Selva Almada
Wednesday 5th June
Topping & Company Booksellers of Edinburgh, 2 Blenheim Place, Edinburgh EH7 5JH
7.10pm
7.30pm
We are thrilled to be welcoming Selva Almada for her latest novel published by the wonderful independent publisher Charco Press. Shortlisted for the Mario Vargas Llosa Novel Prize, as well as being chosen as one of the Best Books of 2020 by Clarín and La Nación, Not a River delves into the violence and silences of rural Argentina.
Not a River
Three men go out fishing, returning to a favourite spot on the river despite their memories of a terrible accident there years earlier. As a long, sultry day passes, they drink and cook and talk and dance, and try to overcome the ghosts of their past.
But they are outsiders, and this intimate, peculiar moment also puts them at odds with the inhabitants of this watery universe, both human and otherwise. The forest presses close, and violence seems inevitable, yet can another tragedy be avoided?
Rippling across time like the river that runs through it, Selva Almada's latest novel is the finest expression yet of her compelling style and singular vision of rural Argentina. This masterful novel reveals once again Selva's unique voice and extraordinary sensitivity, allowing its characters to shine and express in action what the depths of their souls harbour.
About Selva Almada
Compared to Carson McCullers, William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor, Selva Almada (Entre Rios, Argentina, 1973) is considered one of the most powerful voices of contemporary Argentinian and Latin American literature, as well as one of the most influential feminist intellectuals of the region. She has published several novels, a book of short stories, a book of journalistic fiction and a film diary. She has been finalist for the Medife Prize, the Rodolfo Walsh Award and of the Tigre Juan Award. Not a River (winner of the IILA Prize in Italy) is her fourth book to appear in English after her debut The Wind that Lays Waste (Winner of the EIBF First Book Award 2019), Dead Girls (2020), and Brickmakers (2021).
Selva Almada will be in conversation with Willow Heath, a Glasgow-based poet and critic. She is a co-founder of the literature and culture site Books and Bao, and host of the YouTube channel Willow Talks Books. Her poetry has been published in various places, both online and in print, and in 2023 she narrated the audiobook for The LGBTQ+ History Book.