100 Refutations | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018This poem tells the traditional Guaraní story of the creation of the world as relayed over the course of hundreds of years. Here the great creator, Ñamandu Ru Ete, asks one of the True Fathers of the soul-words to make the world, but he refuses because he knows what humans will do to the world and each other. Ñamandu Ru Ete then asks Jakaira Ru Ete to make the world. Jakaira Ru Ete accepts, promising to alleviate with his mist the misfortune that will inevitably befall humankind in the world he creates for them.
100 Refutations | Argentina | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018Pedro Bonifacio Palacios (1854-1917) was an Argentine artist, writer, teacher, librarian, translator, and journalist who lived at the turn of the twentieth century and published under several different pseudonyms. His most well-known pseudonym was "Almafuerte," which translates to "strong soul."
100 Refutations | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018The poem featured here was written by an unknown Incan poet from the region of Jauja, which is in present-day Peru. It was originally collected by R. and M. d’Harcourt under the title “La musique des Incas et ses survivance” and published in Cantares Quechuas (1925).
100 Refutations | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018According to Abraham Arias-Larreta in Literaturas Aborigenes de America (1976), “The Mayan Uinal was a period of 20 days, each of them with a different name. The Mayan year, or Haab, was composed of 18 Uinales and a final period of 5 days, the Xma Kaba Kin, nameless days.”
100 Refutations | Panama | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018Lil Marie Herrera is an award-winning journalist and poet. Her poetry collections include Metaldevoz (2006); Niño, mango, guayacán (2006); Todo en regla (2009); Di versos, poemas traviesos (2011); Tenaz Pepita Nador (2011); Juegos Mentales (2015); and Chifladuras (cada loco con su verso) (2015). Her many awards include the Esther María Osses Ministry of Labor Poetry Prize (2006); the Amelia Denis Icaza Municipal Poetry Prize (2006); the León A. Soto Municipal Poetry Prize (2006, 2014); the Women’s Poetry Prize: Voices, Images, and Testimonies (2009); The Hersilia Ramos de Argote National Prize for Children’s Poetry (2011, 2014, 2015); and the Esther María Osses National Prize for Child and Youth Poetry (2015). For more information, see the Panamanian poetry blog Afinidades Electivas.
The poem featured here appears in Juegos Mentales (2015).
100 Refutations | Poetry (excerpt) | Spanish
June, 2018According to Abraham Arias-Larreta in Literaturas Aborigenes de America (1976), “‘Chilam’ was the title given to prophets of the priestly caste of the Mayas. ‘Balam,’ which literally means ‘jaguar,’ was the name of the famous, and last, prophet before the European conquest. He was, precisely, the one to have foretold of the arrival of the invaders who would establish a new religion. When the sacred books of the Mayas from Yucatán were partially reproduced using the Maya language and the European alphabet, he was given the name of the great [biblical] prophet, Balam. Since then these [sacred books] have been known as ‘The Books of Chilam Balam.’”
100 Refutations | Poetry | Puerto Rico | Spanish
June, 2018Cindy Jiménez-Vera is the author of four poetry collections: No lugar (2017), Islandia (2015), 400 nuevos soles (2013), and Tegucigalpa (2012). She has also published a book chronicling her trip to San Sebastián, entitled En San Sebastián, su pueblo y el mío (2014), and a collection of children’s poetry, El gran cheeseburger y otros poemas con dientes (2015). Her work has been translated into English, Italian, and Portuguese, and published in literary and academic journals, anthologies, textbooks, newspapers, and websites across South America, the Caribbean, the US, and elsewhere. For more information, please visit her blog.
100 Refutations | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018The poem featured here was written by an unknown Guaraní poet. It's an example of guaú aí poetry, short verses that usually feature an native animal at their center. When the jaguar in the poem states that he sees his tracks in the path of every man, it refers to the belief that a jaguar acquires a taste for human flesh after tasting it just once.
100 Refutations | Costa Rica | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018Laura Fuentes Belgrave is a journalist, sociologist, cultural advocate, and writer. She holds a degree in comunicación colectiva from the University of Costa Rica with an emphasis in journalism, a degree in sociology, a master’s in Latin American studies from Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris III, and a doctorate in sociology from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris). She has been widely published in journals and anthologies in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, and France. She is the author of three books: Penumbra de la paloma (1999), Cementerio de cucarachas (2006), and Antierótica feroz (2013). She works as a professor and researcher at both National University and the University of Costa Rica.
The poem featured here appears in the collection Came Death and Had No Eyes.
100 Refutations | Peru | Poetry | Spanish
June, 2018Alberto Guillén (1897-1935) was a Peruvian writer and political activist whose body of work includes, among others, several collections of poetry as well as a short novel and a collection of essays.
The Brooklyn Rail welcomes you to our web-exclusive section InTranslation, where we feature unpublished translations of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. Published since April 2007, InTranslation is a venue for outstanding work in translation and a resource for translators, authors, editors, and publishers seeking to collaborate.
We seek exceptional unpublished English translations from all languages.
Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry: Manuscripts of no longer than 20 pages (double-spaced).
Plays: Manuscripts of no longer than 30 pages (in left-justified format).