Cheuse Center Writer-in-Residence Munir Hachemi in Washington, DC

Spanish writer Munir Hachemi will engage in various activities in the DMV area as part of his Cheuse Center Residency, in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, DC.

Munir Hachemi (1989) was born in Madrid, Spain. His first stories appeared in fanzines, published by the collective Los Escritores Bárbaros. Later on, he published his first novel, Los pistoleros del eclipse, and the second, 废墟. In 2018 he published Cosas vivas and in 2021 he was selected by Granta as one of the “25 best Spanish novelists under 35.” In 2023 he published a poetry collection which received the Ojo Crítico prize and El árbol viene, a science-fiction novel. Cosas vivas will be published next year in English by Fitzcarraldo (UK) and Coach House (US) and an excerpt will appear soon in Paris Review.

Starting in September 2024, Hachemi will connect with the community through a series of free events, readings, and discussions as part of his residency at The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center, in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C.

Activities

A gathering of translators

• On Monday, September 30 at 3:15 pm. Free, RSVP.
• Art & Design Building, Gillespie Gallery, at George Mason, 4400 University Dr, Fairfax, VA 22030.

This event brings together literary translators and multilingual writers from the DMV for an engaging reading and networking opportunity, celebrating diverse voices and the art of translation.

From Words to Worlds: Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a Unique Translation Slam

• On Tuesday, October 8 at 6:30 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• At the Spanish Cultural Center, 2801 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with award-winning authors Munir Hachemi and Javier Adrada de la Torre, along with translator Katie King, who will explore the art of translation and invite the audience to participate in a “Translation Slam with a Twist.”

Pushed Together, Forced Apart

• On Wednesday, October 16th at 1:30 pm.
• Fenwick Library at George Mason University. Fenwick Reading Room, 2nd Floor.

A Panel with Helen Benedict and Myriam J. A. Chancy at Fall for the Book Festival.

Book presentation: Living Things

• On Thursday, October 17 at 7 pm. Free with first come, first serve seating.
• At Politics and Prose, 1324 4th St NE, Washington, DC 20002.

Living Things follows four recent graduates —Munir, G, Ernesto, and Alex— who travel from Madrid to the south of France to work the grape harvest. Except things don’t go as planned: they end up working on an industrial chicken farm and living in a campground, where a general sense of menace takes hold. What follows is a compelling and incisive examination of precarious employment, capitalism, immigration, and the mass production of living things, all interwoven with the protagonist’s thoughts on literature and the nature of storytelling.

But I’m going to tell my story or our story—anyway, and even more rightfully, by hewing to the truth. So don’t expect to find any embellishments here beyond the ones imposed by language —which I realize are more than a few. A pessimist would insist that language inflicts so many nuances and misunderstandings —which, by the way, are not the collateral damage of language but the conditions of its existence.

—From Living Things, by Munir Hachemi (translated by Julia Sanches)

Part of this novel’s fun, rough appeal is that Munir and his mates aren’t the genteel, hypersensitive types we’re more used to meeting in contemporary fiction, but plausibly loutish Spaniards who repeatedly trash their campsite, offend the other guests and spend the whole time smoking joints and guzzling beer. But they are not insensible to the low background hum of contemporary horror. By the end, Munir’s working holiday amid the wretched of the earth has left him with an ambivalent view of his own vocation. Storytelling, he concludes, “is something we do on instinct while the world falls to pieces around us.”

—The New York Times

About the translator

Julia Sanches is a literary translator specializing in Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she has lived in several countries, which has deepened her understanding of the languages and cultures she translates. As a founding member of Cedilla & Co., a collective that promotes international voices in English, she also chairs the Translators Group of the Authors Guild. Sanches earned a BA in English Literature and Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh and an MA in Comparative Literature and Literary Translation from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Previously, she worked as an assistant and agent for authors worldwide, but she now focuses on translation and advocating for the works she loves. Her recent translations include Boulder by Eva Baltasar, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023.