Contributions by Juan Álvarez
Juan Álvarez (Neiva, Colombia). Winner of the National Short Fiction Prize “Bogotá City” in 2005 and Iberoamericana’s prize for best essay in 2010 (The Ibero-American Institute of Berlin). He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas El Paso and is a doctoral candidate in the department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University. He has published a collection of short stories, Falsas alarmas (IDCT 2006 | Alfaguara, e-book 2012), and the novel C.M. no record (Alfaguara 2011). In 2011, he was named one of the “25 best kept secrets in Latin America” at the Guadalajara International Book Fair.
The Pizarro Sisters
Juan Álvarez
translated by Heather Cleary
“What,” I said. That was how I answered the phone then. It was a forceful what—scrappy, combative. But combative isn’t quite the word, because my greeting was always followed by the desire to be left alone. The way I answered the phone had to do with a few demoralizing years misspent in Mexico working as a reader for a commercial publishing house, and also with all those sniveling Colombians who say Aló? and then launch into one story after another like idiot nightingales in a cage.
A voice on the other end of the line said hello.
“Yeah, what?” I repeated.
“Hello?” repeated the voice.
This kind of game isn’t my thing. I cut right to the chase.
“Who is this? What do you want?”
“Galvareza?” The voice asked, timidly.
“That’s right.”
“My name is Estela Lara. I’m María José and María del … Read More »
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