A thrilling journey in search of the legendary malambo dance of Argentina, and one Gaucho who faces the biggest contest of his life Every year, at the height of summer, the remote Argentinian village of Laborde holds the prestigious national malambo contest. Little known outside the Argentinian pampas, the malambo is a centuries-old gaucho dance, … Continue reading Title Pick: A Simple Story by Leila Guerriero
Hanan Harawi (which in Quechua means “poetry from above) is an independent publishing house specializing in international poetry based in Lima, Peru. According to its founding editor, the poet John Martínez González, Hanan Harawi seeks to connect audiences to a diverse array of contemporary Latin American poets and writers ‘’without blogs, posts, or web-anthologies. While … Continue reading Hanan Harawi’s Insurrection
Uncle Tito introduces Juan to his library, which proves to be an enormous place one can easily get lost in. He uses this opportunity to hint at the existence of The Wild Book, as well as Juan’s true nature as a “Lector Princeps”. Juan receives a postcard from his estranged father; this new adventure therefore … Continue reading Excerpt: The Wild Book by Juan Villoro
Sephardic Jews and the Spanish Language offers an incomparable lens into the transnational exchanges between Spanish politician, Ángel Pulido, and a handful of prominent Spanish Jews across Eastern Europe and Turkey. Pulido's acquaintances, whom he met during his travels in the Balkans, were the descendants of the exiled Spanish Jews of the infamous 1493 Inquisition. … Continue reading Review: Sephardic Jews and the Spanish Language by Ángel Pulido
A SPANIARD TRAVELING almost anywhere in Europe, especially in the East or the South, typically will have this pleasant surprise: On his train or his ship, or at shops in countries and cities with native languages radically different from his own, he will notice strangers eavesdropping on his Spanish with astonishing frequency. They will listen … Continue reading Excerpt: Sephardic Jews and the Spanish Language by Ángel Pulido
Darkness engulfed the mountain plateau and Aníbal Coloma’s restless sleep. In the bleak and hostile night, terror materialized as two distant points of light. A pair of tired but vigilant eyes caught them as they suddenly appeared, little more than pinpricks, emerging faintly in the dark. The moment he spies them, he tenses and stands … Continue reading Excerpt: Silent Shadows by Sanz Irles
The Mission of Swan Isle Press Swan Isle Press is an independent, not-for-profit, literary publisher dedicated to publishing works of poetry, fiction and nonfiction that inspire and educate while advancing the knowledge and appreciation of literature, art, and culture. Since its inception in 1999, a special interest of the Press is publishing books related to … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Swan Isle Press
by Kathryn Bodnar The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo; translated from the Spanish by Isabelle Kaufeler; Atria Books 2016 Following in the strong tradition of the Spanish novela negra, The Invisible Guardian is the first of Dolores Redondo’s Baztán trilogy. This crime thriller blends traditional elements of the genre with mythologies and superstitions of … Continue reading Book Review: The Invisible Guardian
Loosely based on the little-known 1859 Mexican invasion of the United States, Carmen Boullosa’s newest novel Texas: The Great Theft is a richly imagined evocation of the volatile Tex-Mex borderland, wrested from Mexico in 1848. Described by Roberto Bolaño as “Mexico’s greatest woman writer,” Boullosa views the border history through distinctly Mexican eyes, and her sympathetic portrayal … Continue reading Title Pick: Carmen Boullosa, Texas: The Great Theft
Reprinted with permission from Returnings: Poems of Love and Distance By Rafael Alberti Translated from Spanish by Carolyn L. Tipton English translation copyright © 2016 by White Pine Press ISBN 1935210912 RETURNING ON A SPRING MORNING With the same uncountable number of waves —wave upon wave—you’ve continually raised from the time of your blue birth, … Continue reading Returnings: Poems of Love and Distance by Rafael Alberti
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 