Launch of Review 88: Beyond Violence: Toward Justice in Latin American Writing and Arts

The launch of Review 88 will feature prominent writers from throughout Latin America who have addressed the topics of violence and justice in their work. Authors Alonso Cueto Caballero (Peru), Claudia Hernández (El Salvador), Luisa Valenzuela (Argentina), and others will read from their texts featured in Review 88. Guest editors Marguerite Feitlowitz (Bennington College) and Ksenija Bilbija (University of Wisconsin-Madison) will provide commentary on the special issue as a whole. This program will be conducted in Spanish and English with simultaneous interpretation into English. A magazine/book signing will follow in collaboration with Posman Books.

This launch is the culminating event of the core Literature programming for Spring 2014, which focuses on the theme of "Beyond Violence: Toward Justice in New Latin American Writing." Learn more about our May 8 panel discussion on “Beyond Violence: Toward Justice.”

Co-presented with Routledge/Taylor and Francis. We thank the following additional institutions for helping publicize this event: Bennington College; Columbia University; the Consulate General of Argentina in New York; the Consulate General of El Salvador in New York; the Hispanic New York Project; Hunter College, CUNY; InterAmericas®; The International Literary Quarterly; McNally Jackson Books; New York University; the University of Wisconsin-Madison/Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies Program; and Words Without Borders.

Review 88 (Spring 2014; Beyond Violence: Toward Justice in Latin American Writing and Arts) is guest-edited by Marguerite Feitlowitz and Ksenija Bilbija. The issue compiles articles by leading scholars—Jorge Benavides, Diana Palaversich, and others—as well as creative texts by some of the most iconic figures of contemporary Latin American writing and younger voices from throughout the region. From essays to poetry to short stories to novel excerpts to book reviews, Review 88 includes pieces by such distinguished writers as Héctor Abad (Colombia), Marcelino Freire (Brazil), the late Juan Gelman (Argentina), Yuri Herrera (Mexico), Elena Poniatowska (Mexico), Patricio Pron (Argentina), Laura Restrepo (Colombia), and Juan Gabriel Vásquez, among many others. The issue also includes a memorial piece on Colombian author Alvaro Mutis; arts features; and book reviews of new work in translation by authors including Adolfo Bioy-Casares and Silvina Ocampo, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Jorge Volpi, and Rodolfo Walsh.

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Get free online access to Editor’s Choices in Review 88 here.

Event Information: Jose Negroni | jnegroni@as-coa.org | 1-212-277-8353
Press Inquiries: Adriana La Rotta | alarotta@as-coa.org | 1-212-277-8384

"Review is an invaluable resource, affording access, in a single publication, to significant Latin American writing and cultural commentary."
—Edith Grossman, translator

Ksenija Bilbija is professor of Spanish American literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her books include Yo soy trampa: Ensayos sobre la obra de Luisa Valenzuela (2003), and as co-editor, The Art of Truth-Telling about Authoritarian Rule (2005), Akademia Cartonera: A Primer of Latin American Cartonera Publishers (2009), and Accounting for Violence: Marketing Memory in Latin America (2011).

Alonso Cueto Caballero (Lima, 1954) is a novelist, playwright, journalist, and professor at the Catholic University of Peru. His novel Grandes miradas (2003) was adapted into the movie Mariposa negra (2006), directed by Francisco Lombardi. Other books include La hora azul (2005; The Blue Hour, 2012) and El susurro de la mujer ballena (2007).

Marguerite Feitlowitz is the author of A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture (1998, New Edition 2011). Her translation of Salvador Novo's Pillar of Salt: An Autobiography with Nineteen Erotic Sonnets has just been published by the University of Texas Press. She has also edited and translated the work of Griselda Gambaro, Angélica Gorodischer, and French playwright and poet Liliane Atlan. She is a professor of literature at Bennington College.

Claudia Hernández (El Salvador, 1975) is the author of Otras ciudades (2001), Mediodía de frontera (2002), Olvida uno (2005), and De fronteras (2007).  She won the 2004 Anna Seghers Prize in Germany. Her stories have been anthologized in France, Spain, Germany, and the United States.

Luisa Valenzuela (Buenos Aires, 1938) is a novelist, short-story writer, and essayist well known for her strong critique of authoritarian systems. She has published over twenty books of fiction, including Cambio de armas (1982; Other Weapons, 1988), Novela negra con argentinos (1990; Black Novel with Argentines, 1992), Los deseos oscuros y los otros (cuadernos de New York) (2002; Dark Desires and the Others, 2011), La travesía (2001), El Mañana (2012), and La máscara sarda, el profundo secreto de Perón (2012).

Photo: Archive of Pakiko Ordóñez. Pakiko Ordóñez, Eduardo Carvajal, Ricardo Cortázar, Gertjan Bartelsman, and Hernando Guerrero in Ciudad Solar, La Merced, c. 1971-1972, Cali. Cover design:  José Pablo Negroni.