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Guatemala

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist on a tan background

The Watchlist: December 2024

By Tobias Carroll

In his last Watchlist of 2024, Tobias Carroll recommends poetry from Puerto Rico, memoirs of imprisonment from Tunisia, contemporary Brazilian short stories, and more.

A cluster of green and flowering cacti

Photo by Brandon Hoogenboom on Unsplash

Far Beyond the Sun

By Denise Phé-Funchal

Grandma goes inside the house and a few minutes later comes out with a small ax in her hand.

Translated from Spanish by David Unger

MultimediaMultilingual

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Offshore Lightning, The Country of Too, No One...

The Watchlist: July 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new and forthcoming books translated from Arabic, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Fact or Fiction: Latin American Reportage

By Eric M. B. Becker

The writers in this month’s feature provide assurance that the genre is source of some of today’s most vibrant and compelling stories, fictional or otherwise.

Carranza? Taxis Don’t Go There

By Arnoldo Gálvez Suárez

Taxi drivers are indiscreet types.

Translated from Spanish by Geoff Bendeck

Photo by Rosalind Chang on Unsplash

Some Other Zoo

By Rodrigo Rey Rosa

I explained at the top of my voice that my daughter had disappeared.

Translated from Spanish by Daniel Hahn

Amir

By Rodrigo Fuentes

His father had just been taken down from the branch of a ceiba tree.

Translated from Spanish by Kate Newman

Multilingual

Paranoid City

By Mildred Hernández

Inside the trunk was another lifeless body.

Translated from Spanish by Anne McLean

Multilingual

“The Mastermind”: An Act of Translation

No one can understand what is going on in Guatemala.

from “With Absolute Passion”

By Carol Zardetto

I go in and out of memories as one fighting to stay awake.

Translated from Spanish by D. W. Coop Allred

Multilingual

The Ape

By Luis de Lión

“He really looks like his monkey, doesn’t he?”

Translated from Spanish by Rosalind Harvey

Raspberries

By Denise Phé-Funchal

Papá’s words have a dry smell, as dry as the skin on his lips.

Translated from Spanish by Lisa M. Dillman

Multilingual

Young Aurora and the Captive Child

Young Aurora, said the butcher, wasn't Miss Aurora at all.

Translated from Spanish by Thomas Bunstead

Multilingual

On the Fourth Day

By Koulsy Lamko

Slowly but surely, exile erases us from the memory of our land.

Translated from French by Alexis Pernsteiner

Multilingual

White Sand, Black Stone

By Eduardo Halfon

Your passport, señor, expired last month.

Translated from Spanish by Daniel Hahn

Multilingual

The Sarima’s Mission

By Miguel Angel Oxlaj

I can still hear that echo and feel the great terror that came over me at that moment.

Translated from Spanish by Sylvia Sasson Shorris

The Water Cathedral

By Francisco Méndez

I will never forget how Sebastián was dressed one morning, the first time he told us about the Water Cathedral.

Translated from Spanish by Kristin Bengtson Mendoza

Twelve Poems by Humberto Ak’abal

By Humberto Ak’abal

K'iche' (Mayan) poet and author, Humberto Ak'abal from Guatemala writes 12 poems of nature, life, loss, and remembrance.

Translated from K'iche' by Earl Shorris & Sylvia Sasson Shorris