you, Mar, for introducing us to your work and teaching us that great life stories happen much before we reach our final destination. 

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.