Baile del Sol (Spain) will publish Ricardo Adolfo's 'Depois de morrer aconteceram-me muitas cosas'

Ediciones Baile del Sol has just acquired translation rights into Spanish of Ricardo Adolfo's novel 'Depois de morrer aconteceram-me muitas cosas'. The novel will be published in 2011.

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Lots Happened to Me After I Died

by Ricardo Adolfo

Alfaguara Portugal, 2009

* Included in the list of the Best Books published in Portugal in 2009 (Ler Magazine)

“From Amsterdam, where he lives, young Portuguese writer Ricardo Adolfo observes his country with fierce and slashing irony. Only from afar can you see this close. A writer that Portugal needs to discover.”

José Eduardo Agualusa -Winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2007

“The new Portuguese literature has to go through here.”

valter hugo mãe - Winner of the José Saramago Literary Award 2007

"If an Author is easily identified by an originality of style, a coherence of inspiration and a capacity to impress, then Ricardo Adolfo is clearly, along with João Tordo, the most notable writer of his generation". Newspaper Sol (Portugal)

Lots Happened to Me After I Died, by Ricardo Adolfo, was selected as the first and leading title in Portuguese language to be published by Alfaguara Portugal, the Portuguese branch of Santillana Group (Spain), launched in September 2009.

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A young couple and their son, recently arrived illegal immigrants in a big city, are left stranded halfway home when their tube train breaks down. It soon becomes clear they don’t know any alternative route home – and nor can they ask for help as they don’t speak a word of the local language.

Confused, they walk through streets carrying their son inside a newly bought suitcase that doubles as a pram. By turns they are chased by two frightened women in hijab, abandoned by a runaway bus driver, robbed by a gang of street kids, and finally end up stealing a spare sleeping bag from a homeless man. The family’s traditional Sunday outing around the shopping streets – streets littered with bankruptcies and boarded-up façades – becomes a 24-hour marathon of revelations and confrontations that could make the couple inseparable, or could tear them apart.

Narrated by the husband, a loner locked inside his own mind, who believes that to make a good decision he has to do just the opposite of what he thinks is right, the novel explores the internal fight of someone forced into seclusion because he is unable to communicate with the world around him.

Combining a fast-paced narrative, quirky dialogues and a strong visual sense with an unflinching social conscience, Lots Happened to Me After I Died exposes the struggle of ‘internal’ immigration – much more overwhelming than any physical displacement.

Ricardo Adolfo is an Angolan-born Portuguese writer. Currently he is based between London and Amsterdam. In 2006 Dom Quixote published his debut novel Mizé. Mizé was very well received in Portugal and has subsequently been translated into Spanish (Suma) under the title of La peluquera de Lisboa, German (Berlin Verlag/Bloomsbury Berlin) and Dutch (Querido).

This year it has been reprinted in Portugal by Alfaguara Portugal.

In 2007 he was creative consultant of the short film There’s Only One Sun, shot by award-winning director Wong Kar-Wai. (See it here)

Lots Happened to Me After I Died is Ricardo’s third book and continues to explore some of the author’s favourite themes, such as the mixture between the banal and the uncanny, and the peaks of tension in the ordinary and mundane.

His writing has been praised for its “…maverick writing, sober and elevated, with an amazingly fine-tuned sense of oral syntax. The dialogue is perfect. Nothing in literature is harder than ‘natural dialogue’…” Fernando Venâncio, writer and critic.

* “Lots happened to me after I died” is a big, enjoyable surprise. Ricardo Adolfo is able to easily pass on those problems that are common to all emigrants: from feeling invisible in the host country, to the uncertainty about the future, the exploitation suffered, the quest for symbols of personal success, etc.

“Diario Digital” (Portugal)

'Trago amargo' by F.G. Haghenbeck will be out in Serbia in December

Trago amargo is a story of intrigue, an accurate historical depiction of Hollywood, a very unique ambience and a funny compendium of the best and most famous cocktails of the world. It also has tastes of road movie, adventure and detective stories.

