Three Novels

‘Language itself seems to be invested with a strange demiurgic force. Herrera’s style – both precise and elusive, specific and elliptical – is uncannily well suited to depict the in-between state his characters inhabit.’ Tony Wood, LRB —- ‘Herrera shuns proper names of people and places: Mexico City is the “Big Chilango,” characters bear names such as the Artist, the Witch, and Mr. Q. His ghostly landscapes are reminiscent of Rulfo’s in the iconic novel Pedro Páramo, but his characters are even more ethereal. Many are up to no good, delivering packages whose contents we can only guess at, trying to avoid falling into vast sinkholes and the jails of La Migra. The bad guys speak as if in a Peckinpah film. […] The [three novels are] even more powerful read together. A welcome gathering of centrifugal works by one of Mexico’s most accomplished contemporary writers.’ Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Born in Actopan, Mexico, in 1970, Yuri Herrera studied Politics in Mexico, Creative Writing in El Paso and took his PhD in literature at Berkeley. His first novel to appear in English, Signs Preceding the End of the World, won the 2016 Best Translated Book Award after publishing to great critical acclaim in 2015, when it featured on many Best-of-Year lists, including The Guardian’s Best Fiction and NBC News’s Ten Great Latino Books. His second novel The Transmigration of Bodies (2016 in English) and Kingdom Cons (2017 in English) were also published to acclaim, including the Dublin Literary Award (former Impac prize) shortlisting of The Transmigration of Bodies. He currently teaches at the University of Tulane, in New Orleans. A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire is his fourth book, and his first of non-fiction. Lisa Dillman has translated a number of Spanish and Latin American writers. Some of her recent translations include Rain Over Madrid, Such Small Hands and The Right Intention.