The author and translator told us about the inspiration behind Simpatía, what the nomination means for Venezuelan and Latin American literature, and the secrets behind the co-translation of the novel
Rodrigo Blanco Calderón
Rodrigo Blanco Calderón is a writer and editor from Venezuela
He has received various awards for his stories both inside and outside Venezuela. In 2007, he was invited to join the Bogotá39 group, which brings together the best Latin American narrators under 39 years old. In 2013, he was a guest writer at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. In 2014, his story “Emuntorios” was included in Thirteen Crime Stories from Latin America, volume number forty-six of McSweeney’s.
With his first novel, The Night (English translation Daniel Hahn and Noel Hernández González, Seven Stories Press 2022), he won the 2016 Paris Rive Gauche Prize, the Critics Award in Venezuela, and the 2019 Mario Vargas Llosa Biennial Prize. His story “The Mad People of Paris,” included in his collection, Sacrifices (English translation Thomas Bunstead, Seven Stories Press, 2022), won the O. Henry Prize and was included in The Best Short Stories 2023: The O. Henry Prize Winners, guest edited by Lauren Groff. The English edition of his novel Simpatía was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024.
Simpatía
- Translated by
- Noel Hernández González Daniel Hahn
- Published by
- Seven Stories Press UK
A suspenseful novel with unexpected twists and turns about the agony of Venezuela and the collapse of Chavismo
All nominated books
A suspenseful novel with unexpected twists and turns about the agony of Venezuela and the collapse of Chavismo