Originally published by Joaquín Mortiz (México) is one of those stories that ‘one writes at ease, like being at home’ says Francisco Gerardo Haghenbeck, its author (Mexico City, 1965). With this work the author was unanimously awarded the National Una Vuelta de Tuerca Award to the best crime novel in Mexico. (2006).

At the beginning of the 70s, John Huston decides to shoot his film The Night of the Iguana (based on the play by Tennessee Williams) in a virgin lanscape very close to Puerto Vallarta (Mexico). An impressive crew of Holywood starts is to be part of the cast, including Ava Gardner, Sue Lyon, Deborah Kerr and Richard Burton, who is dating Elizabeth Taylor. There are more journalists than iguanas on the village, all expecting to take the best pic of the couple.

Each of the stars receives a present from the Director: a golden gun with silver bullets. But the joke turns to something serious when one of those guns is used to shot and kill someone. Sunny Pascal, a half american and half mexican beatnick detective, is in charge of solving the crime, which soon gets complicated by further murders, blackmailing, stolen jewels and a plot that involves the Mexican mafia.

The novel keeps advancing and unveiling its mysteries chapter by chapter, amongst cocktail recipes, explanations about their origins and suggestions about the music that best fits every drink.

Trago amargo will also be published in France by Denoël in Spring 2011

Acantilado acquires Spanish rights of György Spiró's 'Tavaszi Tárlat' (Spring Collection)

Spanish publishing house Acantilado has been the first international publisher to acquire translation rights of the new novel by one of the most acclaimed and successful contemporary Hungarian writers, György Spiró.

The deal was made on behalf of Magveto Publishing House (Hungary).

“It’s not a bad idea for a man to get admitted to hospital a couple of days before a revolution breaks out, stay in until it’s been quashed and recuperate quietly at home during the ensuing purge.” These are the opening lines of György Spiró’s latest novel, Spring Collection, that presents the reader with a shocking picture of the 56 Hungarian Revolution.

The main protagonist is an engineer by the name of Gyula Fátray who, like so many other qualified professionals at that time, is trying to get along first as a simple worker before the Second World War, and after it as a communist party member, an idealist, and leader of planning in a newly founded factory. Just days before mass protests begin in October, he is admitted to hospital for for surgery. He returns home after the fighting to be faced by a Soviet-occupied Budapest.

This novel commemorates the unbearably absurd machinations of the dictatorial regime in which not even those innocent could feel safe. When Gyula’s name appears in a newspaper article alongside some conspirators against the state, he finds himself ostracised by his best friends and closest colleagues virtually overnight. It no longer seems to matter that he was in hospital for the duration of the revolution and that the charges are false. Just as in Kafka’s Trial, history marches mercilessly towards an excruciating outcome.

Gyula’s situation is made all the more difficult by the fact that his wife, Kati, a tough communist, seems not to understand a thing because she is so wrapped up in herself and her role in organising an art installation known as the Spring Collection. The novel recalls the purges that came after 56 with touching authenticity.

György Spiró was born in 1946 in Budapest. He is a writer, a dramatist, a translator and scholar of Polish literature. He is one of the most frequently played contemporary playwrights of Hungary.

Atmosphere Libri acquires rights of 'Bienvenidos a Welcome', by Laura Fernández

We are happy to announce the deal for Italian rights of 'Bienvenidos a Welcome', by Laura Fernández, a delirious fable about society. The novel, published in Spanish in 2008, will be released in Italy by Atmosphere Libri, publishers amongst others of authors such as Belén Gopegui, Andrés Barba, Martín Casariego or Manuel de Pedrolo.

"As in a fight between Aristophanes and Elmer, from The Muppets, the absurdity has finally triumphed. If Alfred Jarry was brought back to life, he would live in Welcome". La Razón.

"Laura Fernández, our particular Brautigan, has taken a yet undiscovered pill. Have no qualms about testing it. It gives you (...) lots of laughs and no hangover" Philipp Engel, Fotogramas.

