Description

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These twenty-plus short stories by leading Central American writers, by turns unsettling, absurd, tragic, exhilarating, and mystical, introduce us to the people behind the front-page horrors . . . A Torruban Indian loses a month's pay with a bad roll of the dice . . . The beautiful young Anita hunts beetles and cockroaches . . . To up its popularity rating, a government stages the first "Miss Underdeveloped Contest" . . . After the 1954 massacres in Guatemala, children hold a funeral for a bird . . . Reflecting a wide range of styles, these stories point in new directions while evincing the particular strength and courage it takes to write in a war-torn country.

About the Author

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Born in La Paz, Bolivia, ROSARIO SANTOS directs Fulbright Programs for Latin America for the Institute of International Education. She has been the managing editor of the literary journal, Review, Latin American Art and Literature, and the director of the literature program of the Center for Inter-American Relations. She lives in New York City.

Praise For…

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“Twenty tales about the intangibility of justice … Our spirits are buoyed by their magical air and absurdist sense of humor.” –Los Angeles Times


“Skillfully chosen, expertly translated, these stories have performed a greater service than a busload of congressional fact-finders.” –The Village Voice