International Authors Book Club

Read an author of your choosing from a predetermined country. April's nation is Argentina. We will meet each third Thursday of the month to discuss your author, their works, and any themes they explore.

The suggested authors, all native born, represent just a fraction of Argentina's literary tradition.

The bolded titles are available through your Santa Fe Public Library as books or ebooks (Hoopla or Overdrive/Libby).

Suggested authors:

César Aira, author of Ema, the Captive; The Little Buddhist Monk and The Proof and The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira

Born in 1949, Aira is the author of more than 80 novels, short story collections, and essays, receiving numerous awards and fellowships, such as the Konex Award, the Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award, and the Guggenheim Fellowship, and has been shortlisted both for the Man Booker International Prize and the Rómulo Gallegos Prize.

Salva Almada, author of Dead Girls, Not A River and The Wind That Lays Waste

Dead Girls is a very different beast to Almada’s previously translated work. While The Wind That Lays Waste was a gripping and theatrical work of philosophical fiction packed into 100 pages, Dead Girls is a piece of “journalistic fiction”, narrated by Almada herself, which chronicles the lives and deaths of three young women murdered in 1980s Argentina.

Agustina Bazterrica, author of Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, Tender is the Flesh and The Unworthy

Tender is the Flesh is a stomach-churning critique of our present and a warning against a possible dystopian future.  It won the Clarín Novel Prize, was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards, and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and Vogue. 

A disease is said to have wiped out most non-human animals, making human meat production an accepted norm. Those bred for slaughter are kept in much the same conditions as cattle are today. Then, the protagonist, who works at a slaughterhouse begins to see one in particular as more than just meat.

Jorge Luis Borges, author of The Aleph, Fervor, Fictions and numerous works

Fictions is Borges’ most successful and famous collection of fantastical and infinitely imaginative short stories that recount the lives of strange and impossible people; they are political, historical, magical, and surreal. They demonstrate the breadth of Borges’ imagination and are required reading for any student of Argentine literature.

The writer, essayist, poet and translator is regarded as a key figure in Spanish and international literature with his influence contributing to philosophical literature, the fantasy genre and as a major influence on magical realism in 20th century fiction.

Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, author of The Adventures of China Iron, Slum Virgin (ebook) and We Are Green and Trembling

Her most noted work, Slum Virgin, is set in Buenos Aires where the government, the mafia, the Virgin Mary, corrupt police, sex workers, thieves, drug dealers, and debauchery all combine in this sweeping novel. When the Virgin Mary appears to Cleopatra, she renounces sex work and takes charge of the shantytown she lives in, transforming it into a tiny utopia. Densely-packed, fast-paced prose, weaving slang and classical references, Slum Virgin refuses to whitewash the reality of the poor and downtrodden, and jumps deftly from tragedy to comedy in a way that has the reader chuckling.

Adolfo Bioy Casares, author of The Invention of Morel

The Invention of Morel is a philosophical science fiction novel that explores love, obsession, memory, and the boundaries between reality and illusion. The 1940 novel blends elements of dystopia and surrealism, reflecting the existentialist concerns of the time and interest in speculative fiction. It is an influential precursor to magical realism.

Julio Cortázar, author of Hopscotch

Hopscotch can be read in two ways: straight through from Chapter 1 to 56, or by “hopscotching” around all the chapters in a sequence Cortázar provides. It’s a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel examining the tangled lives of bohemian intellectuals in Paris and Buenos Aires. Remember, gentle reader, getting lost is the point.

Sebastián Martínez Daniell, author of Two Sherpas (ebook)

Two Sherpas is comprised of vignettes that take us into the thoughts and memories of two sherpas. We learn about their childhoods, their hopes, and their dreams. Diving even deeper, we learn their opinions on tourism, on work culture, on local and international history, on religion and faith, and on empire and colonialism. All the while, an anonymous English bloke lies dead on a ledge below. 

