In a nutshell:

A novel following the dark and hilarious escapades of a mother and daughter who murder the latter’s boyfriend and decide to keep the body.

Why publish this? Why now?:

With the trend for Latin American horror spearheaded by the likes of Mónica Ojeda, Mariana Enriquez and Fernanda Melchor, In the Flesh is the genre’s grizzly but playful Spanish cousin, dishing up repulsion and hilarity in equal doses.

Author:

Carla Nyman (1996, Palma de Mallorca) is a poet, playwright and novelist. Her publications include Elegías para un avión común (Torremozas, 2020), Movernos en la sed (Valparaíso, 2021), Líquida tuya y vertebrada (Letraversal, 2023) and Tener la carne (2023).

She has received various awards, including XXI Premio Gloria Fuertes prize for young poets, the accésit XII Premio Romero Esteo prize for young playwrights and the VI Premio Valparaíso de Poesía. Her collective, amor&rabia, explores experimental and immersive theatre. Instagram: @carlanyman_

Praise:

In a nutshell:

Arcade succinctly and brutally recounts a middle-aged woman’s decline as she struggles with a gambling addiction. Its narrative taps into the gamification of our society, where we strive for constant wins and short-term gratification while relationships, health and whole lives bear the brunt.

Why publish this? Why now?:

Arcade is a work of autofiction, and shares similarities with hybrid life writing that has gained traction in recent years. It is comparable to the work of authors such as Annie Ernaux, Sheila Heti and Nolwenn Le Blevennec, to name a few. Mureddu’s style is equally biting and concise, with a raw quality that is both captivating and heartbreaking.

Arcade is a female-led narrative that draws back the curtain on a world infrequently associated with femininity: casinos, gambling and betting shops. It would therefore sit nicely next to recent novels exploring other traditionally male spaces, such as Rita Bullwinkel’s boxing saga, Headshot and Jade Song’s Chlorine.

My sample translation of ARCADE was awarded the illustrious PEN Grant For The English Translation Of Italian Literature 2025.

Author:

Alessandra Mureddu lives and works in Rome. Azzardo is her debut novel, a work of autofiction that touches on her own struggles with gambling and slot machines.

Praise:

In a nutshell:

Unfinished is a heart-wrenching, tender and singular autofiction novel exploring the author’s experience of gender transition at the age of thirty-seven, as well as its impact on her relationship with her mother.

Why publish this? Why now?:

Richards is a fresh voice among celebrated trans women writers such as Alana S. Portero and Camila Sosa Villada, her writing bold and emotive while also compulsively readable. Unfinished was presented in Madrid by acclaimed author Mónica Ojeda, and explores her own gender transition through family, childhood, art and silence, among other lenses.

Author:

Ariel Florencia Richards is a Chilean writer and researcher. Richards is the author of: Las olas son las mismas [The Waves are the Same] and Inacabada [Unfinished].
She is a researcher and PhD candidate, researching the relationship between performance, space and archives.

Praise: