Daunt Books Publishing picks up two from Spanish author Fernández

Daunt Books Publishing has acquired Space Invaders and The Twilight Zone by Spanish author Nona Fernández, to be translated by Natasha Wimmer for the Daunt Originals list.

Marigold Atkey, editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Katie Dublinski at Graywolf Press. Both books will be published as lead titles in July 2022.  

Space Invaders is billed as a "choral and constantly shifting image of young life in the waning years of the Pinochet dictatorship, as a group of adult friends look back to their childhood and piece together the story of the schoolfriend who one day simply disappeared". The second title, The Twilight Zone, is described as an "engrossing, incantatory novel about the legacy of historical crimes, a journalist following 'the man who tortured people' through his memories and hers into the dark portals of the past". 

Atkey said: "Nona Fernández is remarkable, my dream author. Her writing is thrillingly good, electric with danger and beauty, but she never sacrifices substance for style. Her novels illuminate the slippery nature of truth and morality and bring home the reality of life under – and after – a dictatorship to devastating effect. I am so proud to be welcoming both her and Natasha Wimmer to the Daunt list and am hugely excited to be bringing these brilliant novels to the wider English-reading audience."  

Fernández commented: "It is a joy to be a part of the Daunt Books family. I thank them for their enthusiasm for these works and I celebrate their reception of them. Distances are shortened and borders are shattered by books and by those who have the courage to edit and share them around the world."

Fernández was born in Santiago, Chile. She is an actress and writer, and has published two plays, a collection of short stories, and six novels. Wimmer lives in Brooklyn and has translated nine books by Roberto Bolaño.