Antonio di Benedetto, author of The Suicides and Zama

First published in 1956, Zama is now universally recognized as one of the masterpieces of modern Argentinean and Spanish-language literature. Written in a style both precise and sumptuous, Zama takes place in the 1790s and describes the solitary, suspended existence of Don Diego de Zama, a highly placed servant of the Spanish crown who has been posted to Asunción, the capital of remote Paraguay. Eaten up by pride, lust, petty grudges, and paranoid fantasies, Don Diego does as little as he possibly can while plotting an eventual transfer to Buenos Aires, where everything about his hopeless existence will, he is confident, be miraculously transformed and made good.

Mariana Dimópulos, author of All My Goodbyes and Imminence (both ebooks)

Her work deals with emotional detachment and the sorrow that comes with in a string of painful goodbyes.

Mariana Enríquez, author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: Stories, Our Share of Night, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave and Things We Lost in the Fire: Stories

Enriquez investigates each famed cemetery's history and architecture, its saints and ghosts, its caretakers and visitors, and, of course, its dead. Weaving personal stories with reportage, interviews, myths, hauntology, personal photographs, and more, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave is memoir channeled through Enriquez's passion for cemeteries, revealing as much about her own life and unique sensibility as the graveyards she tours.

The imagination on display in the stories of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed are noteworthy even while leaning on the gothic tropes of hauntings, cults, and witchcraft to tell engrossing stories about people and their modern problems.

Things We Lost in the Fire is a less surreal, more grounded affair that remains powerful, horror-filled short stories, oozing with gothic undertones. They are inspired by real-life traumas and behaviors.

Federico Falco, author of The Plains and A Perfect Cemetery (both ebooks)

In Falco’s works, childhood does not last long and adult lives fall apart quickly. In disarming, darkly humorous stories, he explores themes of obsessive love, romantic attachment and the strategies we must find to cope with death and painful longing.

Nicolás Ferraro, author of My Favorite Scar (ebook)

It's been described as a noir coming-of-age story. The main character is a 15-year-old girl brought up by her incorrigible criminal father. She bandages his bullet wounds and has her own shotgun — but what she really wants is to stay in one place and lead a normal life. The debut was shortlisted for the 2015 Edgar Allen Poe Award.

María Gainza, author of Optic Nerve and Portrait of an Unknown Lady

In Optic Nerve, the narrator wanders through Buenos Aires museums, using paintings as jumping-off points to talk about everything from family drama to the strange lives of famous artists. Some say it’s clever, funny, and melancholy. For many it’s like getting lost in conversation with a friend who’s equal parts philosopher, tour guide, and chaos agent.

Uki Goni, author of The Real Odessa

This mid-1990s book is the story of how the Irish-Argentine journalist was the first to go through the files in Buenos Aires from Peron’s time to see how widespread the immigration of Nazis to Argentina had been and how they got there. The files have mostly disappeared and while Goni was doing his research there were mysterious fires that destroyed the documents he was working on and things disappearing all over the place. It is as much about how Argentina came to terms with its dictatorial past as it is about Nazi history. 

Ariana Harwicz, author of Die My Love, Feebleminded and Tender (all ebooks)

In Die My Love, Harwicz illuminates the darker aspects of motherhood, from the feeling of being trapped by a life you created, to the gradual loss of identity. Harwicz examines the expectation that motherhood will become a woman’s defining characteristic, the most valuable and important piece of her identity.

Martín Kohan, author of Confession

Based on real events, the people in Argentina had to live together with this kind of horrible historical characters — they lived amongst us in society until they were finally put in jail.

Tomás Eloy Martínez, author of Purgatory and Santa Evita

Based on the true story of Eva Perón, the wife of Argentine president Juan Perón, Santa Evita delves into the myth surrounding her embalmed body and the political and social consequences of her death, making for a blend of historical fiction and political commentary.

Sylvia Molloy, author of Dislocations (ebook)

In brief, sharply drawn moments, Dislocations records the gradual loss of a beloved friend, M.L., a disappearance in ways expected (forgotten names, forgotten moments) and painfully surprising (the reversion to a formal, proper Spanish from their previous shared vernacular). 

