Cosecha de la FIL, Part I: Literal, Yankee Invasion, Tirofijo, Miriam Berkley, Trudy Balch and Gaby Brimmer, Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction

Here at the Feria Internacional de Libros in Guadalajara:
Just participated in the press conference for the new anthology from Dalkey Archive, BEST OF CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN FICTION, edited by Alvaro Uribe and Olivia Sears, for which I translated the fabulous (truly, truly) short story by Alvaro Enrigue.

In the vast exhibition hall, I ran into Trudy Balch, who happened to have a copy of her translation of Gaby Brimmer's autobiography, so I'm taking that over to International PEN tomorrow morning-- that's when they take over stand #NN40, so if you're at the FIL, be sure to come on by.

Yesterday, at the presentation for Literal: Latin American Voices, Voces Latinoamericanos (much more about that anon), ran into translators Nick Hill and Jay Miskowiec, director of Aliform, who gave me a copy of the gorgeous new novel in English translation by Timothy G. Compton, Ignacio Solares's YANKEE INVASION and the hot-off-the-presses THE TRIUMPHANT VOYAGE by Eduardo Garcia Aguilar.

Also in attendance: Juancarlos Porras y Manrique, editor of Leon's elegant
TIROFIJO: REVISTA CULTURAL DEL BAJIO, among all sorts of things over at www.grupoochocientos.com (seriously, check it out, he's doing a million or, OK, maybe 800, amazing things). Miriam Berkley, the photographer of writers, a true treasure of the literary world, snapped some pix--- read more about her work in "A Literary Eye" by Larry Brownstein.

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.

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.