Heather Cleary

Coming soon:

Feral by Gabriela Jauregui (Feminist Press 2026) // novel
The Mountain Woman by Fernanda Trías (Scribner 2026) // novel
Medea Sang Me A Corrido by Dahlia de la Cerda (with Julia Sanches) (Feminist Press 2026) // stories 
Only a Little While Here by María Ospina (Scribner 2026) // novel
An Opportunity by Pablo Katchadjian (Coffee House 2026) // novel

FICTION

Mothers by Brenda Lozano
(Catapult 2025)

* Starred review, Publishers Weekly

“Propulsive . . .  Heather Cleary’s translation from the Spanish has the wit and charm of the original . . . [and] seizes the opportunity to add yet another metafictional layer, to great effect.” —Bruna Dantas Lobato, The New York Times Book Review

“Smashing.” —Sophia Stewart, The Millions

“A powerful and haunting tale, full of twists and surprises, but also incisive observations on what it means to be a woman and a mother.” —Miriam Toews, author of Fight Night

“Another ambitious and original work from a writer who is always worth watching.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Psychologically and politically insightful, while also being charming and swift, Mothers has the understated moral complexity of a fable. This is an exceptionally wonderful book.” —Rivka Galchen, author of Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda
co-translated with Julia Sanches
(Feminist Press 2024)

*Winner, English PEN Award
* Nominee, Booker International Prize

“A refreshingly unapologetic voice for women who refuse to be placated.” — Publishers Weekly

“[de la Cerda’s] tactics succeed in creating the enchanting feeling that one is sitting across from each narrator, being told their stories as a close confidante. . . . The author’s demand that we bear witness to the senseless murders, in all their gruesomeness, of these bright young women is sobering and commendable.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Barrio counterwriting, misoprostol mixed with weed, narcocorrido tweets, a fuckload of violence, Dahlia’s books are all or nothing—luxury literature that is proletarian, radical, and carnal for our era of idiots and cowards.” — Gabriela Wiener, author of Undiscovered

“This book has the force of an ocean gully: it sucks you in, drags you through the mud, and then cleanses you.” — Andrea Abreu, author of Dogs of Summer

“Equal parts punk, brilliant, and urgent, with a side of Mexican goth. Dahlia de la Cerda’s blend of raw, at times brutal storytelling is exactly what we need right now. A force on its own that refuses to be tamed, the writing here is a literary gift.” — Julián Delgado Lopera, author of Fiebre Tropical

Bonus: The episode of Brad Listi’s Otherppl podcast about RB, featuring Julia and me (video)

Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías
(Scribe [UK/AU] 2023 / Scribner [US] 2024)

* Winner, English PEN Award
* Nominee, National Book Award for Translation
* Starred review, Publishers Weekly
* Starred review, Kirkus

“Elegantly translated…a well-imagined, often poetically beautiful plague story.” — Lydia Millet, The New York Times

“Narrated with a heartbreaking beauty.” — Jordi Carrión, The New York Times

“Powerful and beautifully written.” — Lisa Tuttle, The Guardian

“Unsettling and unpredictable, Uruguayan writer Fernanda Trías’s new novel describes not merely a dystopia but a full-on Technicolor apocalypse.” — Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman

“Time in the haunting, elegiac Pink Slime loops in and around itself … a potent allegory of climate change. As the narrator tells us at the end: I cannot stop a future that has already happened.” — Sonia Nair, Kill Your Darlings

Bonus: An interview with Trías by Adam Critchley for Latin American Literature Today.

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk
(Dutton Mar 2024 / Scribe)

* The Millions Most Anticipated
* Also on most anticipated lists from Autostraddle, Electric Literature, Read Between the Spines, Write or Die, HipLatina, Polygon, fandomentals, and Chill Subs.

“This isn’t your typical meet-cute.” — The Millions

“It takes courage to write about vampires: they are the greatest of monsters, but also the most trivialized. Yuszczuk manages to bring hers to life in this intimate take on the genre, which also weaves together grief, the history of Buenos Aires, and the voracity of desire.” — Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night

“A unique vampire novel full of eroticism and feminist rage … This gripping tale is full of queer representation and lush, lyrical passages, all while exploring death with an air of nihilism…Vampires are making a comeback, and Yuszczuk is spearheading their revival with this bloody novel.” — Gabino Iglesias, The New York Times

“A vivid portrait of a nameless young woman forced into the world of the undead … Mesmerizingly translated by Cleary, Yuszczuk’s prose is meticulous, vibrant, propulsive, and masterfully paced.” — Lilian Dabney, Booklist

… and here’s a round-up of reviews from BookMarks.

How to Draw a Novel by Martín Solares
(Grove Atlantic 2023)

* Winner, Big Other Book Award for Translation
* Starred review, Publishers Weekly

“Provocative . . .  a book that is itself an impish little creature.”—Anna Mundow, Wall Street Journal

“An imaginative examination of the art of novel writing that is thought provoking and invigorating in equal measure.”—Ho Lin, New York Journal of Books

“The author’s mercurial focus flows in unexpected directions, mixing literary analysis, biographical tidbits . . . and punchy aphorisms . . .  an audacious and unique consideration of the art of the novel.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A quirky, playful addition to the well-populated subgenre of fiction writers writing about writing fiction.”—Kirkus Reviews

“How to Draw a Novel . . . brings whimsy and ingenuity to a genre lacking in both.”—Marek Makowski, On the Sea Wall

“Fresh and vital, unencumbered by rectitude or solemnity, proposing and digressing with abandon, because, as he reminds readers, in the end, the digressions are the point.”—Library Journal

See also: “Playing With Words,” a little essay I wrote about translating this book.