Welcome. A future world. Full of shopping malls, residential estates and big Stars.

A place where politics, journalism and any other event of public life runs like a TV Show. But reality (a striking one indeed) is about to burst onto this happy world. An unidentified flying object has just crashed into one of Welcome’s shopping centres. Thousands might be dead…

The city’s main newspaper (The Welcome Times), magazine (Nasty Tongues) and TV (Welcome TV), set off to cover the news and compete between themselves. Is it all about a new advertising campaign? Is it a new sit-com? Is the mayor facing a revolt? Is it that Rondy Rondy, the mythical disappeared author, has come back? Or is it really a true UFO driven by a fury alien?

In any case, you are about to find out about everything and, in the process, you will meet the intrepid journalist Lu Ken, the dwarf mayor Claudio Arden, the only survivor of the accident, Sarah Du, the great diva Anita Velasco, the candidate to the Welcomitzer award Clark Roth and many others… and you arrive in the best moment because, after this accident, Welcome (the genuine and only centre of the future civilized world) will never be the same. You are warned.

Laura Fernández (Terrassa, 1981) is a freelance journalist. She’s now a contributor to El Mundo, Qué Leer, Mondo Sonoro and Go-Mag. Before this she worked in other media and in TV. She’s also the author of Dos y dos son cinco (Two plus Two are Five), published by Basarai.

In 2011 Seix Barral will publish her new novel: 'Wendolin Kramer'.

Read a Spanish review about 'Bienvenidos a Welcome' (here)

'Hierba Santa' will be published in Italy as well!

Rizzoli (RCS group, Italy) has acquired Italian Rights of ‘Hierba Santa’ (Sacred Herbs), by F.G. Haghenbeck, for publication in 2011.

Originally published in Spanish by Editorial Planeta Mexicana (Mexico only).

Rights also sold to: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster (World English), Suhrkamp/Insel (Germany), Orlando Publishers/Bruna (The Netherlands), Planeta Brasil (Brazil), Shangai 99 (China).

Hierba Santa, with echoes of Magic Realism, is a vivid and tender homage to Frida Khalo, a woman who changed the course of modern art and has become an icon for many people all over the world.

For more info about its plot click (here)

Clandestinidad, la nueva novela de Gustavo Dessal, será publicada por Interzona (Argentina) este mes de Noviembre

Un hecho fortuito que le toca vivir al protagonista llevará al lector a descubrir una serie de situaciones que tuvieron lugar durante la dictadura militar. Desde el aparente azar, escorzos del paso a la clandestinidad serán relatados vertiginosamente a partir de dos vidas paralelas: una joven militante cada vez más involucrada con las acciones de su organización, y un hombre común, que, transformado en una pieza más de la maquinaria infernal de aquellos años de plomo, continuará sus días impunemente, en la más subterránea invisibilidad.

Escrita en un lenguaje roto y descarnado, esta obra constituye la anatomía psicológica de un personaje anónimo y atroz, encarnación de esa terrible banalidad que Hannah Arendt atribuía al mal.

Clandestinidad traza con precisión las líneas de una historia perturbadora, que provocará el enfrentamiento irreversible con todo lo siniestro que transita entre nosotros.

Gustavo Dessal (Buenos Aires en 1952). Psicoanalista, miembro de la Asociación Mundial de Psicoanálisis y escritor. Se formó en Buenos Aires y en París, y ejerce la práctica clínica desde hace más de treinta años. En 1982 se estableció en Madrid, donde complementó su actividad terapéutica con la enseñanza del psicoanálisis. Dictó seminarios y conferencias en España, la Argentina, Brasil, Inglaterra, Irlanda, Francia e Italia, y ha sido profesor invitado en la Universidad Menéndez Pelayo, la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y las universidades del País Vasco, Murcia, Granada y Barcelona. Publicó más de un centenar de artículos en revistas especializadas, los libros de cuentos Operación Afrodita (Huerga y Fierro, 2004) y Mas líbranos del bien ( Huerga y Fierro, 2006), la novela Principio de Incertidumbre (RBA, 2009) y el ensayo Las ciencias inhumanas (RBA, 2009).

