The Arid Sky, Paperback

"This dark, sprawling novel is the English language debut of Emiliano Monge, a Mexican writer who is often compared to the US literary superstar Cormac McCarthy. Written in a tone that evokes McCarthy's unrelenting classic Blood Meridian, the novel tells the story of Germ n Alc ntara Carnero, a dangerous campesino fighting to survive in rural 20th century Mexico, and also a metaphor for the spiraling violence of contemporary Mexican society." --Culture Trip

Set on a desolate, unnamed mesa, Emiliano Monge's The Arid Sky distills the essence of a Latin America ruthlessly hollowed out by uncontainable violence. This is an unsparing yet magnificent land, whose only constants are loneliness, hatred, loyalty, and the struggle to return some small measure of meaning to life.

Thundering and inventive, The Arid Sky narrates the signature moments in the life of Germ n Alcantara Carnero: a man who is both exaltedly, viscerally real and is an ageless, nameless being capable of embodying entire eras, cultures, and conflicts. Monge's roadmap--an escape across borders, the disappearance of a young girl, the confrontation between a father and his son, the birth of a sick child, and murder--takes readers on a journey to the core of humankind that posits a challenge of the kind only great literature can pose.

About the Author:

About the Author:

Emiliano Monge (Mexico City, 1978) studied Political Science at the Universidad Nacional Aut noma de M xico, where he also taught until his move to Barcelona, where he currently resides. Though he has worked as a book and magazine editor, at present, he fully dedicates his time to this writing. His first short story collection, Arrastrar esa sombra, was published in 2008, followed by the novel Morirse de memoria; both were finalists for the Antonin Artaud award. With a wide array of non-fiction essays, reportage, and book reviews, he has been an ongoing contributor to the Spanish newspaper El Pa s, the Mexican newspaper Reforma, and prestigious magazines such as Letras Libres and Gatopardo. He was the two-time recipient of the Conaculta award Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, and is now a member of the "Orden del Finnegans", a group of Spanish writers that gather annually on Bloomsday in Dublin in honour of Joyce's Ulysses. In 2011, the Guadalajara International Book Fair chose him as one of the top 25 best-kept secrets in contemporary Latin American literature, and in 2013 was awarded the Corte Ingl s prize "Otros mbitos, otras voces". Last but not least, he was selected for "M xico20", a list of twenty important young Mexican authors (chosen by The British Council, the FIL, Hay Festival, Conaculta) who will be the guests of honour at the upcoming London Book Fair, with their work featured in an anthology to be published by Pushkin Press.

About the Translator:

Thomas Bunstead is a writer and translator based in East Sussex, England. He has translated some of the leading Spanish-language writers working today, including Agust n Fern ndez Mallo, Enrique Vila-Matas and Juan Villoro, and his own writing has appeared in publications such as The Paris Review, The White Review and The Times Literary Supplement. He is an editor at the literary translation journal In Other Words. Find him on Twitter: @thom_bunn