By Agustina Bazterrica, Translated from Spanish by Sarah Moses

In a world where a virus makes it impossible to eat animal meat, this dystopian novel explores a world in which humans are factory-farmed for meat and where cannibalism is the norm. It is gripping and disturbing, exploring the way in which seemingly “good” people justify evil in order to conform. The book is a clear critique of the meat industry. On describing the motivation for the novel Agustina said in an interview with The Irish Times, that:

“To me, a steak is now a piece of a corpse. One day I was walking by a butcher’s shop and all I saw were bodies of animals hanging down and I thought, “Why can’t those be human corpses? After all we are animals, we are flesh.” And that’s how the idea for the novel emerged.”

The book is not just a critique of the meat industry, but also capitalism itself and the way in which we devour each other. A work of fiction for us, but the very real reality for billions of animals across the world.

“I have always believed that in our capitalist, consumerist society, we devour each other …”

– Agustina Bazterrica, Interview

Title: Tender is the Flesh

Author: Agustina Bazterrica

Translator: Sarah Moses

ISBN: 978-1782276203

Publsiher: Pushkin Press

Agustina Bazterrica is a vegetarian writer from Argentina, she has received several awards for her writing, including the Premio Clarín Novela which was awarded for this book. Tender is the Flesh has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Sarah lives between Buenos Aires and Toronto, her writing and translations have appeared in print and online, in Asymptote, Brick, Event, Harper’s Magazine and elsewhere.

Abdourahamane Ly, guest curator for Veganuary at Global Literature in Libraries Initiative, has been vegan for the past seven years now. He is extremely passionate about animal rights and encouraging more humans, especially Africans, to go vegan. He was born in Guinea in West Africa but spent the last 13 years in China. He is currently in Rwanda spreading the vegan message. You can follow him on Instagram at @fulanivegan and X at @fulanivegan.