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Amaranto: Excerpted from UMAMI
"UMAMI tells the story, over a few years at the beginning of the last decade, of a group of characters living in Belldrop Mews, comprised of a cluster of small houses, respectively named Sour, Salty, Sweet, and Bitter by the landlord, Alfonso, who we meet in this excerpt, “Amaranto.” A recently widowed sixty-something anthropologist, Alf lives in the mews, too, in the house he named Umami, after the subject of his doctoral thesis, the Japanese concept of “the fifth taste.” You could say that the book in some ways revolves around coping with devastating loss and grief, and I suppose it does, but in the most refreshing, cliché-free, and convincing way." - Francisco Goldman
About the Laia Jufresa was born in Mexico City, grew up in the cloud forest of Veracruz, and spent her adolescence in Paris. In 2001, she returned to Mexico City and discovered she didn’t know how to cross a street. She’s been writing fiction ever since. Laia holds a BA from La Sorbonne University and is the author of the short story collection El Esquinista. Her work has been featured in several anthologies as well as magazines such as Letras Libres, Pen Atlas, Words Without Borders and McSweeney’s. In 2014, Laia was invited to write chronicles for the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague, and in 2015 she was invited by the British Council Literature to be the first ever International Writer in Residence at the Hay Festival in Wales. Laia was named one of the most outstanding young writers in Mexico, as part of the 2015 project México20, the anthology of which was published in 2015. She currently lives in Cologne, Germany.
About the Sophie Hughes is a literary translator and editor living in Mexico City. Her translations have appeared in Asymptote, PEN Atlas, and the White Review and her reviews in the Times Literary Supplement and Literary Review.
About the Guest Francisco Goldman has published four novels and one book of nonfiction. His most recent novel is Say Her Name, which won the 2011 Prix Femina Etranger. The Long Night of White Chickens was awarded the American Academy’s Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. His novels have been finalists for several prizes, including The Pen/Faulkner and The Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The Ordinary Seaman was a finalist for The International IMPAC Dublin literary award. The Divine Husband was a finalist for The Believer Book Award. The Art of Political Murder won The Index on Censorship T.R. Fyvel Book Award and The WOLA/Duke Human Rights Book Award. His books have been published in many languages. He is currently back to work on the novel that writing The Interior Circuit interrupted.
Francisco Goldman has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Cullman Center Fellow at the NY Public Library, and a Berlin Fellow at the American Academy. He has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, The Believer, and many other publications. He directs the Aura Estrada Prize (www.auraestradaprize.org). Every year Goldman teaches one semester at Trinity College in Hartford, Ct., and then hightails it back to Mexico City.
About the Recommended Reading is the weekly fiction magazine of Electric Literature, publishing here every Wednesday morning. In addition to featuring our own recommendations of original, previously unpublished fiction, we invite established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommend great work from their pages, past and present. Follow Recommended Reading on Medium and never miss the latest issue, or become a member for full access to the archives. For other links from Electric Literature, follow us, or sign up for our eNewsletter.
About the Laia Jufresa was born in Mexico City, grew up in the cloud forest of Veracruz, and spent her adolescence in Paris. In 2001, she returned to Mexico City and discovered she didn’t know how to cross a street. She’s been writing fiction ever since. Laia holds a BA from La Sorbonne University and is the author of the short story collection El Esquinista. Her work has been featured in several anthologies as well as magazines such as Letras Libres, Pen Atlas, Words Without Borders and McSweeney’s. In 2014, Laia was invited to write chronicles for the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague, and in 2015 she was invited by the British Council Literature to be the first ever International Writer in Residence at the Hay Festival in Wales. Laia was named one of the most outstanding young writers in Mexico, as part of the 2015 project México20, the anthology of which was published in 2015. She currently lives in Cologne, Germany.
About the Sophie Hughes is a literary translator and editor living in Mexico City. Her translations have appeared in Asymptote, PEN Atlas, and the White Review and her reviews in the Times Literary Supplement and Literary Review.
About the Guest Francisco Goldman has published four novels and one book of nonfiction. His most recent novel is Say Her Name, which won the 2011 Prix Femina Etranger. The Long Night of White Chickens was awarded the American Academy’s Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. His novels have been finalists for several prizes, including The Pen/Faulkner and The Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The Ordinary Seaman was a finalist for The International IMPAC Dublin literary award. The Divine Husband was a finalist for The Believer Book Award. The Art of Political Murder won The Index on Censorship T.R. Fyvel Book Award and The WOLA/Duke Human Rights Book Award. His books have been published in many languages. He is currently back to work on the novel that writing The Interior Circuit interrupted.
Francisco Goldman has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Cullman Center Fellow at the NY Public Library, and a Berlin Fellow at the American Academy. He has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, The Believer, and many other publications. He directs the Aura Estrada Prize (www.auraestradaprize.org). Every year Goldman teaches one semester at Trinity College in Hartford, Ct., and then hightails it back to Mexico City.
About the Recommended Reading is the weekly fiction magazine of Electric Literature, publishing here every Wednesday morning. In addition to featuring our own recommendations of original, previously unpublished fiction, we invite established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommend great work from their pages, past and present. Follow Recommended Reading on Medium and never miss the latest issue, or become a member for full access to the archives. For other links from Electric Literature, follow us, or sign up for our eNewsletter.
34 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2016
About the author
Laia Jufresa
16 books177 followersLaia Jufresa grew up in the cloud forest of Veracruz and spent her adolescence in Paris. In 2001, she moved to Mexico City and discovered she didn’t know how to cross a street. She’s been writing fiction ever since.
She holds a BA from La Sorbonne University, and is the author of the short stories collection El esquinista (FETA, 2014) and the novel Umami (Literatura Random House, 2015).
Umami has been translated to English and French. And the Dutch, Turkish, Italian, Polish and Danish versions are forthcoming. It was chosen as the best first novel in Spanish at the 2016 First Novel Festival in Chambéry, France, and it was the recipient of a PEN Translates Award.
Laia's work has been featured in several anthologies as well as magazines such as Letras Libres, Pen Atlas, Words Without Borders and McSweeney's.
In 2014 Laia was invited to write chronicles for the crossing Border Festival in The Hague, and in 2015 she was invited by the British Council Literature to be the first ever International Writer in Residence at Hay Festival in Wales.
Laia has been named as one of the most outstanding young writers in Mexico as part of the 2015 project México20, the anthology of which is published by Pushkin Press.
She holds a BA from La Sorbonne University, and is the author of the short stories collection El esquinista (FETA, 2014) and the novel Umami (Literatura Random House, 2015).
Umami has been translated to English and French. And the Dutch, Turkish, Italian, Polish and Danish versions are forthcoming. It was chosen as the best first novel in Spanish at the 2016 First Novel Festival in Chambéry, France, and it was the recipient of a PEN Translates Award.
Laia's work has been featured in several anthologies as well as magazines such as Letras Libres, Pen Atlas, Words Without Borders and McSweeney's.
In 2014 Laia was invited to write chronicles for the crossing Border Festival in The Hague, and in 2015 she was invited by the British Council Literature to be the first ever International Writer in Residence at Hay Festival in Wales.
Laia has been named as one of the most outstanding young writers in Mexico as part of the 2015 project México20, the anthology of which is published by Pushkin Press.
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February 5, 2021
The author is really talented and there are some fragments that are specially beautiful, imaginative, and well written. This is narrated by 5 different characters. Some of the characters are really interesting and well rounded (Alf, Noelia, Marina), the younger characters are less believable.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review