Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Forgery by Ave Barrera, translated by Ellen Jones and Robin Myers. I’m delighted to share a spotlight post of this stunning book with you today. Thank you to Jessica Putt from Charco Press for inviting me to be a part of the tour!
ABOUT THE BOOK
“We must pay serious attention to the work of Ave Barrera.” — Cristina Rivera Garza, author of No One Will See Me Cry and Winner of the Mexico National Novel Prize
“A brilliant achievement” – El Economista
An intimate and funny portrait of contemporary Mexico by one of the country’s most exciting writers.THE FORGERY, written by the award-winning Ave Barrera, is a magnificent and playful caper about identity, art, and friendship.
A failing artist turned forger, an architectural masterpiece hidden behind high walls, an impish vagabond, and some very resourceful, very intimidating twins — THE FORGERY pays homage to Mexican greats like author Juan Rulfo and architect Luis Barragán, traversing late Twentieth Century Guadalajara with the exuberance and eccentricity of an Eighteenth Century picaresque.
Translated from the original Spanish by pioneering publisher, Charco Press, and accomplished translators, Ellen Jones and Robin Myers, THE FORGERY was originally published in Mexico to critical acclaim in 2016.
Praise for THE FORGERY:
“A book on the power that we give to things, a debate on the form and shape of an artwork, a brilliant achievement” – El Economista
“Ave Barrera eases us into this microcosmos as strange and shocking as it is true, constructing powerful atmospheres imbued with very varied sensations, ranging from dreamlike hallucinations to terror, horror and beauty.” —El País
“We must pay serious attention to the work of Ave Barrera.”” —Cristina Rivera Garza, author of NO ONE WILL SEE ME CRY
“The plot flows in an intelligent and audacious way: It surprises by the simplicity and malice in which complex technical aspects are solved.”” —Geney Beltrán Félix
“A fun and entertaining story of a great literary quality.” —Milenio
“Delightfully written, full of revelations … Such a literary discovery.” —Radio 3 (RTVE)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ave Barrera (Guadalajara, México, 1980) holds a Bachelor in Hispanic Literature at University of Guadalajara and for several years she was editor in Oaxaca, México. Ave has been awarded fellowships from the Fundación Carolina for a training course on publishing at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Young Creators Grant for Novel (2010 and 2014) from the Mexican National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA).
Ave has worked as copywriter for e-media and once as a ghostwriter. She also writes short stories and just published the illustrated children book Una noche en el laberinto (A Night in a Labyrinth, Edebé 2014). She was recipient of the Sergio Galindo Award from the Veracruz University with her first novel Puertas demasiado pequeñas (A Door Too Small). She currently lives in México City and is writing a new novel: Tratado de la vida marina (A Treatise of Marine Life) with the support of FONCA. Her latest novel was published in 2019 in Mexico and Spain under the title Restauración (Restoration).
About the Translators:
Ellen Jones
is a researcher and translator based in London. She has a PhD from Queen Mary University of London and writes about multilingualism and translation in contemporary Latin American literature. Her reviews have appeared in publications including the Times Literary Supplement and The Los Angeles Review of Books, and her translations in publications includingThe Guardian and Latin American Literature Today. She has been Criticism Editor at Asymptote since 2014.
Robin Myers
is a New York-born, Mexico City-based poet and translator. Her translations have appeared or are forthcoming from the Kenyon Review, the Harvard Review, Two Lines, The Offing, Waxwing, Beloit Poetry Journal, Asymptote, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Tupelo Quarterly, and Inventory. In 2009, she was named a fellow of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA); in 2014, she was awarded a residency at the Banff Literary Translation Centre (BILTC); and in 2017, and she was selected to participate in the feminist translation colloquium A-Fest. Recent book-length translations include Lyric Poetry Is Dead by Ezequiel Zaidenwerg (Cardboard House Press), Animals at the End of the World by Gloria Susana Esquivel (University of Texas Press), and Cars on Fire by Mónica Ramón Ríos (Open Letter Books).
About Charco Press:
Charco Press is an award-winning independent publisher of top-quality contemporary Latin American literature in translation.
Shining a light on the rich array of fiction currently coming out of Latin America, Charco Press brings the region’s most exciting contemporary writers to new readers in the English-speaking world, publishing books that are entertaining, engaging and thought provoking. Charco Press meticulously seeks out the perfect translators to bring their authors’ work to life for English readers, often championing new and emerging translators, as well as established names.
Launched in 2017, Edinburgh-based Charco Press has already achieved international recognition, with one book longlisted and two shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, and the publishing house being named Scotland Small Press of the Year 2019 and 2021 at the Nibbies. Marking its fifth birthday in 2022, Charco Press has recently launched an English-first series, ‘Untranslated’, embracing texts by English-speaking authors linked to Latin American culture, as well as its first Spanish-language OriginalES editions.
The Forgery by Ave Barrera is available to purchase here:
Cal Turner Reviews 