In this week’s round-up of global literary goings-on, our editors report on efforts to highlight queer Armenian literature, plurilingual Argentine writing, and a Guatemalan festival that seeks to redress fragmented memories through art and literature. Read on to find out more!
Josefina Massot, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Argentina
Last Thursday, New York-based writer and critic Sylvia Molloy passed away at the age of eighty-three. She was, among other things, a pioneer—the first woman to gain tenure at Princeton University back in the seventies, the first person to found a U.S. writing program in Spanish, and, perhaps most notably, the first Argentine author to really tackle LGBTTIQ+ culture in her work; her debut novel “En breve cárcel” (1981), an icon of queer literature, was written during the Argentine dictatorship and first published in Spain to avoid persecution.
Molloy established a fruitful link between queer themes and translation: “queer means twisted, weird, out of place, and if people think my texts deviate from the norm, so much the better,” she once said. “I’m interested in texts that take unusual turns, including those that go from one language to another. I’ve always had that sort of linguistic conflict, because I write in Spanish but will often explore phrases in other languages.”
Translation at large was central to Molloy, who grew up speaking Spanish, English, and French. Her short essay collection Vivir entre lenguas (Living Between Languages) is an attempt to portray this plurilingual experience. While her own English version of the work hasn’t been published in full, an excerpt did run in Asymptote’s Fall 2019 issue; meanwhile, her brilliant Desarticulaciones will be released by Charco Press in both Spanish and English.
As we bid adieu to one of our greats, we also welcome a newcomer—the latest press to sprout up in Argentina’s bustling indie ecosystem. Sergio Criscolo’s Híbrida has just published its first four titles, all by South American authors: Aspas by Belén Zavallo, El placer de abandonar by Schoë Blintsjia, El corazón adelante by press co-editor Humphrey Inzillo (all three of them, Argentines), and Elis Regina, una biografía musical by the Brazilian Arthur de Faria. The first is a book of poetry; the second, a debut novel; the third, a collection of journalistic columns; the fourth, a translation into rioplatense (rather than neutral) Spanish.
This motley mix reflects the press’s core philosophy: “being hybrid,” said Criscolo in conversation with Argentina’s Télam, “is upholding the freedom to publish whatever we feel like without having to pigeonhole a text.” What do these titles have in common, then? They’re “well-written books with a gripping story to tell [. . .] smart books that speak to the masses, that don’t require you to have read all of Saer, or Gombrowicz, or Joyce’s Ulysses in order to enjoy them.” We look forward to enjoying them, then, and many other Híbrida releases, in the very near future.
Kristina Tatarian, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Armenia
“At the crack of dawn, / With its fiery rays, / The sun seemed to me, / A poet ablaze”—this quatrain from the renowned Georgian translator and poet Diana Ukleba inspired the most invigorating literary event of the summer in Armenia: A Burning Poet, a collective trilingual literary experimentation and transformative action campaign. Ukleba’s marriage to the famous Armenian artist Giotto contextualised the unity of poetic traditions in Armenia and Georgia, reviving artistic dialogue through poetry recitals in three languages and parallel translations produced by poets. Organised in the framework of PoLitPEN in the first weeks of June by global leaders of PEN in Armenia, Georgia and the US, A Burning Poet gathered some of the most well-known Armenian, Georgian and English-speaking poets for panel discussions, workshops, and stand-up poetry readings. The overarching mission of the event was to raise awareness about some of the most burning themes embedded in the history, culture, and languages of the South Caucasus region—all of which was manifested in the very name of the event.
Another notable event that took place within the Armenian literary scene was in celebration of LGBTQ Pride Month in June. In partnership with The Hye-Phen Mag and the Queer Armenian Library, the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) has launched The Future of Armenian Publishing is Queer to showcase the works of some of the most prominent queer writers in Armenia. This initiative exhibited the power of the community to introduce novel literary movements around the ideals of freedom and courage, presenting queer Armenian writers as pioneering the liminal spaces between cultural frontiers and identity. Another recent IALA initiative that kicked off this summer was created to invigorate the literary scene: the Second Annual Mentorship Programme invited emerging Armenian writers and established authors to join and produce art together, with the aim of bringing new voices to the forefront. It has been two years since this outstanding program embarked on a mission to encourage experimentation and nourish literary talent in Armenia, and it is encouraging to see how IALA has created a place where any curious reader can witness the making of Armenian contemporary literature.
Rubén López, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Guatemala
Guatemala hosted the eighth Centroamérica Cuenta festival. This event, which annually gathers dozens of Iberoamerican storytellers and filmmakers, encourages critical thinking through art and literature. It was founded in 2013 by the Cervantes Award winner and Nicaraguan poet Sergio Ramírez, and this year’s edition honored the memory of Spanish writer Almudena Grandes, who had participated the festival in several occasions.
The aim of Centroamérica Cuenta is to thread together remnants of memory in a landscape shattered by repression, authoritarianism, and censorship of the press. The organizers see a political exercise in writing—one that seeks freedom to name the open wounds of the region’s history. As festival director Claudia Neira said: “It’s a responsibility to include the topic of freedom, human rights, and governance. Those matters are inherent to literature [. . .] because you can’t create in captivity.” This year the event gathered more than thirty narrators, most of them Spanish speakers, including the Chilean writer and journalist, Christian Alarcón (winner of Premio Alfaguara 2022); journalist Francisco Goldman; Uruguayan writer Fernanda Trías (winner of Premio Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 2021); Colombian writer Laura Restrepo; Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli; and Chilean writer Nona Fernández, among others.
The Spanish philosopher, Elizabeth Duval, wrote about her experience in the festival: “There were repeated topics, almost none of them unfamiliar. When we discussed the definition of genocide and José Efrain Rios Montt’s trial [former Guatemalan president convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide in 2013], I acknowledged the problems in judging our own crimes, the crimes of Spain’s history.”
However, words serve not only to define the scars that history has carved, but to imagine and build a hopeful future. As the Guatemalan writer stated: “Humans are monkeys that tell stories.” In that sense, storytelling is a fundamental part for humanity, and also a place to assemble a horizon where human dignity and freedom are possible.
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