On the Death of Eduardo Galeano

In the midst of Festival hullabulloo, I had no time to write about the death of Eduardo Galeano.

He truly was one of the writers who has had the most impact on me in my life: in the way I view injustice. In my relationship with Latin America and the developing world in general. We invited him for a number of years to the Festival, but since he was getting up there and not well, he was reluctant to travel this far (from Montevideo it's at least a 16 hour trip minimum, usually much longer).

That said, we had a couple of very nice email exchanges and I was sincerely hoping that we could have him at an upcoming Festival.

Alas, that wasn't meant to be.

Though the death of Günter Grass just a day or so before saw much more attention, Galeano to me was a stronger writer and a more inspiring political activist. He's best known for his work The Open Veins of Latin America which, though containing certain aspects that seem dated now, is still inspiring and fascinating. Because of his idiosyncratic writing style (small one page ditties), he is the perfect kind of writer to read on the go: you can sit and read 40 of these ditties in one sitting or read one here and there when you can squeeze it in.

The book was controversial though it also represented an ideological manifesto, or at least that's how it was perceived to be at the time. Now this work seems less about ideology and more about the constant and ever-bitter struggle of the rich oppressing the poor and the various ways that the poor stand up. Very du jour. It's easy to dismiss this work as one which somehow "tows the party line" (as Mario Vargas Llosa implied) though Galeano was a much more complex figure than that. Even he, later in his life, disavowed certain aspects of the work, which to me showed his ability to adapt to the times and changing political landscapes, learning new vocabulary to talk about oppression.

But his writing continued to challenge and shine a light on the lives that readers rarely hear: of the peasant women in Latin America with 12 children, of the working man, of the oppressed, those voices often lost to history.

Just one more shout-out: I'm almost sure it's out of print in English, but his book Days and Nights of Love and War is one of the best-written and most personal chronicles of life under the junta in 1970s Uruguay and Argentina. It captures the fear and terror, while mixing the inanities of daily life which continued nevertheless. Much less esoterically intellectual than Milosz's The Captive Mind (also a great work, by the way), Galeano's work captures what it's like for a writer or artist to live in fear in the most pragmatic and realistic way.

The world is a much less rich place without Galeano in it.

Live from Cartagena, Colombia

So busy the last few weeks that I have no time to write and very little time to read even.

Usually from just after Christmas until the point in which our printed program is sent off to the designer and printer, I eat, drink, sleep and dream Festival events. Thousands of emails are exchanged. Phone calls are made. Drinks with publishers and hosts, coffee with authors and artists. (That's true year round but this time of year, it's super concentrated).

And in the thick of the busiest time of year, I zip off to Colombia for the Hay Festival. No, this isn't a vacation (despite what everyone in our office thinks!): it's work. Receptions, events, cocktail parties, meeting authors. It's all exhausting.

OK it's good work but it is pretty much non-stop from the moment I arrive until I'm on that flight back to New York.

Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

So much to see this year! Last night it was Laurent Binet. I loved his book HHhH which came out a few years ago and last night he was on stage with Felipe Restrepo Pombo, discussing French literature, his work, and Charlie Hebdo (I imagine there will be a lot of that since this is really the first major literary Festival since all that took place).

Today we'll see Andrew Solomon and some events on Colombian literature. Then our good friend Kim Thuy will be in conversation with Binyavanga Wainana and Peter Florence about Writing What's Important. Kim Thuy needs no introduction but Wainana is an interesting figure.

Other events on Indigenous writing in the Americas and How to Imagine New Societies also peaked our interest.

Then, it must be said, there are the parties! Gorgeously dressed people from all over the world, great food, excellent music. What a life!

Alfonsina Storni: Words to my Mother

Words to my Mother

I don't ask you to tell me the great truths
Because you wouldn't tell me; I only ask
If, when you carried me in your belly, strolling through
Dark patios in bloom, the moon was a witness.

And if, when I slept listening
In your breast with its Latin passions,
A hoarse and singing sea lulled you to sleep nights
And if you watched in the gold dusk, the sea birds plunge.

For my soul is all fantasy, a voyager,
And it is wrapped in a cloud of dancing folly
When the new moon ascends the dark blue sky.

And, lulled by a clear song of sailors, it likes -
If the sea unlocks its strong perfume -
To watch the great birds that pass without destination.
       
                                -Alfonsina Storni (translated from the Spanish by Mary Crow)

Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig

I was over at a friend's place the other day and she had a copy of Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman on her coffee table. Since she (like me) is surrounded by books, I knew she wouldn't miss one so I asked if I could borrow it.

