Tidal Waters

Velia Vidal (Bahia Solano, Colombia, 1982) is a writer who loves the sea and shared readings. In 2021 she was a fellow at Villa Josepha Ahrenshoop, in Germany. For her book Tidal Waters she won the Afro-Colombian Authors Publication Grant awarded by Colombia's Ministry of Culture. She is the co-author of Oir somos rio (2019) and its bilingual German-Spanish edition. She is the founder and director of the Motete Educational and Cultural Corporation and the Choco Reading and Writing Festival (FLECHO). Vidal graduated in Afro-Latin American Studies and has a Masters in Reading Education and Children's Literature. She is also a journalist and specialist in social management and communication. In 2022 she was chosen by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential women in the world.

Annie McDermott is the translator of a dozen books from Spanish and Portuguese, by such writers as Mario Levrero, Ariana Harwicz, Brenda Lozano, Fernanda Trias and Lidia Jorge. She was awarded the Premio Valle-Inclan for her translation of Wars of the Interior by Joseph Zarate, and her translation of Brickmakers by Selva Almada was shortlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. In 2024 her translation of Selva Almada's novel Not a River was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. She has previously lived in Mexico City and Sao Paulo, and is now based in Hastings in the UK.