This month, August, is a chance to celebrate women in translation, specifically women authors who’s works have been translated. There’s so much good translated literature out there. For this month, I’ll be sharing some inspiration from women authors all around the world who have had their work translated into English.
I know a lot of people read works translated from English (or other languages) into their own language. There’s so much important translation work that needs to be done to make works more accessible to the world. But since I only read in English, I’m going to be highlighting works that have been translated into English.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be focusing on independent book publishers that focus on publishing works in translation.
For this week, we’ll be highlighting Charco Press.
Charco Press focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world.
Source: https://charcopress.com/about
Charco Press is an independent publishing house that is based in Edinburgh, UK, but that focuses on translating Latin American fiction into English. It was founded in 2016 to bring more diversity to the Latin American literature that is studied and available to the English speaking world.
Charco means ‘puddle’ in Spanish. It is also a colloquialism used in some Latin American countries to refer to the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, cruzar el charco means ‘crossing the puddle’ and is a way of referring to when someone is going overseas, or travelling between continents.
Source: https://charcopress.com/about
Charco Press aims to make the best of contemporary Latin American literature more accessible to the English world. They actively seek out the best authors and works from Latin America, along with finding contemporary translators to bring talent from the margins into the spotlight.
I think all of this is fantastic. It’s so important to highlight the work being done around the world to make literature more accessible to others.
Personally, I haven’t read much Latin American literature. I want to read more, and I want to delve deeper into the nuances of the region.
At the moment, I’m based in Asia, so I’m more focused on reading and learning about work from this region. Plus it’s easier to access books from this region while I’m living here.
For now, I’m just starting to dabble in Latin American literature, and later I’m hoping to truly dive into the depths.
If you’re also starting to dabble or looking for more options within Latin American literature, I would greatly recommend checking out Charco Press, you can read more on their website or on wikipedia.
Five translated books written by women from Charco Press
Here’s a list of five translated books written by women from Charco Press
- Theatre of War / Escenario de guerra by Andrea Jeftanovic (2000)
Chile - Byobu / El abc de byobu by Ida Vitale (2004)
Uruguay - Elena Knows / Elena sabe by Claudia Piñeiro (2007)
Argentina - Of Cattle and Men / De Gados e Homens by Ana Paula Maia (2013)
Brazil - Salt Crystals / Los Cristales de la Sal by Cristina Bendek (2018)
Columbia
Keep reading to find out more about each one. I’ve listed them in order of when they were published.
Theatre of War / Escenario de guerra (2000) – Chile
by Andrea Jeftanovic,
Translated from the Spanish (Chile) by Frances Riddle
- Year Published: 2000
English version in 2020 - Storygraph Categories:
fiction, literary, emotional, reflective, slow-paced
A powerful novel depicting the devastating psychological effects of war, political violence and domestic abuse. This is a story narrated from the point of view of a nine-year old girl, Tamara, who takes in the intricacies of the survival strategies of the world she inherits, marked by poverty, unspeakable trauma, trapped scenarios. Theatre of War takes us on a desolate journey into the reconstruction of memory – a universal question that here turns into a reflection on how giant historical events can affect the seemingly insignificant lives of nameless individuals. Tamara, protagonist and narrator, faces the ghosts of a very tangible past that includes her father’s war (an immigrant from former Yugoslavia), a very conflictive family life, suicides, lost landscapes, inherited trauma, absent siblings and a mother who, due to an undefined illness, has suffered from partial memory loss and cannot recognise her own daughter.
Andrea Jeftanovic’s debut novel, is an exploration of the empty theatre of operations her memory provides for the domestic war she was part of as a child. The Chilean novelist approaches the ruins of memory to source from them the love needed to build her identity as an adult. An impressive, sensitive, harrowing, widely praised first novel from one of the most important female novelists of Latin America.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Byobu / El abc de byobu (2004) – Uruguay
by Ida Vitale,
Translated from the Spanish (Uruguay) by Sean Manning
- Year Published: 2004
English version in 2021 - Storygraph Categories:
fiction, contemporary, literary, challenging, reflective, medium-paced - Well-known poet in Uruguay
- She just turned 100 years old in November 2023!
Byobu’s every interaction trembles with possibility and faint menace. A crack in the walls of his house, marring it forever, means he must burn it down. A stoplight asks what the value of obedience is, what hopefulness it contains, and what insensible anarchy it defies. In brief episodes, aphorisms, and moments of spiritual turbulence and gentle scrutiny, reside a wealth of habits, worries, curiosities, pleasures, peculiarities, and efforts to understand.
Representative of the modesty and complexity of Ida Vitale’s poetic universe, Byobu flushes the world with meaning and playfully offers another way of inhabiting the every day.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Elena Knows / Elena sabe (2007) – Argentina
by Claudia Piñeiro,
Translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Frances Riddle
- Year Published: 2007
English version in 2021 - Storygraph Categories:
fiction, contemporary, crime, literary, mystery, emotional, reflective, sad, medium-paced - Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022
A unique tale that interweaves crime fiction with intimate tales of morality and search for individual freedom.
After Rita is found dead in the bell tower of the church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation,
Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Of Cattle and Men / De Gados e Homens (2013) – Brazil
by Ana Paula Maia,
Translated from the Portuguese (Brazil) by Zoë Perry
- Year Published: 2013
English version in 2023 - Storygraph Categories:
fiction, literary, dark, mysterious, reflective, medium-paced
Animals go mad and men die (accidentally and not) at a slaughterhouse in an impoverished, isolated corner of Brazil.
In a landscape worthy of Cormac McCarthy, the river runs septic and sludgy with blood. Edgar Wilson makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of a cow, then stuns it with a mallet. He does this over and over and over again, the stun operator at Mr. Milo’s slaughterhouse: reliable, responsible, quietly dispatching cows and following orders, wherever that may take him. It’s important to calm the cows, especially now that they seem so unsettled. One runs headlong into the side of a barn, 22 more hurl themselves off the side of a cliff. Bronco Gil, their foreman, thinks it’s a jaguar or a wild boar, Edgar Wilson does not. But what is certain is that there is something in this desolate corner of Brazil driving men, and animals, to murder and madness.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Salt Crystals / Los Cristales de la Sal (2018) – Columbia
by Cristina Bendek,
Translated from the Spanish (Columbia) by Robin Myers
- Year Published: 2018
English version in 2022 - Storygraph Categories:
fiction contemporary challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
Returning to the island of San Andrés, in the Caribbean Sea, after many years living in Mexico, forces Verónica Baruq, our main character, to question her relationship with her origins. An intriguing photograph of her great-grandparents and an eerie encounter with Maa Josephine, a Raizal old woman who she meets outside the First Baptiste Church, are only a couple of the triggers that begin to reveal the truth about her background. Her past not only puts the protagonist in contact with the island’s unknown history, but it also helps her understand the social movements which, between zouk and calypso, celebrate the Raizal identity, carry out ‘thinking rundowns’ and above all, resist.
A fascinating bildungsroman that brings to the fore the untold stories of the Afro-Caribbean population that inhabit this forgotten paradise.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Final thoughts
I hope you found something of interest in this list of books published by Charco Press.
Are you familiar with Charco Press? If so, I’d love to hear which books you enjoyed from their collection or which books you are excited to read.
Do you know of any other independent publishers like Charco Press? I’d love to hear all about them in a comment below!
