Migratory Birds
Will be published approx. on 5. August 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
136 pages
978-1-945492-52-5 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the PEN Translation Prize
"Pondering revolutionary Cuba, the Berlin Wall, and the caves of Cappadocia, these essays explore themes of memory, war, movement, and home."-The New Yorker
"A thoughtful, roving meditation on migration, language, and home."-Publishers Weekly
In her prize-winning debut, Mexican essayist Mariana Oliver trains her gaze on migration in its many forms, moving between real cities and other more inaccessible territories: language, memory, pain, desire, and the body. With an abiding curiosity and poetic ease, Oliver leads us through the underground city of Cappadocia, explores the vicissitudes of a Berlin marked by historical fracture, recalls a shocking childhood exodus, and recreates the intimacy of the spaces we inhabit. Blending criticism, reportage, and a travel writing all her own, Oliver presents a brilliant collection of essays that asks us what it means to leave the familiar behind and make the unfamiliar our own.
"Pondering revolutionary Cuba, the Berlin Wall, and the caves of Cappadocia, these essays explore themes of memory, war, movement, and home."-The New Yorker
"A thoughtful, roving meditation on migration, language, and home."-Publishers Weekly
In her prize-winning debut, Mexican essayist Mariana Oliver trains her gaze on migration in its many forms, moving between real cities and other more inaccessible territories: language, memory, pain, desire, and the body. With an abiding curiosity and poetic ease, Oliver leads us through the underground city of Cappadocia, explores the vicissitudes of a Berlin marked by historical fracture, recalls a shocking childhood exodus, and recreates the intimacy of the spaces we inhabit. Blending criticism, reportage, and a travel writing all her own, Oliver presents a brilliant collection of essays that asks us what it means to leave the familiar behind and make the unfamiliar our own.
Reviews / Votes
"Migratory Birds is sensitive and illuminating... a decidedly feminist work, highlighting the vulnerabilities of women-overworked, underappreciated-but also their empowering journeys and choices. Without denying the violence of history, Migratory Birds firmly establishes the emancipating power of dreams and the imagination."-Farah Abdessamad, Los Angeles Review of Books"Oliver debuts with a thoughtful, roving meditation on migration, language, and home. In intimate pieces studded with references to history and literature, Oliver ponders such topics as the tug of home and the consequences of dislocation... Fans of lyrical essays will enjoy this literary global odyssey."-Publishers Weekly
"Essays haunted by echoes and shadows... In the third entry of the publisher's Undelivered Lectures series, Mexican-born essayist Oliver debuts with a collection of 10 graceful pieces that include meditations on place, language, exile, and memory."-Kirkus Reviews
"Mariana Oliver touches down in various times and places, showing how people described their difficulties there and then, and revealing what changes in language arose from these events. From Normandy to Neverland, the through line of this excellent collection is movement, and the essays meander around history in an appealing way... Part memoir, part history, and part travelogue, Migratory Birds explores the vicissitudes of language."-Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 174 mm
Width: 124 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
140 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-945492-52-5 (9781945492525)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Mariana Oliver was born in Mexico City in 1986. She received her master's in comparative literature from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and is the recipient of a Fundacion de Letras Mexicanas grant for essay writing. In 2016, she was awarded the Jose Vasconcelos National Essay Prize for Migratory Birds.
Julia Sanches is a translator of Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Catalan. Her book-length translations are Now and at the Hour of Our Death by Susana Moreira Marques and What Are the Blind Men Dreaming? by Noemi Jaffe. A former literary agent, she is cofounder of the collective Cedilla & Co.
Julia Sanches is a translator of Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Catalan. Her book-length translations are Now and at the Hour of Our Death by Susana Moreira Marques and What Are the Blind Men Dreaming? by Noemi Jaffe. A former literary agent, she is cofounder of the collective Cedilla & Co.