The next day, I read most of it in one sitting. It's a fascinating novel. The book starts out as a conversation between two unnamed characters and it's only as the story progresses that the details are fleshed out: the two are in prison and are sharing a cell. One is a political prisoner and we learn more and more about his tale as he opens up to his cell mate. The other is in prison for "unnatural" acts (basically for cross-dressing though there is some intimation that he slept with someone underage). Molina (the trans character) tells the plots of movies to the other to pass the time which raises all kinds of limitations to their viewpoints. Valentin (the revolutionary) is allergic to bourgeois morality and values (materialism, romantic love), something which the overly romantic Molina needs to survive. Notions of performing genders comes into play here, Molina adopts the guise of the woman that he feels he is by modeling his notions of gender, his values, his approach to love, etc., on movies and how he sees biological women perform their genders.

For Valentin, though, being together with Molina allows him to express his vulnerabilities in a way that he's never been able to, admitting his own fears, his own views of his weaknesses, the ways he doesn't conform to the blustery machismo he performs in his own right (even if he is also an intellectual and a leftist).

The edition I have has all these annotations which relate to Freudian theories of sexual development which are highly irritating (pages and pages of psychosexual longings that are spelled out in clinical and theoretical terms, etc.) that seem only tangentially related to the story (besides, I don't need someone pointing out all the Freudian references in the plot, thank you very much). I'm not sure if these insertions are part of Puig's original or if they were added in by the translator and/or editor of the American edition. At any rate, they make the work feel incredibly dated. Also the views of homosexuality seem dated as well: though the writer is compassionate, we've come a long way since the mid-70s on defining gay identity and trans-identities which all seem to get lumped together as part and parcel of homosexuality.

But besides the above, the novel itself is really interesting. Formally it's unusual but there are so many things worth thinking about here: gender, class, leftist politics, Argentine politics, power. I won't give away much more but suffice it to say that this book is a great summer read and I wish that Manuel Puig were better known.

The movie version of this came out when I was in my very early teens though I don't think I've ever seen it. Still, I might wait a few months and then rent the film though typically I try to see the movie before I read the book whenever possible. William Hurt won an Academic Award for his Molina and Raul Julia (an actor whose work I really liked) plays Valentin. Julia died young in 1994.

Blue Met 2014: Not to miss events!

Here are a few not to be missed events as part of Blue Met 2014: sales are moving briskly along one week after our official press conference.Yes, some events are already sold out! But before we announce those, here are a few events that are selling well and will certainly sell out in the next week or so.

Luis Alberto Urrea: the winner of our 2014 Metropolis Azul prize will appear on-stage at the Grand Bibliotheque, 475 De Maisonneuve East on Saturday, May 2 at 6:00 pm. CBC's Writers & Company's Eleanor Wachtel, discussing Urrea's award-winning novel, Queen of America, and his non-fiction which explores the fraught & highly complex relationship between Mexico and the United States.

Urrea's book, Queen of America, is fascinating. Set in Mexico and US of the late 19th century, Urrea tells the tale of a young woman with one foot in the mystical world ("the most dangerous woman in Mexico," she is reputed to be) who sets out on a dangerous journey (avoiding would-be captors and murderers) to define who she is.

A highly lyrical writer, Urrea is an original voice though one can certainly hear vestiges of classic Latin writers in his approach, straddling as he does the world of the rational with the world of the mystical. This event will definitely sell out so don't hesitate! Tickets are $15 (and there are still a few days left to take advantage of the reduced rate promotion!)

Get your tickets to see Luis Alberto Urrea and Eleanor Wachtel here.

Carolina De Robertis will talk to Shelley Pomerance on Friday, May 2 at 7:00 pm at Hotel 10, 10 Sherbrooke Street West. De Robertis is a writer who has written two amazing novels blending history and women's lives in very moving ways. A big fan of her first book, The Invisible Mountain, I am personally very excited that she will be here meeting our Festivaliers. Each year we're thrilled to bring some big stars to our public, but in some ways I get even more excited about writers who I want our audience to love, writers they may not yet know.

The Invisible Mountain tells the story of three generations of women, again straddling the mystical, and in the process, tells the history of the tiny and beautiful country of Uruguay. It's through Uruguay, in fact, that I discovered De Robertis: a visit there a number of years ago put that land on my radar and I have been very interested in it ever since.

Her latest book, Perla, gives us a glimpse into a young woman's possible breakdown and/or interaction with a ghost from Argentina's Dirty War. I can't give away too much, but the book shows us what happens when a country (when a family, when a person) goes over "to the dark side" and how those scars linger for years and years to come. Tickets are $10 (another few days take advantage of the reduced rate promotion!)

Get your tickets to see Carolina de Robertis and Shelley Pomerance here.

