Alana S. Portero’s Bad Habit is, above all, a fierce and moving story about growing up as a girl, and later an adult woman, living in a body in which she feels trapped. This captivity is built on experiences and happenings from her earliest childhood, in which she was surrounded by violence of all kinds, primarily directed at those who resembled her or with whom she identified, but also on small and everyday situations and comments that let her know that what she wanted was wrong and unacceptable and that the consequences were disastrous. In addition, it is also a story about growing up in the 1980s and 1990s in the poor neighborhood of San Blas on the outskirts of Madrid, and therefore a picture of inequality and class differences in “a neighborhood without mothers, where unschooled children opened the doors of their homes.” However, all this violence, cruelty and filth is nevertheless opposed by a series of small and large gestures that show love, warmth and solidarity. In the end, a ray of light reappears, giving hope for a better future without the fear of being punished if she shows her true face. Because authentically living one’s own identity is an essential need that will always find a way to be fulfilled.
Alana S. Portero (Madrid, 1978) is a historian by profession, an expert in medieval history. She is a writer, playwright, theatre director and co-founder of the theatre group STRIGA. She writes for various media outlets on culture, feminism and LGBT activism with a specific focus on the reality of trans women, such as Agente Provocador, Eldiario.es, El Salto Diario, SModa and Vogue, and on her own Patreon profile. Bad Habit is her first novel, which has been translated into English, Italian, Portuguese, French, Dutch and German.
Price: 13 EUR
You can purchase the book at the Domino association at Petrinjska 38 for €13.
Original title: Alana S. Portero: La mala costumbre
Translation: Nikolina Židek
Author: Alana S. Portero
Title: Bad habit
Title of the original: La mala costumbre
Publisher: Domino Association
Editor: Zvonimir Dobrović
Translation: Nikolina Židek
Proofreading: Ana Vnučec
Layout: Designed Motion
Cover design: Bruno Isaković
For the publisher: Zvonimir Dobrović
Circulation: 400
Print: booksfactory.hr
Year of publication: February 2025, Zagreb
ISBN – 978-953-7730-38-3
Price: €13.00
The book was published with the support of the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb.
All rights reserved.
