Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
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Latin American literature with Leo Boix
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
Among the best fiction from Latin America this year, Dead Girls by Argentinean Selva Almada (Charco Press) deserves a special mention as being one of the most powerful and necessary. This is an incisive book that deals head-on with the tragedy of femicides in Latin American by recounting the killings of three teenage girls in the interior of Argentina in the 1980s.
The Book of Emma Reyes, by Colombian artist and writer Emma Reyes (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), is another highlight. An instant classic, the book includes 23 beautifully written letters by the author, who recounts the moving story of a Colombian girl trying to survive extreme poverty, violence, class prejudice and years of abuse in a exploitative and cruel Catholic convent.
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Travelogue/reportage by Argentinean Maria Sonia Cristoff, and poetry by Peruvian Gaston Fernandez and Puerto Rican Cristina Perez Diaz
An outstanding novel by Chilean writer and activist Pedro Lemebel, a poetry pamphlet by Venezuelan Natasha Tiniacos, and a children’s book of haikus singing the beauty of Cuba
LEO BOIX reviews Cuban poet Carlos Pintado; Mexican poet Diana Garza Islas; Mexican American writer and critic Rigoberto Gonzalez; and Brazilian poet Haroldo de Campos
LEO BOIX selects the best books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction written by Latinx and Latin American authors published this year