Selva Almada

Selva Almada
Almada in 2012
Born (1973-04-05) 5 April 1973 (age 51)
Villa Elisa, Entre Ríos, Argentina
OccupationWriter

Selva Almada (born 5 April 1973) is an Argentine writer of poetry, short stories, and novels. She expanded into nonfiction in 2014 with the book Chicas muertas.

Career

Selva Almada studied Social Communication in Paraná, although she left this program to enter the Professorship of Literature at Paraná's Institute of Higher Education. She began giving shape to her first works, some of which were developed from the workshop that María Elena Lotringer offered at the School of Communication.[1]

Her first stories were published in the Paraná weekly Análisis. From 1997 to 1998 she directed a brief self-managed cultural literary project called CAelum Blue.

Her apprenticeship as a storyteller was largely established in Buenos Aires in the creative space of Alberto Laiseca's literary workshop. Her authority as a writer has been publicly confirmed by literary figures such as Chilean writer Diego Zúñiga and the journalist, writer, and essayist Beatriz Sarlo.[2] Her stories have been included in various anthologies from by the publishers Norma, Mondadori, and Ediciones del Dock, among others.

She gives various literary workshops. From March to July 2017, she directed the Taller de relato autobiográfico Mirarse el ombligo ("Navel Gazing Autobiographical Story Workshop") at Escuela Entrepalabras.

Trilogía de varones

Her literary output gained prestige and praise from critics in 2012 with the publication of her first novel, El viento que arrasa. Clarín's magazine Revista Ñ [es] highlighted it as "the novel of the year".[3] It has since been reissued several times, was published abroad,[4] and translated into French,[5] Portuguese, Dutch, and German.[6] In 2016, it was the basis for an opera by Beatriz Catani and Luis Menacho [es].[7] First published in English as The Wind that Lays Waste (translated by Chris Andrews), the novel became the first in the so-called "trilogy of men", followed in 2013 by Ladrilleros (translated as Brickmakers by Annie McDermott in 2021) and No es un río in 2021.[8][9]

In 2021, it was reported El viento que arrasa was in the works to be adapted into a film, directed by Paula Hernández and co-produced by Argentine studios Rizoma and Tarea Fina, and Uruguayan studio Cimarrón.[10]

Chicas Muertas

With her nonfiction chronicle Chicas muertas, Almada brought to light three femicides that occurred in different Argentine provinces in the 1980s, making herself known as a feminist writer.[11][12][13]

Personal life

Selva Almada was born in Villa Elisa in the province of Entre Ríos, and lived there until she was 17. In 1991 she moved to Paraná to study, first Social Communication, then Literature, and lived in that city until 1999. Since 2000 she has lived in Buenos Aires.

She made frequent trips to the province of Chaco which, along with her rural experience of childhood and youth spent in the Argentine Littoral, gave rise to several of the environments and themes of her books.[14]

Works

  • 2003: Mal de muñecas. Editorial Carne Argentina. Poetry. ISBN 9872072108.
  • 2005: Niños. Editorial de la Universidad de La Plata. Novella. ISBN 9789503403358.
  • 2007: Una chica de provincia. Editorial Gárgola. Short stories. ISBN 9789876130646.
  • 2012: El viento que arrasa [es]. Mardulce Editora. Novel. ISBN 9788494286940.
  • 2012: Intemec. Editorial Los Proyectos. Short stories. ISBN 9789872850517. (e-book)[15]
  • 2013: Ladrilleros [es]. Mardulce Editora. Novel. ISBN 9788426400666.
  • 2014: Chicas muertas [es]. Random House. Chronicle. ISBN 9789873650314.
  • 2015: El desapego es una manera de querernos. Random House. Short stories (compilation). ISBN 9789873987007.
  • 2017: El mono en el remolino: Notas del Rodaje de Zama de Lucrecia Martel. Random House. ISBN 9789873987595.
  • 2021: No es un río [es]. Random House. ISBN 978-8439738909.

