Asphalte (France) acquires rights of 'La otra isla', by Francisco Suniaga

We are glad to announce that Asphalte Éditions (France) has acquired rights of 'La otra isla' (The Other Island), by Venezuelan author Francisco Suniaga. Rights of this novel have also been acquired by Mare Verlag (Germany). Below you can see more information about 'La otra isla': 

 (...) A masterwork that will remain. (...) I hadn't read a book with such mastery of the craft of a novelist for a long time. 
- Jean F. Fogel, 'El Boomeran(g)'

 'La otra isla' is a novel that has enjoyed a great success in Venezuela, where it was first published in 2005 by a small publishing house, selling up to 15.000 copies. A truly best seller figure for a country like Venezuela. It was the first published novel by Francisco Suniaga, who now is an author of Random House Venezuela. Mare Verlag (Germany) published its translation into German last summer.

 'La otra isla' takes place in Isla Margarita (Caribbean Sea), but the island that is depicted to us is far away from the cliché of the Caribbean and the white sands beaches. 'La otra isla' is a lively and accomplished novel that takes the structure of a detective novel and adapts it to the chaotic, unpredictable and generally unsatisfactory way in which things – anything – tend to happen in Venezuela. 

 Edeltraud Kreutzer, a German mother, arrives suddenly to the Island to try to solve the mystery surrounding the death of his son Wolfgang. He drowned in the sea under unclear circumstances. Wolfgang had been living on the island for some years. He arrived there with his girlfriend as tourists and decided to remain on the island an run a bar for tourists by the sea. To help her overcome the language and the bureaucratic barriers, Edeltraud hires the services of a local lawyer, Alberto Benítez.

 Benítez was once a talented young professional, full of dreams, but after a few years working in the country's capital city, where he saw how his dreams of a better future were unattainable, he's back in the island with little expectations and less hope. He will confirm how it becomes impossible to count on the authorities's complicity and collaboration and, frustrated, will be of little help to Edeltraud. 

But he will also have access to people who knew Wolfgang and, thus, will learn who he was and will listen to different verisons about the cause of his death. Apparently, Wolfgang became obsessed with the world of cock fights, to the point that he left his bussiness and his relationship unattended...

Nord/Mauri Spagnol pre-empts 'Miel y almendras', a novel by Maha Akhtar, in Italy.

We are happy to announce that publishing house Nord (part of the Mauri Spagnol Group) has acquired Italian rights of 'Miel y almendras' (Honey and Almonds), by Maha Akhtar, in a pre-empt. The novel is published in Spain by Roca Editorial. The third reprint has just been ordered this week. 

Miel y Almendras (Honey and Almonds), by Maha Akhtar 

RocaEditorial, 2012 (469 pp.) 

 A small group of women from different social backgrounds meet at Lebanon’s Beauty Saloon Cleopatra. Their fears, mistakes and the wish to rebuild their lives are at the centre of ‘Miel y almendras’, an exotic novel in which it is easy to recognise bits of our own lives. 

 Miel y almendras is built up by the stories of different women, who meet at the small beauty saloon ‘Cleopatra’, in Beirut. Mouna, the owner, is 37 and remains unmarried. Her mother still criticises the way she dresses and her make up. Besides, she is having serious difficulties to keep the bussiness running. The Cleopatra lived better moments when the neighbourhood where it is located was a chic area of Beirut. Now, after the civil war its decay is obvious. 

 But by chance, four of the most important women in the country become her regular clients. Each of them has her own story and readers learn them as the novel develops. The stories told by these women show the contradictions but also the advantages of living in a country where the West and the East converge. Despite the differences in social class and their arguments about modernity and tradition, the Cleopatra becomes a particular Oasis for these women as when they meet in this women-only small paradise they can talk and discuss freely about their lives, their hopes, their frustrations... without the feeling that a patriarchal society is watching or judging them. 

 They will also unfold the difficult situation of the country, with a recent history marked by the Civil War that ended up in 1990. The war and its consequences has also played an important role in their private lives. 

Rights sold: Italy (Nord/Mauri Spagnol)

 Maha Akhtar (Beirut, 1963) is an American journalist and writer based in New York. Raised up in the UK and with Indian and Spanish ancestors. Years ago she was PR of the famous band ‘The Cure’ and later she began her career in journalism becoming a producer for CBS News’s Evening News With Dan Rather, 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. She is the author of two successful non-fiction books in Spain: La nieta de la Maharaní and La princesa perdida. Both inspired in her family’s story and in the discovery that one of her grandmothers was a Spanish dancer who married the Maharaja of Kapurthala (India).

Más elogios para 'Un montón de gatos', de Eider Rodríguez

Encontramos en este blog, los comentarios de otro lector entusiasmado con 'Un montón de gatos', de Eider Rodríguez (Caballo de Troya).


Aquí el link a la entrada completa. Y aquí abajo un extracto:

¡Menuda escritora! No todos sus relatos son geniales, en cualquiera de los dos 
libros que he leído de ella, pero unos cuantos alcanzan ese calificativo, sin duda, 
en especial en Un montón de gatos. Con acidez, saña, frialdad, Eider Rodríguez 
descubre y desmenuza un buen puñado de reacciones humanas, ay, demasiado 
humanas (...) la autora brilla especialmente en la crueldad, en las espinas, en la 
sugerencia de muchos miedos y mezquindades, en la mostración escueta y fría
de cómo somos una cosa y mostramos otra. (...) Qué relatos. En este último libro,
Un montón de gatos, cinco de los ocho que lo forman, Gatos, La muela, El verano
de Omar, Capitalismo, Louis Vuitton, los he leído y releído con creciente
admiración. Además, he aprendido o recordado unas cuantas cosas sobre las
mujeres con la sabia mirada de Eider Rodríguez, una escritora de la que ya ansío
nuevas historias.

Destek Publishing (Turkey) acquires rights of 'Hierba Santa'/'The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo'

Destek Publishing, in Turkey, is the last international publisher to acquire rights of 'Hierba Santa' ('The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo'), by F.G. Haghenbeck. With over 45.000 copies sold in Germany (published by Insel/Suhrkamp), the novel (originally published in Mexico by Editorial Planeta) will be released in the USA by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster this fall. With this recent rights sale, the novel will be available in 12 languages. 

In a rich, luscious style bordering on magical realism, Haghenbeck takes readers on an intriguing ride through Frida’s life, including her long and tumultuous relationship with her lover Diego Rivera, the development of her artistic vision, her complex personality, her lust for life, and her existential feminism. The book also includes Mexican food receipes and stories about the remarkable people who were a part of her life, including Georgia O'Keeffe (with whom she had an affair), Trotsky, Nelson Rockefeller, Hemingway, Dos Passos, Henry Miller, and Dalí. 

‘Hierba Santa’/’The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo’  was originally published by Editorial Planeta Mexicana, (2009). 

Foreign rights have already been sold to: Atria Boooks (World Engl.), Rizzoli (Italy) Suhrkamp/Insel (Germany), Orlando Publishers/Bruna (The Netherlands), Planeta Brasil (Brazil), Shangai 99 (China), Éditions de l'Herne (France), Ivan Rotta (Finland), Alnari Publishing (Serbia), Libri Publishing (Hungary) and Destek Publishers (Turkey).