SHORTLISTED for the International Booker Prize 2022 After Rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.

From the author of Elena Knows, finalist for the 2022 International Booker Prize 20 years after a shocking accident, Mary Lohan returns to the Buenos Aires suburb she escaped in a fugue of guilt and isolation. She is not the same—not her name or voice, not even the color of her eyes. The neighborhood looks different too, but she’s still the same woman and it’s still the same place, and as the past erupts into view, they slowly collide.  A Little Luck is the story about the debilitating weight of lies, the messy line between bravery and cowardice, and the tragedies, big and small, that can ripple out from a single decisive event. In a place she had determined to forget forever, both anticipated encounters and unanticipated revelations show her, and us, that sometimes life is neither fate nor chance: perhaps it’s nothing more than a little luck.

This assured debut novel from acclaimed Chilean author Andrea Jeftanovic explores the devastating psychological effects of the conflict in the Balkans on a family who flee to South America to build a new life. It is told from the perspective of the young Tamara, as she tries to make sense of growing up haunted by a distant conflict. Yet the ghosts of war re-emerge in their new land - which has its own traumatic past - to tear the family apart.Staging scenes from childhood as if the characters were rehearsing for a play, the novel uses all the imaginary resources of theatre director, set paint- er and lighting designer to pose the question: how can Tamara salvage an identity as an adult from the ruins of memory, and rediscover the ability to love? With themes that echo Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul, a sensitive narrator recalling Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and a focus on the body in the style of Elfriede Jelinek, this is an artfully construct- ed, widely praised work from one of the most exciting novelists at work in Latin America today.

The most popular narrative about transsexuality suggests that some people are born in the wrong body - that their bodies do not correspond to their inner experience and that their bodies should therefore be transformed. But in the view of the sociologist and trans activist Miguel Misse, this narrative is a harmful myth. It is rooted in a medical paradigm that typically leads to medical intervention - to the use of hormones and surgical operations. By proposing a particular solution (modifying one's body), doctors and psychiatrists make it difficult for trans people to overcome malaise about their body in other ways and prevent them from recognizing the burden of social norms. Drawing on his own personal experience, Misse makes the case for a different way of thinking about trans embodiment which focuses on gender identity. The trajectory that leads people to become trans is shaped by the rigidity of gender norms, where the only two models available to individuals are the masculine man and the feminine woman. But these are not the only possible choices, and by critically interrogating the rigidity of gender norms, Misse opens up a different way of thinking about being trans, beyond the essentialism of the medical paradigm.

"Queer writing at its most exhilarating." **-Times Literary Supplement ** The slums of Buenos Aires, the government, the mafia, the Virgin Mary, corrupt police, sex workers, thieves, drug dealers, and debauchery all combine in this sweeping novel deemed a 'revelation for contemporary literature' and 'pure dynamite' (Andres Neuman, author of Traveller of the Century & Talking to Ourselves). When the Virgin Mary appears to Cleopatra, she renounces sex work and takes charge of the shantytown she lives in, transforming it into a tiny utopia. Ambitious journalist Quity knows she's found the story of the year when she hears about it, but her life is changed forever once she finds herself irrevocably seduced by the captivating subject of her article. Densely-packed, fast-paced prose, weaving slang and classical references, Slum Virgin refuses to whitewash the reality of the poor and downtrodden, and jumps deftly from tragedy to comedy in a way that has the reader laughing out loud.

Could we claim that The German Room invents a new genre? It would be an exaggeration, of course, but we can certainly say that this novel represents what we could call a non-coming of age tale. A female protagonist - a young woman- travels from Argentina to Germany trapped by emotional conflicts. When she arrives, she is constantly exposed to all kinds of adventures and incidents, some funny, others tragic. She never fully understands her situation. Instead of learning from her circumstances and moving on, she gropes around, perplexed by the reality around her, hesitating as to what to do next. It is this hesitation that turns into thrilling suspense, a book that we can't put down. We want to know what happens next, and after that. Maliandi takes us by the hand until the end of a novel that becomes, quite simply, remarkable and unforgettable.

The most popular narrative about transsexuality suggests that some people are born in the wrong body - that their bodies do not correspond to their inner experience and that their bodies should therefore be transformed. But in the view of the sociologist and trans activist Miguel Misse, this narrative is a harmful myth. It is rooted in a medical paradigm that typically leads to medical intervention - to the use of hormones and surgical operations. By proposing a particular solution (modifying one's body), doctors and psychiatrists make it difficult for trans people to overcome malaise about their body in other ways and prevent them from recognizing the burden of social norms. Drawing on his own personal experience, Misse makes the case for a different way of thinking about trans embodiment which focuses on gender identity. The trajectory that leads people to become trans is shaped by the rigidity of gender norms, where the only two models available to individuals are the masculine man and the feminine woman. But these are not the only possible choices, and by critically interrogating the rigidity of gender norms, Misse opens up a different way of thinking about being trans, beyond the essentialism of the medical paradigm.

An undocumented woman answers a job posting only to find herself held hostage; a group of outcasts obsess over boys drowned while surfing; and an unhappy couple finds themselves trapped in a terrifying maze. With scalpel-like precision, Ampuero considers the price paid by those on the margins so that the elite might lounge comfortably, considering themselves safe in their homes. Simultaneously terrifying and exquisite, Human Sacrifices is 'tropical gothic' at its finest-decay and oppression underlie our humid and hostile world, where working-class women and children are consistently the weakest links in a capitalist economy. Against this backdrop of corrosion and rot, these twelve stories contemplate the nature of exploitation and abuse, illuminating the realities of those society consumes for its own pitiless ends.

The existence of an afterlife is now a fact: heaven is the internet. Death is only an interruption as souls can be uploaded to the web and new bodies can be purchased by those wishing to reenter the physical world. The need to settle an old score pushes Ramiro Olivaires to move from the comfort of virtual existence back into a human body. Ramiro's grandson, however, can only afford the body of an overweight middle-aged woman. In the shell of this new body, Ramiro must adjust to the dizzying transformations that the world has undergone since his death. Using Ramiro himself as an avatar, Castagnet walks us through a stifling new version of reality where sex, gender, identity, religion, and politics are defined by the limitless possibilities of the human body. Castagnet is considered one of the most promising new voices in Latin American literature and Bodies of Summer shows us why.

Every year, at the height of summer, the remote Argentine village of Laborde holds the national malambo contest. Centuries-old, this shatteringly demanding traditional gaucho dance is governed by the most rigid rules. And this festival has one stipulation that makes it unique: the malambo is danced for up to five minutes. That may seem like nothing, but consider the world record for the hundred-meter dash is 9.58 seconds. The dance contest is an obsession for countless young men, who sacrifice their bodies and money as they strive to become the champion, knowing that if they win-in order to safeguard the title's prestige-they can never compete again. When Leila Guerriero traveled to Laborde, one dancer's performance took her breath away, and she spent a year following him as he prepared for the next festival. The result is this superlative piece of journalism, told with tremendous economy and power.