Sobre ‘Principio de incertidumbre’:

(...) un verdadero festín literario, al que se suma el nombre de Gustavo Dessal, (...) Psicólogo de formación, autor de un par de colecciones de relatos anteriores, nos sorprende con una historia compleja desde sus inicios. Tramas paralelas, saltos cronológicos, gran variedad de personajes y de gran calado psicológico. (...) Hay sentido del humor, suspense magnético y personajes estupendos.

- El Cultural (25/10/2009)

Una trama que recuerda a un guión cinematográfico y engancha al lector desde la primera página.

- Estrella digital (25/05/2009)

Hay escritos virtuosos y escritores fascinantes. En Gustavo Dessal convergen ambos sucesos. Leerle es adentrarse en un entramado de pulsiones humanas; leerle es conocernos un poco más a nosotros mismos; leerle ilumina las zonas más umbrías del ser.

- Solidaridad Digital (21/06/09)

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Clandestinidad, de Gustavo Dessal

Ed. Interzona (Argentina), 2010

Entrevista a David López y reseña de 'La travesía'

La web El placer de la Lectura ha dedicado una entrevista a David López, autor de la recién publicada 'La travesía' (primer capítulo aquí).

Podéis leer la entrevista entera (aquí) pero como muestra, un botón:

6.- En cuanto a La travesía, ¿por qué decides mostrar más al hombre Darwin y no al biólogo Darwin?

Es un tema reivindicativo. En el acervo cultural de esta nuestra sociedad, el científico, el intelectual de la ciencia, es representado como un chiflado huraño, sociópata y peligroso la más veces, mientras que los personajes divertidos, agradables y amistosos se reservan para la gente de las humanidades o bien, incluso, para los representantes de las seudociencias. Me parecía un buen cambio ofrecer al público una visión de Darwin distinta: la de un joven alocado, un tanto torpe, charlatán y simpático, quien se coló de rondón en un viaje larguísimo y tuvo la oportunidad de aprender todo lo que Inglaterra no podía enseñarle.

Además de la entrevista, también han publicado una reseña de la novela (aquí). Nos ha gustado que llamen a la novela 'Travesía de travesías', 'una especie de road movie decimonónica' o que digan que determinadas escenas recuerdan a la película 'Master and Commander'.

Editions Dans L'Engrenage acquires French Rights of 'Las razones de Jo' (Jo's Reasons), by Isabel Franc

We start the week with good news for the novel 'Las razones de Jo' (Jo's Reasons), by Isabel Franc. Originally published by Editorial Lumen in 2006, this is a very personal look into Loise May Alcott's classic novel 'Little Women', and to its main character Jo March.

'Little Women' has been a point of reference for several generations of readers, and Jo March the rebellious main character with which most of us have identified as readers. A brave warrior, this young woman rejected society’s gender roles and channeled her desires for independence into her writing. But the enthusiasm that drew us to her turned to disappointment when, at the end of the book, Jo decides to get married and give up writing. There have been numerous interpretations of this ending, but the question remains: "Why did she do it?" 

Las razones de Jo poses a response in Jo’s own voice and with her same rebellious nature. The author that has brought her back to life on the page, Isabel Franc, gets into the character’s skin in order to reinvent her and give her the last word from her own pen. Jo provides her own perspective on what happened: Papa was no hero; he went to the front because he was fed up with so many women. 

There is also a battle fought over love. Jo falls in love with a woman in New York, turning her long-imagined fantasies into reality. With her, she experiences a relationship on equal terms, knowing pleasure and sharing intellectual ideas and interests. She denounces the theory of the period that considered homosexuality a disease and demands the right to live her love freely.

