My Documents

'People kept mentioning his name, but I was slow to encounter the Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra. I hadn't read anything by him before opening his new story collection, My Documents [...] My Documents is the fourth book by Alejandro Zambra to be translated into English (this one very ably by Megan McDowell). All of them are very short and strikingly original, and display a wry self-consciousness about the obligations, difficulties, and pleasures of writing fiction. [...] In his new book, Zambra returns to the twin sources of his talent-to his storytelling vitality, that living tree which blossoms often in these pages, and to his unsparing examination of recent Chilean history. These come together magnificently.' - James Wood, New Yorker '[An] excellent collection [...] rich and thought-provoking [...] If you are going to read Alejandro Zambra, which you should, don't just read My Documents, read everything he's done.' - Chris Power, Guardian 'These stories are graceful, grave, comical, disabused. I guess what I mean is: My Documents represents a new form. When I think about Alejandro Zambra, I feel happy for the future of fiction.' - Adam Thirlwell, author of Lurid and Cute 'Alejandro Zambra's My Documents is also his best: an eclectic, disconcerting, at times harrowing read. His voice is unique, honest and raw, and there is poetry on every page. Zambra's fiction doubles as a kind of personal history, full of anguish, humour and verve. A truly beautiful book.' - Daniel Alarcon, author of At Night We Walk in Circles 'Zambra is the author of small classics - short in length, but enormous in every other way. My Documents elevates him to a entirely new level.' - Valeria Luiselli, author of Faces in the Crowd

Alejandro Zambra was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1975. He is the author of Chilean Poet, Multiple Choice, Not to Read, My Documents, Ways of Going Home, The Private Lives of Trees and Bonsai. In Chile, among other honours, he has won the National Book Council Award for best novel three times. In English, he has won the English PEN Award and the PEN/O. Henry Prize and was a finalist for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. He has also won the Prince Claus Award (Holland) and received a Cullman Center Fellowship from the New York Public Library. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and his stories have been published in the New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, the Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney's and Harper's, among other publications. He has taught creative writing and Hispanic literature for fifteen years and currently lives in Mexico City.

Part I My Documents | Part II Camilo, Long Distance, True or False, Memories of a Personal Computer | Part III National Institute, I Smoked Very Well | Part IV Thank You, The Most Chilean Man in the World, Family Life, Artist's Rendition