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Ischia is a portrait of an unnamed narrator and protagonist who, along with her friends, wanders through the margins of different cities, especially Buenos Aires, searching for something they don't know and seems unfathomable.
About the author
Gisela Heffes is a Professor of Latin American Literature and Culture as well as a writer, ecocritic, and public intellectual with a particular focus on literature, media, and the environment in Latin America. She is the author of the novella
Sophie La Belle (2016), the novel
Cocodrilos en la noche (2020), and the bilingual poetry collection
El cero móvil de su boca / The Zero Mobile of Its Mouth (2020). She currently resides in Houston, Texas.
Grady C. Wray teaches Latin American literature, Spanish, and Translation at the University of Oklahoma. He published the first bilingual critical edition of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz' Devotional Exercises. His translations of fiction and poetry include
The Mobile Zero of Its Mouth by Gisela Heffes (Katakana editores, 2020),
2323 Stratford Ave. by Marcelo Rioseco (Valparaiso Editions USA, 2020), and
Series 201 by Luisa Valenzuela (2017).
Summary
Ischia is a portrait of an unnamed narrator and her friends: wandering through the margins of different cities, especially Buenos Aires, they search for purpose in an increasingly uncertain world.
An intricate, gutsy, and raw novel, Ischia is populated with outsiders who navigate the vicissitudes of life in Argentina and the world. Ischia, the female narrator, is the youngest in a family of seven brothers and relates her experiences as she waits for a ride to the airport. Told through dizzying would-have, could-have conditionals, Ischia overlaps and blurs the past, present, and future of three young characters defined by lack of certainty or expectation.
These three lives unfold between disenchantment and humor, and the narration transports readers into a world of memories, desires, and dreams. The novel advances lyrically through themes both solemn and lighthearted, shaping the contours of imagined, hilarious, and surreal experiences.
Foreword
- Campaign highlighting the long-awaited translation of a groundbreaking work of experimental Argentinian literature
- Serialization outreach targeting Granta, Paris Review, Astra Magazine, BOMB, n+1, Electric Literature, Literary Hub
- National review and feature outreach to print publications (NYTBR, New York Times, New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe) and online (NPR, Literary Hub, Buzzfeed, The Millions)
- Targeted outreach to publications spotlighting translated literature: World Literature Today, Asymptote, Words Without Borders, Latin American Literature Today
- Virtual events featuring author and translator; Promotion at/events pitched to PEN World Voices Festival
- Outreach to university Spanish and Iberian Studies departments at Rice University, University of Oklahoma, Columbia University, and others
- Promotion on the publisher’s website (deepvellum.org), Twitter feed (@deepvellum), and Facebook page (/deepvellum); publisher’s e-newsletter to booksellers, reviewers, librarians
