Juan Pablo Villalobos & Daniel Hahn in conversation with Glenn Fisher
We're thrilled to be welcoming Juan Pablo Villalobos to the shop next Tuesday. UK appearances from him are few and far between, and this time he's bringing his translator, Daniel Hahn. It's a rare chance to hear an author and translator talk together about how a book makes its way into English. They'll be discussing Villalobos's latest novel in English, The Past Pursues Us Like Detectives, Debt Collectors, Thieves, in conversation with Glenn Fisher.
The novel follows JP as he returns to Mexico to look after his increasingly frail mother. Things don't go to plan: after a run-in with a childhood "friend," he finds himself the prime suspect in a murder enquiry. It's funny, humane and completely absorbing, and it's another reminder that nobody else writes quite like Villalobos. We can't wait for this one. Come and join us.
Juan Pablo Villalobos was born in Mexico in 1973. He's the author of the novels Down the Rabbit Hole (shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award), Quesadillas, I'll Sell You a Dog, I Won't Expect Anyone to Believe Me and The Invasion of the Spirit People, and of the non-fiction book The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teens Who Dream of Crossing the Border. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages. Down the Rabbit Hole and I Won't Expect Anyone to Believe Me were adapted for film and premiered on Netflix. He lives in Barcelona, where he teaches writing.
Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator with more than ninety books to his name. His translations have won prizes including the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. He is a former chair of the Society of Authors, and he founded the TA First Translation Prize.
Glenn Fisher is a Sheffield-based author, copywriter and speaker, whose book The Art of the Click was shortlisted for a Business Book of the Year award and whose short fiction has appeared in Litro, Lunate and 3 am Magazine; he's currently working on his first novel..