Margarita García Robayo – författare

From the acclaimed author ofFish Soup, a wickedly self-aware novel of family, memory, and possibility just this side of the uncanny.A tolerable, ordinary life: an adequate, if boring, freelance job; reliably irritating video calls with your sister; half-hearted plans for the future (a writing residency, a child); and, in the middle of your half-furnished apartment, an enormous crate. Unopened, delivered days ago, and getting in the way.InThe Delivery , what’s inside is your estranged mother, and her arrival brings to a head the tentative motions you’ve made to examine the past and the subtle fissures in the life you’ve built. Semi-ordinary happenings take on an otherworldly cast when you look at them sideways, but nothing is stranger, in this place far from home, than the tenuous bonds of family that hold us together, or don’t.

From the acclaimed author ofFish Soup, a wickedly self-aware novel of family, memory, and possibility just this side of the uncanny.A tolerable, ordinary life: an adequate, if boring, freelance job; reliably irritating video calls with your sister; half-hearted plans for the future (a writing residency, a child); and, in the middle of your half-furnished apartment, an enormous crate. Unopened, delivered days ago, and getting in the way.InThe Delivery , what’s inside is your estranged mother, and her arrival brings to a head the tentative motions you’ve made to examine the past and the subtle fissures in the life you’ve built. Semi-ordinary happenings take on an otherworldly cast when you look at them sideways, but nothing is stranger, in this place far from home, than the tenuous bonds of family that hold us together, or don’t.

Lucía and Pablo are Colombian immigrants who’ve built their lives together in the US yet maintain conflicting attitudes towards their homeland and the extent to which it defines their identity. After undergoing fertility treatment, Pablo finds himself excluded from raising their twins, and the new family situation seems to question the very nature of their relationship and of who they believed they were. In search of respite and time to reflect, Lucía takes the kids to her parents’ apartment in Miami. Meanwhile, Pablo learns he is suffering from a syndrome known as ‘Holiday Heart’. But is this just a break, or is it really the final days of their marriage?

Lucía and Pablo are Colombian immigrants who’ve built their lives together in the US yet maintain conflicting attitudes towards their homeland and the extent to which it defines their identity. After undergoing fertility treatment, Pablo finds himself excluded from raising their twins, and the new family situation seems to question the very nature of their relationship and of who they believed they were. In search of respite and time to reflect, Lucía takes the kids to her parents’ apartment in Miami. Meanwhile, Pablo learns he is suffering from a syndrome known as ‘Holiday Heart’. But is this just a break, or is it really the final days of their marriage?

"...a gorgeous, blackly humorous look into the lives of Colombians struggling to find their place in society, both at home and abroad.” —Publishers Weekly, starred reviewIn two novellas and seven short stories, Fish Soup blends cynicism and beauty with a rich vein of dark humour."Waiting for a Hurricane" follows a girl obsessed with escaping both her life and her country. Emotionally detached from her family, and disillusioned with what the future holds if she remains, she takes ever more drastic steps to achieve her goal, seemingly oblivious to the damage she is causing both herself and those around her. "Worse Things" offers snapshots of lives in turmoil, frayed relationships, family taboos, and rejection of and by society. And "Sexual Education" examines the attempts of a student to tally the strict doctrine of abstinence taught at her school with the very different moral norms that prevail in her social circles.At once blunt and poetic, Garcia Robayo delves into the lives of her characters, simultaneously evoking sympathy and revulsion, challenging the reader’s loyalties throughout the remarkable universe that is Fish Soup .

Die Mutter wird per Post geliefertFern ihrer Heimat versucht eine junge Kolumbianerin, Klarheit in ihr Leben zu bringen, in dem ein unzuverlässiger Geliebter, ein launischer Arbeitgeber, eine überforderte Freundin, misstrauische Nachbarn und eine diebische Katze kommen und gehen. Sie schreibt Texte für eine Werbeagentur und hofft auf ein Stipendium. Doch nichts ist sicher. Da fehlte gerade noch, dass ihre Mutter aus einem Paket springt und andauernd gute Ratschläge gibt. Ein hintergründiges Spiel beginnt: Ist die Mutter wirklich da oder ist sie nur eine Halluzination?In einer minutiösen eleganten Prosa, klar und genau, führt uns die Autorin durch das Labyrinth einer im Prekariat lebenden Generation. Beunruhigend und humorvoll.

La selva que rodea y que acecha. Carreteras secundarias y arroyos de lluvia. Una finca llamada Alegría. Vidas de quienes rara vez consiguen lo que quieren, vidas de ida y vuelta, vidas acomodadas a la violencia o que desaparecen de un zarpazo. Con su escritura, Margarita García Robayo combina existencias, espacios y tiempos porque «uno puede llenar el hueco de historias, y las historias de más huecos y esos huecos de más historias: la vida es una historia que contiene otra y que contiene otra. Uno no está condenado a una sola historia». Las ilustraciones de Powerpaola son la otra mirada que enriquece este río que nos atrapa y nos alegra al mismo tiempo.

En esta selección de cuentos, hecha con ahínco y pulso de editor experimentado por Juan F. Hincapié, encontramos figuras muy interesantes de la literatura nacional. Algunos de ellos ya consagrados, profusamente editados y traducidos; otros apenas despuntan en sus carreras. Todos nos ofrecen relatos de gran calidad y relevancia.Puñalada trapera, la antología de cuento colombiano publicada este año por Rey Naranjo, quiere ser una paliza a veintidós manos. Como dice John Naranjo en la Introducción, el objetivo era "coger a mansalva" dos grandes clichés sobre el cuento en Colombia: que el cuento no vende en nuestro mercado editorial y que es un género de y para escritores.Tarea nada fácil cuando, afirma él mismo, es jodido ser optimistas por la caída del volumen de ventas de libros en la última década y las imposiciones de un mercado colonizado por megapulpos mercantiles que le han hecho zancadilla a apuestas arriesgadas, pequeñas e independientes.