A Caribbean zombie, smart, gentlemanly, financially independent and a top executive in an important pharmaceutical company, becomes obsessed with finding the formula that would reverse his condition and allow him to become “a real person.” In the process, three of his closest collaborators (cerebral and calculating Isadore, wide-eyed and sentimental Mathilde, and rambunctious Patricia), guide … Continue reading Title Pick: Wicked Weeds by Pedro Cabiya
Explaining immigration to children is a challenge. I want my children to have an understanding of the things they hear and the world around them, good and bad. That being said, I also want to protect my child from the most gruesome elements if possible. I turn to books. I have found two recent picture … Continue reading Immigration through the Eyes of a Child
In this launch of our new column on international challenged books, we are focusing on a world-renowned book that many readers never think of as a translation: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Although you may be fully aware that Anne Frank was Dutch, have you ever given any thought to the translator behind … Continue reading International Banned Book Pick: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Wangari Maathai said, “Trees are living symbols of peace and hope.” The trees that she and her Green Belt Movement planted are more than symbols, they are the result of the hard work of the women she enlisted to replant Kenya’s forests, replenish the wildlife, and instill democracy among the people. This simply told story … Continue reading USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees by Franck Prévot
Few have written more memorably about the work of poetry and the poetics of work than Juan Ramón Jiménez, winner of a Nobel Prize and discerning teacher of an entire generation of Spanish poets. In this series of aphorisms, Jiménez brings together the elements of perfect work, both in writing and in other realms. Among … Continue reading Title Pick: The Complete Perfectionist by Juan Ramón Jiménez
SS Winnipeg was Neruda’s Winged Fugitive Ark for war refugees. Where are such grand gestures today? Stateless and dispossessed persons in the world today amount to a towering 65 million. If we are to trust the "census" of such an unstable and stateless population, it is the highest number of refugees in recorded history (at … Continue reading Valparaíso-Bound: Neruda’s Ark
MISSION MVP — The nonprofit publishing arm of Americas for Conservation + the Arts, MVP is one of only a handful of publishers dedicated to connecting the literature of the Americas. We unite the works of the best writers of Central and South America with the leading ethnic and minority writers of North America . MVP … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Mandel Vilar Press
Don Quixote de La Mancha is the greatest literary work to come from Spain, the first novel, written by the pen of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It is also one of the most translated books in the world. The novel was published in two volumes, the first book published in 1605 and the second in … Continue reading Don Quixote de La Mancha: Timeless Message of Hope and Chivalry
Inspector Mario Conde is back in a sweeping novel of art theft, anti-semitism and family tragedy. From Cuba during WWII to 17th Century Amsterdam and back to Havana today. In 1939, the Saint Louis sails from Hamburg into Havana’s port with hundreds of Jewish refugees seeking asylum from the Nazi regime. From the docks, nine-year-old Daniel Kaminsky … Continue reading Title Pick: Heretics by Leonardo Padura
A large, ungainly coach, a sort of Noah’s ark stuffed with passengers, lumbered slowly and with difficulty down the wide, muddy roads of the town of Miloslavka. The pair of horses, so gaunt their ribs protruded, kept stumbling and swaying off course. The coach rocked and twisted like a ship in a storm, rose and … Continue reading Excerpt: Pioneers: The First Breach by S. An-sky
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 