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“Maná” is a novel published by the Valencian publishing house Carena, directed by Quique Olmos, and is the result of more than two years of work by the biotechnologist Daniel Ramón and the writer and critic Pedro Uris. This project began because of the idea of the former bookseller and publisher Luis Andrés, who put them in contact with each other and encouraged them to enter the world of scientific literature. 

 

Daniel Ramón, who completed his doctoral studies on biological sciences at the University of Valencia, is currently the scientific director of Biópolis SL. Ramón, advisory member of the Chair for Scientific Dissemination at the University of Valencia, was awarded with the European Award for Scientific Dissemination Estudi General (General Study) for the work “Els gens que mengem” (“The genes that we eat”). Pedro Uris, writer, critic and filmmaker, collaborates with “Cartelera Turia” and is the author of the novel “Cita con la eternidad” (“Appointment with eternity”).

 

The main characters of the work are a  group of scientists who 20 years ago dreamt with doing a discovery that would end with the hunger in the world: the manna. But this dream has turned into a nightmare. A Dutch scientist dies after falling down a cliff in a deserted area in Northern Europe. Apparently it is an accident. In Helsinki, a Chilean scientist is killed by a rent boy. Apparently, it is a sexual crime, but that very same night a group of vandals destroy his laboratories and paint the walls with messages against transgenic food. In Berlin, a German scientist dies during an attempt against his laboratories, that the police attribute to a group of anti-system radicals. Apparently, a tragic coincidence. Before dying, the German scientist has sent a message to his daughter, an activist to whom he did not even talked with, in which he asks her to contact a Spanish colleague who will hold the scientist direction of an important company of the biotechnological sector and that was held by the Dutch scientist. This Spanish scientist is, in addition, the fourth man of that night of the past. He was the only one who did not pursue the dream, but that will live now the nightmare. 

 

The authors have commit themselves to a novel that combines the intriguing cinematographic story line with the scientific dissemination. And that covers topics such as transgenic food and others that provoke social debates. The work is suitable for all publics and intends to encourage the reader to debate and reflect.  

 

The novel will be presented by the publisher Luis Andrés, the Principal of the University of Valencia, Esteban Morcillo, and José Pío Beltrán, delegate of the CSIC in the Valencian Community.