By Jane Bentham, Lucy Clark, Zoe Wallace, Nicole Sterba
South American authors create fantastic works of literature, often bestselling and loved around the world. This week we are spotlighting authors and books from South America, and with such a wide range of genres, there is sure to be something for everyone.
Claudia Piñeiro
Argentinian author, Claudia Piñeiro has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years and is best known for her crime and mystery novels. Her works subvert the traditional framework of crime fiction to shed light on political and religious issues, as well as women’s rights in contemporary Argentinian society. Six of her novels have been published in English, by Bitter Lemon Press and Charco Press.
Elena Knows (translated from Spanish by Frances Riddle) is Piñeiro’s most celebrated book, having been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022. The story follows Elena, who has Parkinson’s disease and is determined to uncover the truth behind the recent death of her daughter, Rita. This book is a powerful exploration of mother-daughter relationships, ageing and disability.
Isabel Allende
Probably one of the most well-known South American authors, Isabel Allende’s novels are bestsellers around the world. Often spanning different time periods, countries and cultures, Allende’s novels focus on family history, as well as the undergoing and navigating of challenges in life.
The Wind Knows My Name (translated from Spanish by Frances Riddle) is Allende’s most recently published novel and tells a compelling story of unforgettable characters in search of families and homes. In true Allende style, each character’s story follows an individual experience of a volatile period in history. We first meet five-year-old Samuel Adler in Vienna in 1938, as he and his family live in fear in Nazi-occupied Austria. His mother secures him a seat on a Kindertransport train to England in the hope that he will be safe. However, although he escapes physical danger, his life is marked by trauma, and he grows up reserved and remote.
Intertwined with Samuel’s journey are several narratives following refugees from South America. One story follows Anita as she flees El Salvador with her mother to seek refuge in the United States. Although these two stories are separated by eight decades – with Anita’s set in 2019 – the similarities between them are heart-breaking, as Anita becomes estranged from her family due to a newly implemented policy in the United States.
This book explores significant historical and social events through compelling and immersive fiction: a difficult balancing act that Allende executes perfectly.
Agustina Bazterrica
An Argentinian writer and primary literary figure in Buenos Aires, Bazterrica is best known for her gruesome and gripping novel, Tender is the Flesh. Originally written in Spanish and later translated into English in 2020 by Sarah Moses, Tender is the Flesh became quickly viral on BookTok and was impossible to miss in bookstores.
After a virus contaminates animal meat, it is rendered unsuitable for human consumption. Cannibalism becomes legal and humans are bred and butchered in meat-processing plants. They face brutal and inhumane slaughter techniques that Bazterrica uses to shed light on the reality of capitalism, cruelty and the violence that women face every day. Along with the representation of morality and the meat industry, Bazterrica affirms her opinion that cannibalism and capitalism are “almost the same.”
Bazterrica’s writing style in Tender is the Flesh is gripping and gross, her tone is distantly blended to fit the violent, dystopian world she has created. The novel is not an easy read, but it sticks.
She maintains her shocking and brutal representations of in her latest novel, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: a collection of disturbing short stories. Still fiercely powerful and bizarre, Bazterrica holds her ability to grip the reader's attention with these unputdownable stories.
Gabriela Wiener
Peruvian journalist, author and poet, Gabriela Wiener does not shy away from hushed topics, but rather brings them into the literary world. Though born in Lima, she now resides in Madrid and is currently a columnist for the Peruvian newspaper, La República.
Sexografías, recently translated from Spanish to English by Lucy Greaves and Jennifer Adcock, is her documentation of the realities of humans, their bodies and their minds. This novel is a mix of sexual subcultures gathered from first-hand accounts.
At the start of her writing career, Wiener’s fearlessness comes in full force from the infiltration of Peru’s most dangerous prison. Her humour and practical tone shine through this book, intertwined with the dark topics that are right in front of us but often ignored. Wiener explores sex as an act of ritual and recreation in eyewitness accounts. The setting is sure to keep you on your toes with each turn of the page, from the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, following sex workers, to the Amazonian jungle Ayahuasca experience.
Sexografías is similar in theme to her novel, Nueve Lunas, translated into English by Jessica Powell, the second of her works to be translated from Spanish to English. It is based on another first-hand experience of paradoxes around pregnancy and the impact they have had on her as well as on other women.
Wiener’s style and approach to writing is incredibly unique and gripping, her work is impactful and political, and she is sure to become influential in her genre and the South American literary world as a whole.