The Norwegian Festival of Literature is proud to present three of the most significant voices in contemporary Latin American literature – the award-winning, hard-hitting authors Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enriquez and Valeria Luiselli.
On numerous occasions we have received feedback from festival audiences and volunteers that they desire more Spanish-language literature on the programme. It is therefore wonderful that today, 25 years after the festival was founded, we are able to announce that we will be joined in May by such interesting Latin American authors, such is the opinion of festival artistic adviser Mathias R. Samuelsen.
During the Norwegian Festival of Literature’s mini festival at the Frankfurter Book Fair, the audience received an insight into what they can expect at the festival in 2020, for example Samanta Schweblin in conversation with Norwegian writer Merete Lindstrøm, and festival director Marit Borkenhagen announcing live on radio that the Argentine writer would visit Lillehammer as part of the festival’s Spanish-language focus.
See Schweblin’s greeting the Lillehammer audience in Frankfurt here:
Argentine Samanta Schweblin is one of the most important contemporary writers in the Spanish-speaking world. Her novel, Fever Dream, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017. The same year she was named as one of the best Latin American writers under 40 by the leading literature magazine Granta. She was again a Man Booker Prize nominee for her latest book Mouthful of Birds. But this is just a small part of her list of accomplishments – since her debut in 2002, she has written five books, all of which have been critically acclaimed for their blend of discomforting realism, intimacy and contemporary relevance. So far she has been translated into 20 languages.
Mexican Valeria Luiselli is perhaps the most hard-hitting author of her generation. Her latest book Lost Children Archive takes a personal and merciless account of American immigration policy. She has previously received the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her 2015 novel The Story of My Teeth was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and Best Translated Book Award, it also won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Fiction, and the Premio Metropolis Azul in Canada.
The Argentine writer and journalist Mariana Enriquez, with her grief-stricken, social-realistic mix of the Latin American novel and the American Gothic narrative, has gained readers worldwide. Along with Samanta Schweblin, she is one of the most important links between the earlier style of magical realism and today’s speculative prose from Latin America.