Finally, our little woman returns to her hometown and marries a dull man. But she doesn’t stop writing, and in a drawer in the room of her own that she’s always kept she stores her unpublished works. Among them is this literary legacy in which she explains her reasons...

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Isabel Franc made her literary debut with the novel Entre todas las mujeres (Tusquets 1992), an unusual book that was named as a finalist in the Premio La Sonrisa Vertical. She has participated in several poetry collectives (Abecedaria 1995, 1996 and 1997) and has published short stories in the magazines Zero and Nosotras. Amongst other novels, she is the author of the celebrated Trilogía de Lola Van Guardia, edited by Egales, which includes the titles: Con Pedigree (1997); Plumas de Doble Filo (1999); and La mansión de las Tríbadas (2002), all three translated into French and published by Odin. 

She recently published a graphic novel in collaboration with Susanna Martín: Alicia en un mundo real (Alice in a Real World, Norma Editorial, 2010).

'Modotti', by Ángel de la Calle, will be translated into French

Vertige Graphic (France) has acquired translation rights of Ángel de la Calle's graphic novel 'Modotti. A Woman of the 20th Century'.

Tina Modotti (in the picture by Edward Weston, in 1923) was a woman of the 20th Century: photographer, actress, muse to writers and artists, politically engaged, free, poliphacetic, and witness to many important events and artistical landmarks.

Editorial SinSentido published in Spanish a graphic biography of this extraordinary character created (text & illustrations) by Ángel de la Calle: 'Modotti: Una mujer del siglo XX' 

De la Calle tells us about Modotti's life, a continuing adventure: A beautiful Hollywood star at an early age, she moved to the post-revolutionary Mexico with her friend and lover Edward Weston (now an acclaimed photographer) where she became actively engaged with the communist party, took thousands of photographs and also became the lover of almost as many men... she also was friends with artists of her time such as Mayakovsky, Bernard Tavern, Antonio Machado, Neruda, Diego Rivera, John Dos Passos, Frida Khalo...

She lived her time, from the glamourous 'Belle Epoque' to the Europe of the Totalitarism in the 1930s (travelling to Paris, Berlin, Moscow…) and lived in Spain during the Civil War. She then flew back to Mexico escaping from Franco. She died there in 1942, alone and in a taxi. 

In 'Modotti' Ángel de la Calle becomes himself a character who incidentally finds a picture of Tina Modotti and starts investigating about her life. Thus, the book becomes not only a biography of the photographer but also a hooking voyage of discovery, admiration and devotion towards her personality and her work.

Tina Modotti's life, now revisited by Ángel de la Calle in this magnificent graphic novel, stands alone as an example, and a lesson, of personal freedom and engagement.

‘Modotti’ has received countless awards in Spain, amongst them to the ‘Best Work and Best Script at the Barcelona Comic Salon in 2004’; ‘Best script in 2006’ and the prestigious Premio de la Crítica a Mejor obra española (2006).

Translation rights have already bee sold to: Italy (001 Edizioni), Germany (Rotbuch) and Brazil (Conard). 

Poet Pablo Neruda composed Tina Modotti's epitaph, part of which can also be found on her tombstone:

Pure your gentle name, pure your fragile life,

Bees, shadows, fire, snow, silence and foam,

Combined with steel and wire and

Pollen to make up your firm

And delicate being.

'El anticuario' will be published in Romania as well

Editura Allfa has recently acquired Romanian rights of 'El anticuario' (The Antiques Delaer), by Julián Sánchez.

El anticuario (RocaEditorial) is a novel about a secret, a murder, a search, a love and an adventure all over the streets of a mysterious Barcelona. A story of intrigue, suspense and search of the truth, set in nowadays and 15th C. Barcelona. (Plot summary here)

The publishers who had already acquired rights are:

LimesVerlag/ Random House (Germany), Querido (The Netherlands), Livanis (Greece), Einaudi/Stile Libero (Italy), AST (Russia), Swiat Ksiaszky (Poland), Jota (Czech Republic) and Shangai Translation (China).