Charco launches first Spanish title in new series

Charco Press has published La Azotea by Uruguayan Fernanda Trías this week, the first title in its new OrginalES Spanish-language series.

This is the first of a number of books which will be released in both Spanish and English editions, available in the UK, US and Canada. In doing so, the Edinburgh-based press moves into new territory, expanding the availability of contemporary Latin American literature in the original language, in addition to finding more translators. 

La Azotea will publish alongside Annie McDermott’s English translation, The Rooftop. It will be followed with Habana Año Cero by Cuban author Karla Suárez, to coincide with the US publication of Christina MacSweeney’s translation, Havana Year Zero, on 2nd November. In 2022, there will be another four titles published in the series. 

Carolina Orloff, Charco’s co-founder and editorial director, said of the new series: “This single step advances two of Charco’s core visions: firstly to make the voices of our extraordinary authors accessible to as many readers as we are able, and secondly to knock down barriers between languages and cultures. Publishing our authors in both English and Spanish in North America acknowledges the demographics of the region, and allows us to reach more readers, in the language they prefer to read.”