Kirkus Indie often reviews books that have been translated into English from other languages, and, occasionally, our reviewers offer opinions on untranslated works in Spanish. Here are three notable books from international authors, all published in the past few years, including two that received the Kirkus star:
Our reviewer notes the “distinctly ironic and sinewy voice” of Marko Pogacar’s poems in his Kirkus-starred 2020 collection, Dead Letter Office. The works, translated into English from the Croatian by Andrea Jurjevic, reflect the poet’s iconoclasm and satiric views of such institutions as the church and the police; he grew up in Yugoslavia, which was riven by violent conflict. Our reviewer particularly notes the book’s final piece, “Waiting for the Song,” noting that the speaker “acknowledges the barriers between self and world. Though ‘nothing / can land on you. still you lie and wait for the song. / you wait for it.’ ”
Dimas Rio’s 2019 short story collection, Who’s There? offers readers five tales of suspense, translated from Indonesian, that feature, as our reviewer describes them, “ghosts, creatures, and general malfeasance.” For example, one story, “The Voice Canal,” features an Indonesian student studying in Scotland who appears to hear the voice of his dead father through a set of earphones. Kirkus’ review recommends these “dark stories that entrance and unnerve.”
Readers may know Guatemalan-born author Harris Whitbeck from his work as a foreign correspondent for cable news network CNN. In his recently published Spanish-language memoir, El Oficio De Narrar Sin Miedo, he offers highlights from his decadeslong reporting career, which took him to such far-flung locales as Haiti and war-torn Afghanistan. Our reviewer, in a starred review, calls the remembrance an “often compelling survey of a uniquely demanding career and the life lived around it, with stories that readers won’t find in the news.”
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
