| This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here |
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Caitlin Fehir interviews Cristina Rivera-Garza, Winner of the 2009 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize.
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16 Reviews of Classic and Contemporary Latin American & Brazilian Novels!
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Ceri Evans reports from the recent International PEN "Free the Word!" event in London.
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Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
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FROM THE HILLTOP
Toni Jensen
I'll confess that when I read short stories, I often feel as if I'm having a snack, when what I want is a full meal. Not so with Toni Jensen's dazzling collection, From the Hilltop. In just a few pages, she manages to fill in the past, present and enough of the future to leave a reader satisfied. After I finished these stories, the only thing I was hungry for was more Toni Jensen. She's that good.
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Reviewed by Kathleen Ambrogi
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SYMPHONY IN WHITE
Adriana Lisboa
Translated from the Portuguese by Sarah White
Symphony in White is a tale of two sisters. Clarice and Maria Inês, daughters of Afonso and Octacilia Olimpio, came of age in Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s during the period of military dictatorship. Lisboa does not directly comment upon the political situation in Brazil during that time, but the political repression is mirrored in the stifling atmosphere of the Olimpio family and the secrets they keep.
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Reviewed by Jane Anderson Jones
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DARK HEART OF THE NIGHT
Léonora Miano
Translated from the French by Tamsin Black
Few English translations can have had such an awkward birth as that of Léonora Miano's slim novel, written in 2005 in French as L'intérieur de la Nuit. The University of Nebraska Press made the laudable decision to publish an English translation of this work by one of the most promising young francophone African writers around; however….
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes
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WILDLIVES
Monique Proulx
Translated from the French by David Homel and Fred A. Reed
Monique Proulx's narrative is saturated with a gorgeous combination of words and images making up foliage as dense as a Canadian forest. Ants and mosquitoes bite at her prose while wild mushrooms tempt the reader's emotions, but not without their hidden poisons.
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Reviewed by C. Lariviere
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AN ELEGY FOR EASTERLY
Petina Gappah
This debut collection of short stories from Petina Gappah was the winner of the 2009 Guardian First Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, two of the more prestigious literary prizes. Gappah was born in Zimbabwe….
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Reviewed by Darryl Morris
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Closing Escape Hatches and Emerging Humor
Jean Hughes Raber looks at post-millennium dystopian novels by women.
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Trio: Clarice Lispector
Rachel Hayes reviews three books by the internationally acclaimed Brazilian author.
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Listening to
Nawal el Saadawi
Coming from the International PEN "Free the Word!" festival, Charlotte Simpson introduces us to Egyptian
writer, psychiatrist and political activist Nawal el Saadawi.
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Awards & Nominations
Looking for a great book to read? Here we present some of the recent award-winning or award-nominated books
by women writers from around the world.
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