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After the author's younger brother is killed by a lightning strike, fiction follows fact, charting the ongoing impact of loss on a family.
About the author
Daniel Mella (Montevideo, Uruguay, 1976) is one of the key figures in contemporary Latin American literature. He published his first novel Pogo (Mosh, 1997) at the age of 21, followed by Derretimiento (Melt, 1998). Both books were lauded by critics and quickly gained Mella the reputation of a cult writer, with his unique take on violence and moral decline. He cemented his place on the literary scene with his third novel, Noviembre (November, 2000). After a decade without writing, Mella returned with Lava (2013), a collection of short stories for which he was awarded the Bartolomé Hidalgo Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in Uruguay. Older Brother appeared in 2017, garnering jubilant press internationally and winning Mella the Bartolomé Hidalgo Prize for the second time. It is his first book to be translated into English.
Megan McDowell is a literary translator focusing on contemporary Latin American authors. Her translations include works by Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enriquez, Lina Meruane, and Diego Zuñiga. Her short story translations have appeared in The New Yorker , The Paris Review , Tin House , McSweeney’s , Granta , and the Virginia Quarterly Review , among others. Her translation of Alejandro Zambra’s Ways of Going Home won an English PEN Translates award (2013), and her English version of Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize. She has been awarded residencies by the Banff International Translation Centre (Canada), Looren Translation House (Switzerland) and Art Omi (USA). She currently lives in Santiago, Chile.