Pola Oloixarac, author of Bad Hombre [Spanish only) and Savage Theories  

In 2010, she was chosen by Granta as one of the best young contemporary novelists in Spanish. She currently lives in San Francisco, where she is completing a PhD at Stanford.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld, author of The Eternaut

The 1957 graphic novel tells the story of a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic Buenos Aires, where a deadly snowfall has wiped out much of humanity. The novel explores themes of survival, political engagement and collective resistance against oppression.

Ricardo Piglia, author of Target in the Night and The Way Out (all ebooks)

Target in the Night is an intense family history reminiscent of King Lear; the madness of the detective is integral to solving crimes. Target in the Night won every major 2011 Spanish-language literary prize, cementing his reputation as the greatest living Argentine novelist.

Claudia Piñeiro, author of Elena Knows

Piñeiro is one of the most renowned, celebrated, and translated Argentine writers of all time. Though most famous for her crime fiction, Elena Knows is a heavy yet short literary novel that tackles big themes of religion, sexism, responsibility, and the fantasy vs reality.

Paula Porroni, author of Good Student

Her first novel (2016) explores the self-flagellating inner monologue of an ambitious student who goes back to her college town in search of employment and watches as her hopes for success vanish in front of her.

Manuel Puig, author of Kiss of the Spider Woman

Kiss of the Spider Woman explores themes of political oppression, love, and identity through the story of two men sharing a prison cell: Molina, a gay man who escapes into the world of film, and Valentin, a revolutionary political prisoner. The 1976 novel was written during Argentina’s “Dirty War,” a period of state-sponsored terrorism and human rights violations. It was made into a play and an Oscar-winning movie (1985) starring William Hurt and Raul Julia and a recent remake.

Dolores Reyes, author of Eartheater and Misery/Miseria

Reyes shines a light on violence against women, which is often ignored, even belittled by some current governments or presidents. Eartheater is the story of a young woman who finds herself drawn to eating the earth - a compulsion that gives her visions of broken and lost lives. With her first taste of dirt, she learns the horrifying truth of her mother's death.

Ernesto Sabato, author of The Tunnel

The Tunnel, available in Spanish through SFPL, is a psychological thriller about a man, Juan Pablo Castel, who becomes obsessed with a woman named María, leading him down a dark path of jealousy and violence. The award-winning 1948 novel examines the mind of a man spiraling into madness, obsession and alienation while reflecting the post-World War II disillusionment in Argentinian society.

Juan José Saer, author of The Brothers, The Regal Lemon Tree and The Rehearsal

One of Saer's most beloved novels, The Regal Lemon Tree focuses on a couple in the north of Argentina who lost their only son eight years prior. Wenceslao spends the day with his extended family and his memories while his wife - paralyzed by grief - refuses to leave their island, which is home to an almost magical lemon tree that blossoms at all times of the year. With the recurring phrase, "dawn breaks, and his eyes are already open," the novel takes on an eerie, dreamlike quality, manifesting the troubles the couple has suffered.

Luis Sagasti, author of Fireflies (ebook) and A Musical Offering

How do we even begin to narrate the history of the world? Where do we start, and where do we end? Fireflies is Sagasti's attempt to answer these questions. Taking an eclectic array of influences and personalities from modern history, he teases out events that seem random and insignificant and weaves them together masterfully.

Samanta Schweblin, author of Fever Dream, Little Eyes, Mouthful of Birds: Stories and Seven Empty Houses

Born in Buenos Aires, Schweblin has earned numerous accolades, such as the Casa de las Américas Prize, the Premio Juan Rulfo Story Prize, and the Shirley Jackson Award. She was named one of the 22 best writers under the age of 35 by the British magazine Granta, and the English translation of her novel Distancia de rescate (Fever Dream) was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017. She currently lives in Germany.

For accommodations such as translations, ASL interpreters, or disability needs, please email library@santafenm.gov or call 505-955-6781.