Gabriela Cabezón Cámara: The Female Gaucho

A leading figure in Argentine and Latin American literature, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara is one of the most prominent feminist intellectuals of the region. Her fourth novel, The Adventures of China Iron is shortlisted for this year’s International Booker Prize.

A radical retelling of the 1872 classic El Gaucho Martín Fierro by José Hernández, it centres the story on Fierro’s wife, following her quest for emancipation and a new life. It's a masterpiece of formally playful, narratively expansive, tonally joyous storytelling. Flanked by her Scottish friend and companion, Liz, China’s journey is by turns a literary subversion, a rollicking account of a road trip, a hallucinatory tour of the perils of colonisation and a critique of nationalist myth building.

Alongside her translators Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre, Cabezón Cámara makes a welcome return to the Edinburgh International Book Festival, following her visit in 2019, to discuss the challenges and delights of reimagining a classic work of literature with fellow Argentinian novelist and writer Mariana Enriquez.

This is a pre-recorded event.

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