Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise

by Humberto Ak'abal, Amelia Lau Carling (Illustrator), Hugh Hazelton (Translator)

Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise is a selection of poems written by the great Maya poet Humberto Ak’abal. They evoke his childhood in and around the Maya K’iche’ village of Momostenango, Guatemala, and also describe his own role as a poet of the place.

Ak’abal writes about children, and grandfathers, and mothers, and animals, and ghosts, and thwarted love, and fields, and rains, and poetry, and poverty, and death.

The poetry was written for adults but can also be read and loved by young people, especially in this collection, beautifully illustrated by award-winning Guatemalan-American illustrator Amelia Lau Carling.

Ak’abal is famous worldwide as one of the great contemporary poets in the Spanish language, and one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas. Ak’abal created his poems first in K’iche’, then translated them into Spanish.

Genres: Poetry, Spanish Literature, Middle Grade

172 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2021

About the author

Humberto Ak'ab'al (1952 - 2019) was a poet from Guatemala.

Reviews

[Kate Savage]

This is beautiful poetry. I'm surprised that this is marketed as a 'YA' book, but I guess whatever the publishers have to do to get indigenous voices out there...

[Melissa Helton]

These are wonderful poems from an indigenous Guatemalan poet, and they're paired with beautiful illustrations. I appreciated having the Spanish and English side by side so I could feel the poem in both languages. Could be used as part of language study for either languages.

[Nancy]

Aquí era el paraiso=Here Was Paradise introduces the poetry of Humberto Ak’abal (1952-2019), who is recognized as one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas. In the introduction, Patricia Aldana, who selected the poems in this beautifully-designed anthology, explains why Ak’abal chose to write his poems in K’iche’, the native Mayan language of Guatemala, then translated them into Spanish, and, later, into English. Although Ak’abal wrote for an adult audience, the topics and simplicity of his poems make them suitable for young people, too. The poems are presented in Spanish and English on facing pages. For example, “La Lluvia / Ayer encontré a una nube llorando.” “The Rain / yesterday I came across a weeping cloud.” Amelia Lau Carling's watercolor-and-pencil illustrations that introduce thematic portions of the book (such as childhood, animals, family members, nature, seasons, spirits, and the plight of indigenous people) are especially inviting. Back matter includes additional information about the poet, illustrator, translator, and editor.

[Mills College Library]

Spanish A3131a 2021

[Francisca Darney]

I love poetry and having it in both English and Spanish is even better.

[Liz Murphy]

A good book of poetry. Some of them were meh, but others felt really powerful and hit hard.

[Ricardo Cifuentes]

Impresionante como los poemas pueden transportar a una tierra hermosa del altiplano, como oriundo de Guatemala, me deja impresionado la forma en que puedes sentir la belleza del país y su gente.

[DC]

Creo que no entiendo la grandura aqui - la inmensidad. Hay "kaona" invisible a mi como extranera.

Pero si puedo sentir algo que toca al alma - algo sincero, bello, algo del hogar.