From one of Argentina’s greatest short-story writers, The Scent of Buenos Aires is a bewitching collection introducing Hebe Uhart’s wonderfully vivid world. This collection casts a beaming light on the witty lives of plants, animals, and humans. Her characters peer out of themselves, magnifying minute, everyday quirks in Argentina’s small towns: a cat curls around his owner to humor him, a classroom of children sway like trees when their teacher turns her back. Smiling to herself, Uhart reveals the infinite ways we show ourselves to one another. Hebe Uhart was a remarkable writer and traveler, winning Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Award for Literature in 2017. The Scent of Buenos Aires is her first book to be translated into English, beautifully translated by Maureen Shaughnessy.
Maureen Shaughnessy has translated Maya folktales by Guadalupe Urbina, several Cañari legends, and has co-translated the memoirs of the Catalan poster artist Carles Fontserè. Her translations have been published by The Paris Review, Words Without Borders, Brick, and AGNI. Her translation of a poetry chapbook by Nurit Kasztelan is forthcoming from Cardboard House Press. She lives in Bariloche, Argentina.
Lina Meruane is an award-winning Chilean writer and scholar teaching at New York University. Since 1998, she has authored a short-story collection, a play and five novels. Sangre en el ojo, was awarded the prestigious Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize (Mexico 2012), as well as the Premio Valle Inclan Prize (UK 2019) for Megan MacDowell´s translation into English as Seeing Red (Deep Vellum 2014). Meruane has also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (US 2004) and the National Endowment for the Arts (US 2010).
