We’re deligted to be working with the Instituto Cervantes to welcome acclaimed Spanish author Sara Mesa and translator Katie Whittemore to Manchester for the release of their latest book UN AMOR – an explosive, claustrophobic story of desire and small town unease. Sara and Katie will be in conversation with Professor Rosi Song.

Doors: 6.30, starts: 6.45

Tickets are £3.00 or free when ordering a copy of the book. UN AMOR will also be available to purchase on the night and Sara and Katie will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.

About the book:

On the heels of a cryptic mistake, Nat arrives in the rural village of La Escapa. She rents a small house from a negligent landlord, adopts a dog and begins to work on her first literary translation. But nothing in La Escapa is easy: her dog is ill tempered and skittish, and mutual misunderstandings with her neighbours simmer below the surface. When conflict arises over repairs to her house, Nat receives an unusual offer – one that tests her sense of self and reveals her most unexpected desires. As Nat tries to understand her decision, the community of La Escapa comes together in search of a scapegoat.

“Sara Mesa’s writing is mysterious and fascinating: her characters brush against the limits in environments of fierce false calm. Un Amor is one of her best novels – tense and beautiful like a crouching bird.” – Mariana Enríquez (Our Share of Night, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed)

“When I read Sara Mesa, I’m there in the Wild West, sifting through sand. There is a restless enjoyment, an inhospitable beauty in that sifting. And then something miraculous when gold appears before your eyes.” – Eva Baltasar (Permafrost, Boulder)

About the authors:

Sara Mesa is the author of eight works of fiction, including Scar (winner of the Ojo Critico Prize), Four by Four (a finalist for the Herralde Prize), An Invisible Fire (winner of the Premio Málaga de Novela), Among the Hedges, and La Familia. Her works have been translated into more than ten different languages, and she has been widely praised for her concise, sharp writing style.

Katie Whittemore is graduate of the University of NH (BA), Cambridge University (M.Phil), and Middlebury College (MA), and was a 2018 Bread Loaf Translators Conference participant. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming with Two Lines, The Arkansas International, The Common Online, Gulf Coast Magazine Online, The Los Angeles Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and InTranslation.