Tilted Axis Press nabs Yuliana Ortiz Ruano's English PEN Presents Award-winning Carnival Fever

Tilted Axis Press has nabbed Yuliana Ortiz Ruano’s Carnival Fever, translated by Madeleine Arenivar, which marks the publisher’s first Latin American publication. The book won a 2023 English PEN Presents Award and the IESS Prize the previous year.

Publisher Kristen Vida Alfaro acquired UK rights from Elianna Kan at Regal Hoffmann & Associates, who sold the rights on behalf of the Spanish publishing house La Navaja Suiza. The book will be published in October 2025.

"Carnival Fever is a story told through the eyes of Ainhoa, a young girl growing up in the Afro-descendant community of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, in the 1990s," the synopsis says. "It explores economic hardship, migration, and the spectre of male violence, as well as enormous cultural richness and the resilience of communities of women."

Alfaro said: "An immediate jolt to the system, you feel and move with every page. Visceral and alive, this essential novel tackles the complexity of emotion as well as the broader issues that shape Afro-Ecuadorian culture. Sensorial literature at its best, Yuliana Ortiz Ruano is a contemporary voice to watch out for—one of the most exciting and original writers to come out of Latin America today."