Juan Gómez Bárcena in Dallas

Spanish writer Juan Gómez Bárcena visits Dallas as part of his U.S. tour to present his book “Not event the dead” in conversation with the translator and publisher.

Translator Katie Whittemore and publisher Chad W. Post will join the presentation, which will be followed by a reading and Q&A. Both the author and translator will also sign copies of the book after the presentation.

We’ll never know what the late Cormac McCarthy might have thought of Juan Gómez Bárcena’s Not Even the Dead, but I wager that the novel would have appealed to him, and also to Roberto Bolaño and Joseph Conrad, if for no reason other than their egos. Each of them would have seen strong evidence of their influence on Gómez Bárcena, whose previous work —a story collection and a prizewinning novel, The Sky Over Lima— has already established him as a leading writer in Spain. His latest book, splendidly translated by Katie Whittemore, only adds to his standing, thanks to its successful blend of ambitious literary dynamism with contemporary social and political commentary.

—The New York Times

About the author

Juan Gómez Bárcena (Santander, 1984) has a degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, as well as in History and Philosophy. With his first book of short stories, Los que duermen (2012), he won the Premio Tormenta for Best New Author.

In 2014 he published El cielo de Lima, a novel for which he won the Premio Ojo Crítico de Narrativa 2014 and the Premio Ciudad de Alcalá de Narrativa 2015, and which has been translated into English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Dutch and Greek. Kanada (2017) won the Premio Ciudad de Santander 2017 and the Premio Cálamo Otra Mirada 2017, and was first finalist for the Premio Internacional Tigre Juan.

He then published Ni siquiera los muertos (2020), which was a finalist for the prize awarded by the Madrid Booksellers’ Guild for the best book of the year and is awaiting publication in English and German. Lo demás es aire (2022) has won the Premio Ciutat de Barcelona 2022. (2022) has won the Premio Ciutat de Barcelona 2022.

As a critic, he coordinated the anthology Bajo treinta (2013), which brings together the most outstanding voices of his generation. He has received grants from different institutions, such as the Spanish Academy in Rome, the Antonio Gala Foundation, the BBVA Foundation, the FONCA in Mexico and The International Writers’ House in Graz. He currently lives in Madrid, where he gives literary workshops.

About the translator

Katie Whittemore translates from the Spanish. Her work has appeared in Two Lines, The Arkansas International, The Common Online, Gulf Coast Magazine Online, The Brooklyn Rail, and InTranslation. Current projects include novels by Spanish authors Sara Mesa, Javier Serena, Aliocha Coll, and Aroa Moreno Durán. She lives in Valencia.