Works in translation

  • 2019: The Wind That Lays Waste. Graywolf Press. Novel. English trans. of El viento que arrasa by Chris Andrews. ISBN 978-1555978457.
  • 2020: Dead Girls. Church Press. Non-fiction. English trans of Chicas muertas by Annie McDermott. ISBN 9781916277847
  • 2021: Brickmakers. Church Press. Novel. English trans. of Ladrilleros by Annie McDermott. ISBN 978-1913867065
  • 2024: Not a River. Charco Press. Novel. English trans. of No es un río by Annie McDermott. ISBN 9781913867454.

Awards

References

  1. ^ Vignoli, Beatriz (27 April 2014). "'Siempre tuve una búsqueda lírica'" ['I Always Had a Lyrical Quest']. Página/12 (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  2. ^ Zúñiga, Diego (4 June 2014). "¿De dónde sale esta escritora sorprendente?" [Where Does This Amazing Writer Come From?]. Qué Pasa (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  3. ^ Libertella, Mauro (14 December 2012). "Los mejores títulos del 2012" [The Best Titles of 2012]. Clarín Revista Ñ (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  4. ^ Núñez Jaime, Víctor (16 September 2015). "Selva Almada, la escritora rural que sale al mundo" [Salma Almada, the Rural Writer Going Out Into the World]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  5. ^ Kantt, Nathalie (22 March 2014). "En el Salón de París, los nuevos escritores argentinos deslumbran a los franceses" [At the Paris Salon, the New Argentine Writers Dazzle the French]. La Nación (in Spanish). Paris. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  6. ^ Ibarra, Luis Guillermo (9 August 2015). "Selva Almada y la violenta claridad del lenguaje" [Selva Almada and the Violent Clarity of the Language]. La Jornada Semanal (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  7. ^ Halfon, Mercedes (11 September 2016). "Soplando en el viento" [Blowing in the Wind]. Página/12 (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  8. ^ Clum, John M. "Brickmakers: A Novel". New York Journal of Books. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  9. ^ Friera, Silvina (7 September 2020). "Selva Almada: "Son los varones los que se sienten traicionados"". Página 12 (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  10. ^ Oliveros, Mariano (13 July 2021). "Cannes: Anuncian el nuevo proyecto de Paula Hernández". Haciendo Cine (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  11. ^ Venegas, Rocío (4 September 2016). "Selva Almada, escritora feminista argentina: 'Ser mujer y estar viva es una cuestión de suerte'" [Selva Almada, Argentine Feminist Writer: 'Being a Woman and Being Alive is a Matter of Luck']. El Desconcierto (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  12. ^ Bedía Prado, Javier (10 August 2016). "Selva Almada, una literatura que sume para 'desmontar el aparato de machismo'" [Selva Almada, a Literature that Aims 'To Dismantle the Apparatus of Machismo']. La Prensa (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  13. ^ "La única protección es la solidaridad entre nosotras" [The Only Protection is Solidarity Among Us]. La República (in Spanish). 30 July 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  14. ^ Leguizamón, Ricardo (21 June 2016). "La confesión de Selva Almada, 'escritora de provincia'" [Convession of Selva Almada, 'Province's Writer']. El Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 December 2018 – via Elentrerios.com.
  15. ^ Méndez, Matías (16 January 2016). "Selva Almada: 'Me aburren los relatos que tienen como protagonista a un escritor'" [Selva Almada: 'I am Bored by Stories that Have a Writer as Protagonist'] (in Spanish). Infobae. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  16. ^ "De lo clásico a lo curioso: las becas del FNA" [From the Classic to the Curious: FNA Fellowships]. Clarín (in Spanish). 20 October 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  17. ^ Puga, Jessica M. (26 November 2014). "El peruano Jeremías Gamboa se alza con el Tigre Juan por su novela 'Contarlo todo'" [The Peruvian Jeremías Gamboa is Elevated with the Tigre Juan for His Novel 'Contarlo todo']. El Comercio (in Spanish). Oviedo. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  18. ^ "El Premio Rodolfo Walsh" [The Rodolfo Walsh Award]. Página/12 (in Spanish). 4 April 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  19. ^ "The International Booker Prize". The Booker Prizes. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.