Cantoras

Product Information

And when I look up to the sky at night and see the moon, be it “a meager slice” or not, it feels comforting to know that they, the cantoras, have shared the view of the same moon with me, as time and space collapse into one. This book made me feel so deeply, so wholly, that it can’t not b Searing . . . The author sensitively and singularly touches on themes of queerness, community, and perseverance.” —David Canfield, Entertainment Weekly Paz (16): She’s the youngest, but she’s far from naïve. She’s a dreamer, a hustler, and everything in between. Her vulnerability twisted my heart, made me protective, made me want to fight the world for her. Arrasadora y verdaderamente asombrosa…además de la apasionante narración que teje sin esfuerzo los éxitos y fracasos personales de las protagonistas con la compleja lucha política de Uruguay por retornar a la democracia, la prosa de De Robertis es razón suficiente para leer el libro. Como sus apasionados personajes, la escritura de De Robertis llega a la esencia de lo que significa sentirse frustrada, condenada y aislada por tus creencias e identidad, pero también lo que significa ser vulnerable y empoderada a la vez, y lo que es ser una mujer infinitamente hermosa y plenamente viva. Sus palabras dan en el blanco de una manera tan directa y elocuente que prácticamente cantan”.—Alexis Burling, San Francisco Chronicle

You wrote Cantoras in English and then translated your own text into Spanish. How did you find the act of translating your own novel? I have also read, and really enjoyed your English translation of Laura Restrepo’s novel The Divine Boys, was anything easier or harder translating your own work compared to translating somebody else’s? This book is fabulous and I learned so much by reading it. This historical fiction is about 5 queer women ( Flaca, Romina, Anita - La Venus, Malenia and Paz) who meet under various situations and decide to travel to this beach called Cabo Polonio. This beach becomes there refuge during a volatile time in Uruguay. Over the course of many years (teens to older adults), they see things change not only in Uruguay but on the beach they claimed as their own in early adulthood. Lovers come and go, but their friendship and the fact that they are queer remains.I noticed that the novel contains several conversations where characters discuss language itself, such as the meaning of words and phrases, for example discussing the meaning of the word ‘esposas’, or the use of the term ‘transfer of power’ to describe a coup. Is this commentary on language choices something you particularly wanted to include in Cantoras?

Those particular military dictatorships may have come to a close, but they never went away. Uruguay (2019) just elected its first right wing, racist, oligarch president since Mujica; one who has a history of abusing workers on his estancias. The Trump Bolsonaro Duque Pinera brand of leadership has a very armed following in South America, and the bloody, brutal military coup d'état (golpe de estado) of Bolivia has blown by basically unnoticed, despite the BS claims about a “dirty election” being proven false:Cantoras is a wise, brilliantly compassionate, wide-ranging novel about women in Uruguay, and about the power and realities of love. Carolina De Robertis is a force: prepare to be astonished.” —R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries