Elise Blackwell's Blog for PEN on Mexican Fiction

Blogging for PEN, writer Elise Blackwell begins:

In his preface to the fabulous Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction (Dalkey Archive Press), Sealtiel Alatriste compares an anthology to “describing a landscape by showing someone a tree branch, a rock, a fragment of a mountain, a peaceful cloud, and a bicycle wheel....READ ON

Excellent blog post, do check it out. More anon.

Road Trip: Review of Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction

Pablo Jaime Sainz, contributing writer to the Union-Tribune's Latino newspaper, Enlace, just published this review of the splendid new anthology, Best of Contemporary Fiction in Sunday's San Diego Union tribune. It includes one of my translations, of a magnificent short story about Ishi by Alvaro Enrigue.

PS If you're interested in Mexican literature, check out my 2006 anthology, a portrait of Mexico in 24 Mexican works of fiction and literary prose: Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion.

Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction

Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction, edited by Alvaro Uribe and Olivia Sears, Dalkey Archive Press, 2009, is just out-- it includes my translation of Alvaro Enrigue's short story "On the Death of the Author." Herewith the review by Scott Esposito over at The Quarterly Conversation. More anon.

Buy Your Ticket to the Aura Estrada Benefit in Mexico City

Message to all in Mexico City:

This November 25th is the Aura Estrada benefit, which will feature good jazz, canapés, free drink and a reading of Aura's work at the Zinco club on Tuesday, November 25. There will also be a silent art auction featuring works by Francisco Toledo, Boris Viskin, Daniel Lezama, Phill Kelly, Yoshua Okon and Artemio. Tickets are 1,000 pesos in advance and 1,300 at the door. Poet and translator Tanya Huntington will be coordinating the art side, and novelist Alvaro Enrigue will be there as well. Here's Aura's website for more information:
http://www.auraestradaprize.org

Alvaro Enrigue

It's been a while since I've done any translating--- after translating a large part of and editing Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion and the first Tameme chapbook, a short story by Agustin Cadena, I had to put translating aside for a while in order to finish my novel. But I recently finished a translation of a devastatingly good short story by Alvaro Enrigue, one of Mexico's most talented young writers--- about, of all things, the last years of the life of Ishi. Most California school children know the haunting story of Ishi--- one of the saddest of the continent. (If you don't know it, check out this teacher's guide from the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology.) What Alvaro Enrigue made of it in his fiction is surprising indeed. The story--- "On the Death of the Author"--- is not for Tameme, alas; it is to be included in an anthology of Mexican fiction selected by Alvaro Uribe forthcoming--- I'm not sure, but I understand it's very soon. More anon.