Both of the above events are part of our series on Latin America at the 2014 Festival. Check out the entire programme for more details (Latin America programming is on page 23 of the attached PDF).

Finally, History and Family Lore are on the docket when Urrea, local writing sensation, David Homel, and African novelist and poet Ondjaki get together to consider the stories we're told growing up. Urrea's Queen of America is loosely based on his own family's histories and the life story of his great-aunt, Teresita (read about her real life story here). Homel chronicles Chicago bootleggers of the 1920s in his new novel, The Fledglings (stories which were based on his grandmother's tales growing up). And Ondjaki's novel, too, Grandma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret, is based on stories from and about his grandmother in Angola's capital, Luanda. This event is on Saturday, May 3 at 3:30pm at Las Americas, 2075 St-Laurent (just one block away from our venue hotel, Hotel 10). Tickets are $10 and the promotional rate (which offers a discount from this price) expires early next week!

Hosted by Anne Lagace Dowson, you can get your tickets to see Urrea, Homel and Ondjaki here.

Finally, I have to announce that the Slate Culture Gabfest event is sold out! But you still have a chance to be part of the Slate experience as there are still a handful of tickets left for the Slate We Love Montreal Happy Hour at Bily Kun, 354 du Mont-Royal Est on Saturday, May 3 at 5:00 pm. They're going to go fast, though! Tickets are $20 and include a free drink.

Get your tickets to Slate's We Love Montreal Happy Hour here.

Hay Festival: Gael Garcia Bernal, John Boyne & David Foenkinos

Haven't actually seen any events yet since they only start this afternoon but a few days of literary adventure have been on my agenda since I arrived on Tuesday.

First, the location: what an amazing little town. Well, at least the central part (a UNESCO world heritage site for all of its colonial architecture) is little. Full of so much life, too: cars racing by narrow cobblestoned streets, horses pulling carriages, colorful Cuban women in floral skirts and hair wraps selling fruit on the street.

It's hot. Very hot. But when I see pictures of images of snow falling in the North, I want to jump for joy for

Bernal talks about his career

getting a brief respite from it all.

Today I am seeing American writer John Boyne (Irish author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) as well as an event this evening with Mexican actor Gael García Bernal.

So far, it's been lunches, meetings and sipping Corona outside in stone courtyards with a sea breeze blowing in. The nights here are extraordinary: the city almost complete shuts down so the streets are empty except for an occasional bar spilling out onto the sidewalk or a strolling band serenading tourists with quiet music.

Foenkinos talks about his latest novel

I ran into French writer David Foenkinos last night walking down a quiet street and said hello briefly. He's doing several events here along with French writers Emmanuel Carrère and Virginie Despentes. Also looking forward to hearing Irvine Walsh being interviewed by Eleanor Wachtel (who, naturally, will be at Blue Met in the spring, as usual).

I'd really like to see Alfonso Zapico, the graphic novelist/cartoonist and author of a graphic treatment of James Joyce's Dublin. Unfortunately, my Spanish is only so-so still so not sure how much of it I will miss (and there are two other events on at the same time I want to see: always the problem with good festivals!).

And lots more still! To think, the events haven't even officially started yet...

January escape: Colombia

One of the best things about my job is being able to travel the world and see literary events. I do this to see as many writers and as many different kinds of events that I can (even writers I don't particularly like: what is it about them that's engaging, I ask myself when I am in the midst of one of their events...) but it's also a great opportunity for me to meet other Festival directors to discuss future collaborations, promoting Quebec literature in other countries, meeting publishing and literary professionals from around the world.

I almost never leave at this time because it's an extremely busy time of year, but due to the success of our Premio Metropolis Azul for Spanish-language writing, I decided I really needed to visit the Hay Festival in Cartagena, Colombia. In its 9th year, the Festival lineup this year looks incredible: from David Foenkinos and Virginie Despentes to Cees Noteboom from Ricardo Piglia and Gael Garcia Bernal to Irvine Welsh. It's going to be such a great week! And a great opportunity to meeting movers and shakers in the Latin world: Argentine film festival directors, Chilean writers, Mexican bookfair organizers, etc.

On the way, I'm making a stopover in New York to see a show at the 92nd Street Y (whenever I visit NYC, I have to see something here or at Symphony Space). And one of my favorite noodle shops in Hells Kitchen.

The hardest part is knowing how to pack for a trip like this: minus 11 in Montreal, 2 in NYC and 32 in Cartagena. I need casual, dressy, cold weather, hot weather, winter boots and nice shoes.

I'll be updating when I can (one can never predict internet access or reliability in certain regions of Latin America)...