María Sánchez is obsessed with what she cannot see. As a field veterinarian following in the footsteps of generations before her, she travels the countryside of Spain bearing witness to a life eroding before her eyes—words, practices, and people slipping away because of depopulation, exploitation of natural resources, inadequate environmental policies, and development encroaching on farmland and villages. Sánchez, the first woman in her family to dedicate herself to what has traditionally been a male-dominated profession, rebuffs the bucolic narrative of rural life often written by—and for consumption by—people in cities, describing the multilayered social complexity of people who are proud, resilient, and often misunderstood. Sánchez interweaves family stories of three generations with reflections on science and literature. She focuses especially on the often dismissed and undervalued generations of women who have forgone education and independence to work the land and tend to family. In doing so, she asks difficult questions about gender equity and labor. Part memoir and part rural feminist manifesto, Land of Women acknowledges the sacrifices of Sánchez’s female ancestors who enabled her to become the woman she is. A bestseller in Spain, Land of Women promises to ignite conversations about the treatment and perception of rural communities everywhere.

A bilingual anthology, Fierce Voice / Voz feroz features Argentine and Uruguayan women poets published after their countries' return to democracy in the eighties. These twenty-six poets introduced innovative, invigorating styles and established new directions in literature, providing an essential addition to the development of Latin American poetry. This anthology includes established poets as well as emerging poets just gaining attention in their countries and abroad. Fierce Voice / Voz feroz serves to showcase their work and give an English-speaking readership the opportunity to experience the breadth and power of this fierce talent.

Poetry. "Curtis Bauer is precise about birds, be they crows, chimney swifts, sparrows, swallows, starlings, cardinals, doves, or grackles. Like Robert Frost, he knows the phoebe doesn't weep, for--like him--he is deeply versed in country things. But Bauer is wide-ranging and doesn't make a moral distinction between Iowa and New York, any more than he does between America and Spain, where he lives part of the year. He is one of the most tender new poets I know, yet when the subject calls for it, he can be as harsh as necessary, for he is a keen observer, and he is sane, a sane realist with a vivid imagination."--Gerald Stern"Velocity, vigor, heartbreak and vibrancy: you'll find all that and more in THE REAL CAUSE FOR YOUR ABSENCE. This book is full of astounding surprises. Sometimes Curtis Bauer plays sentence against line to shake things up before he sets everything right. Sometimes, with just a word, he knocks you out."--Camille T. Dungy