Monday, June 05, 2006

Agustin Cadena's "Lady of the Seas" in El Calendario de Todos Santos

News from Todos Santos, Baja California Sur:"Lady of the Seas," my translation of Mexican writer Agustin Cadena's short story, which appears in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion, is in the latest issue of El Calendario de Todos Santos. (To read the story in English, click here.) Todos Santos has a big place in my heart: I wrote about it in my book, Miraculous Air (and in The Visitors/ Los Visitantes, a chapter in bilingual format of the same), and over the last nearly 20 years, I've visited this little town more times than I could count. Every time except twice, I think, I went to the Caffe Santa Fe-- that most excellent and unlikely Italian restuarant. Two adjectives to describe Todos Santos: dusty and arty. But in other respects it is changing fast. It's quite something to see all the ads in El Calendario de Todos Santos: for the Galeria de Todos Santos, Jill Logan Galeria, The Charles Stewart Gallery & Studio, Galeria Wall, Ezra Katz Fine Art Gallery, the boutiques, the surf shops, resturants, decorators, hotels, yoga classes, and oh, the real estate! Is this town not soaking up gringos like a sponge? I'm here in Washington DC where it seems everyone has a soundbite about Mexican immigration. But there's quite a story about the flow going in the other direction... Cadena, by the way, is blogging from Hungary with El vino y la hiel. If you read Spanish, check it out: you will see what a splendid writer he is. His short story, "An Avocado from Michoacan" will be Tameme's first chapbook, due this July. More anon.