“Four by Four” by Sara Mesa
Below is an excerpt from Four by Four by Sara Mesa, translated by Katie Whittemore. To give you a bit of context, I'm including the synopsis that Katie sent us with her original sample: The novel is composed of three sections, each written in a distinct narrative voice and style. In Part One, we are introduced to ...
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Why Are Meritocracy [Two Castilian Books]
I have two books that I want to talk about this week, and one related publishing/cultural issue, but before I get into all of that, I thought it would be interesting to dig a bit into some of the data from last week's "Spain By the Numbers" post. As I mentioned in that same post, over the course of this month, I'm going to ...
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Interview with Katie Whittemore
We're starting out this month's focus on Spanish literature with a look at a couple Castilian authors, especially Sara Mesa, whose works Open Letter will be publishing in 2020. Because I'm a bit impatient, I thought I'd introduce her to you now, via a sample of Four by Four (available on 1/9), a short piece on her ...
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Why This Book Should Win – Things Look Different in the Light by BTBA Judge Madeleine LaRue
Madeleine LaRue is Associate Editor and Director of Publicity of Music & Literature. Things Look Different in the Light and Other Stories – Merdardo Fraile, Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa, Spain Pushkin Press For most of us, Things Look Different in the Light arrived late in the game. My ...
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A Few Reasons to Publish Juan Marse's The Fallen
A few of Juan Marse’s books are available in the UK, but all the U.S. versions appear to be out of print. Which is a shame—based on the report below, The Fallen sounds spectacular: Official Censorship Report of 1973 on Si te dicen que cai (The Fallen) SECOND REPORT Author: Juan Marse Title: Si te dicen que cai ...
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Rafael Chirbes wins Spain's National Critics Prize
Spanish author Rafael Chirbes has recently been awarded Spain’s National Critic’s Prize for his novel Crematorio, which, according to Ángel Basanto of El Mundo, “takes on shady business dealings perpetrated by the outrageous capitalism of recent years with bravery and clarity, and delves into the intimate ...
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