We spoke with the Vigo-born author who has transformed everyday emotion into language. Life, craft, scars, and a collaboration with UNODEUNO that seeks, above all, to belong.
Vigo, a clear afternoon. Two red armchairs, the scent of curtains and wood. Defreds enters with the gait of someone who recognizes his city by the sounds of its street corners. There's no pretense, just a desire to talk. "It smells of artists," he says. He smiles. Then he leaves a sentence like someone leaving a key: "I hope a picture is always worth a thousand words."
This conversation begins like this. With a declaration of principles that could also be a warning. He's not here to explain himself. His isn't a literary theory or a battle of genres. Defreds is looking for a way to connect with others. "Summarizing many feelings in a very short sentence is very difficult," he adds at one point, almost apologizing for his bluntness. But that difficulty is his home: living attentively, observing the common, writing about what happens to us so that it stops weighing us down.
Defreds doesn't hide behind a persona. He prefers concrete stories: the woman who returned ten years later with her now-grown daughter to another bookstore; the reader who carried his book like a talisman in the hospital; the message that arrives from a bus after a breakup; the last gift from a boyfriend who is no longer there. In all these places, his writing has been both comfort and companion.
This interview is an intimate, one-on-one invitation: to walk through his brief biography, his work ethic and his way of understanding art, and to understand why his collaboration with UNODEUNO happens because of trust and consistency.
Q. We're at the Vigo theater. What phrase inspires you about this place?
Defreds. “Very peaceful, very calm… it smells like artists. I like that.”
Q. You often say that what you do isn't poetry. Where do you place yourself?
Defreds. “I don’t consider myself a poet. I feel comfortable as a writer. Whether they call me a poet, writer, or thinker doesn’t really matter to me; what’s important is that people want them, seek them out, need them.”
Q. Where does a phrase come from that then sticks forever?
Defreds. “From observing life: mine, my family's, the lives of people on the street. I notice the details and what happens to all of us. Sometimes someone tells me: 'this phrase speaks about me.' It speaks about you because it also speaks about me.”
Q. What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you at a signing?
Defreds. “That book was going to be 'the last gift' from someone who was no longer there. That's when you understand that you never know the meaning a phrase might have for another person.”
Q. How do you handle the pressure and criticism?
Defreds. “I put the pressure on myself. I want each book to be better and to take care of the people who follow me. At first, the criticism hurt; I tried to debate. I learned that those who come to insult don't want to talk. I focus on the constructive feedback and the real community.”
Q. What has changed in your profession over the years?
Defreds. “I’ve matured. I’ve learned from publishers, distribution, book fairs… I pick up my latest book and think: 'I really put a lot of work into it.' I wish the first one had been like that. It’s time, it’s experience.”
Q. You've personalized it with 50 phrases from UNODEUNO's Memento Mori series. What made you say yes to this collaboration, in which Marcos Puhinguer also participated?
Defreds. “Confidence. Freedom to devise in my own way, to feel part of it, to dream about the project. And to do something different: to leave my mark on the piece itself.”
Q. Where do those phrases in the collection come from?
Defreds. “95% of them are made for the occasion. I didn’t want to recycle. I wanted different themes: time, friendship, love in all its forms… and also humor. Sometimes four words can make you smile.”
Q. Is art technique or effect?
Defreds. “For me, art is about making people feel something with what you do. It's about not leaving anyone indifferent.”
(If you want to see the full interview, don't miss TheUNO Voice podcast [link] )
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The bodies that read
Defreds' real name is José Ángel Gómez Iglesias, and he was born in Vigo in 1984. He started writing online out of a personal need: to unblock sad days, as he himself confesses. Social media was his first stage, Twitter and then Instagram his subway entrance; the community, the crowded train car at rush hour.
His first book, Almost Without Meaning To , marked a turning point: it demonstrated that the short phrase—that spark that condenses a state of mind—can endure over time and accompany lives. Later came titles such as When You Open the Parachute , 1775 Streets (a cartographic and emotional homage to his city), Sempiterno , Stories of a Castaway , Unconditional , Always … A body of work that moves between intimate aphorism, short story, and everyday observation.
You don't have to be a purist to recognize its reach: hundreds of thousands of readers, massive autograph signings, posters in his city with impromptu dedications (love letters, barbs, memories). Musical collaborations—with Despistaos, among others—and a presence at fairs, festivals, and in the media. But the numbers don't matter to him. What matters to him are the real people who read his work to better understand themselves.
One more thing: if you're looking for the exact label, he'll warn you himself. "I don't write poetry." Nor is he interested in the holy war of genres. His territory lies elsewhere: in the present. The sentence as a mirror where everyone sees a little of themselves, just enough to breathe easier.
The collaboration with UNODEUNO began with a simple gesture: trust. Edu Cabaleiro and the team offered creative freedom and a clear idea: that the phrases wouldn't float around the garment, but would be engraved on it. Not as a distant signature, but as a visible heartbeat. The Underdeep watch from the Memento Mori series , a symbol of UNODEUNO, represents precision, elegance, and the appreciation of time as a precious and fleeting commodity.
Defreds agreed to join our core group of founding artists because he wanted to do something different. Not repeat viral hits, not reprint past glories, not turn his voice into a template. That's why the Memento Mori series brings together new phrases, designed specifically for this community. Some bite, others caress, all belong. But they are all intended to represent a metaphor for how every moment counts and how fashion can be a constant reminder that we must live fully and in sync with our own internal clock.
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And if you've made it this far, you already know: Defreds doesn't write for critics; he writes for you . So you feel accompanied when the day gets tough. So you can believe again that a sentence can save your morning. That's why he was the ideal person for UNODEUNO, a natural fit. Helping us express in words why we believe that what matters most isn't the name you give to what you do, but what you manage to awaken in others.
Sources
The UNO Voice. (sf). The UNO Voice podcast with Offreds.
Defreds. (n.d.). Official biography and career. Defreds official website.
La Vanguardia. (2019, November 26). “I don’t write poetry; I’m not even interested in it.” Interview with Defreds.
Planeta de Libros. (n.d.). Author profile and bibliography of Defreds.
Casa del Libro. (n.d.). Author profile and bibliography of Defreds.
Lecturalia. (n.d.). Author profile and bibliography of Defreds.
Traveler (Condé Nast). (n.d.). Report on 1775 streets and other coverage in the Galician press about Defreds.
Defreds. (n.d.). Portrait of Defreds. Photograph by Juan Lazkano.