Recital of the Dark Verses by Luis Felipe Fabre
(Deep Vellum 2023)

* Winner, Queen Sofía of Spain Translation Prize
* 2023 Notable Translation @ World Literature Today

“Fabre’s delightful debut novel follows three 16th-century civil servants tasked with transporting the body of Carmelite poet and mystic Juan de la Cruz … A canny send-up of canonization and an earnest homage to de la Cruz’s verses.” — Publishers Weekly

“The novel speeds along in a coital rhythm, perhaps erotically and without question raucously—part joyous discourse on the poem, part bacchanal, part satire and adventure.” — Carmen Boullosa, Southwest Review

“Cleary’s elegant translation not only preserves Fabre’s poetic brilliance but also stands as a work of art in its own right. Recital of the Dark Verses, in its profound exploration of the sacred and the profane, would appeal to a wide audience – from those fascinated by Spanish mysticism and the works of John of the Cross to individuals seeking the simple pleasure of a humorous road novel.” — Zihan Zhang, Reading in Translation

“A highly entertaining novel, full of a sense of humor that manages to honor the mystical poetry of the Carmelite while inviting the reader to reflect on issues such as the sacred and the profane, the body and the soul, and spiritual (and carnal) ecstasy” — The Chicago Public Library

“Though short and structured simply, there is a profound complexity to Fabre’s Recital of the Dark Verses, one that evokes emotion and reflection throughout.” — Daniel P. Haeusser, World Literature Today

Excerpts of the novel are up at LitHub and Latin American Literature Today

… or read our craft capsules for Poets & Writers: Fabre’s “Dis-Identity Poetics” and my “In Bad Faith” and “Write Like a Translator”

Witches by Brenda Lozano
(Catapult [US] / MacLehose [UK] 2022)

* TIME best book of the month
* Notable Literary Fiction for Fall @ Publishers Weekly
* Most Anticipated Book of the Year @ NYLON
* 10 Best LGBTQ+ Books to Read This Summer @ THEM
* Great Beach Reads for Pride Month @ CBS NEWS

“The book is beautifully translated . . . Though [it] chronicles violence against women and those who present as women, it highlights, in both rural and urban communities, an atmosphere of freedom and mobility that is a pleasure to read about. Both of these very different women — the curandera and the journalist — have many people in their lives, especially sisters, who heal and support them even in a hostile world.” — Rachel Nolan, The New York Times

“Feliciana’s sections are looping and abstract, while Zoe’s are as clipped and sharp as any journalist’s writing would be. The contrast between them is irresistible . . . Lozano writes their stories, and their growing connection, with such warmth that often reading Witches feels like sneaking into Feliciana’s house with Zoe. By the end, the novel feels like a community.” — Lily Meyer, NPR

“Lozano does a wonderful job distinguishing the disparate characters and their fluid identities, and Cleary’s translation strikes the perfect balance of immersion and clarity. Powerful and complex, this marks a new turn from an intriguing writer.” — Publishers Weekly

“Readers of Fernanda Melchor’s form-busting, psychedelic takes on recent South American history won’t want to miss Brenda Lozano’s Witches . . . Heather Cleary fluidly translates Lozano’s spiky narrative, immersing readers in its horrors without obscuring its beauties.” — Chicago Review of Books

“In this gem of a book, Lozano demonstrates a poet’s ear for language and a fine attunement to how voice builds character. Taking inspiration from Mexico’s quintessential oral poet, healer María Sabina, the zigzagging narratives of its protagonists remind us that psychedelia found its origin in the revelation that buffs the mind clean. Cleary’s inspired translation partakes of the same vital spirit.” —Mónica de la Torre, author of The Happy End / All Welcome

“Braiding together the voices of two women—a mystic and a skeptic—Witches, to borrow Brenda Lozano’s words by way of Heather Cleary’s translation, runs into shadows to bring light. This is a story of the world’s repeated failure to control feminine power and the sheer magic of language itself. An enthralling, passionate story about secrets both holy and profane.”  — Catherine Lacey, author of Pew and Nobody is Ever Missing

Variations on the Body by María Ospina
(Coffee House Press, July 2021)

* Chicago Review of Books, “12 Must-Read Books for July” 
* The Rumpus, “What to Read When You Want to Celebrate Women’s History”
* Book Riot, “Must-Read Books in Translation”
* Literary Hub,“The Best of Independent Presses this July”

“Somatic upsets express the psychic fallout of violent conflict in Colombia, where women wrestle with how to steer a life. . . . Cleary, a National Book Award nominee for her translation of Roque Larraquy’s Comemadre, preserves the muted suggestiveness of Ospina’s prose.”  — Tracy O’Neill, The New York Times

“In Ospina’s smart, vibrant debut collection, women struggle to carve out lives for themselves. . . . Ospina draws out the class distinctions among her characters with stark, incisive contrasts.”  — Publishers Weekly

“Bold and penetrating.” — Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine

“Short stories fans in search of a new obsession, look no further. . . . Weaving together a complex interconnected portrait of girls and women in Bogotá, Colombia, this crystalline translation from Heather Cleary has an offbeat sensibility reminiscent of Joy Williams, where the potential for inexplicable violence exists alongside the mundane.”  — Chicago Review of Books

“Debut story collections don’t come any finer than María Ospina’s Variations on the Body. […] Ospina writes with poise, profundity, and enviable emotional intelligence.” — Jeremy Garber, Powell’s Books

“Ospina is a remarkable talent, and Heather Cleary, an extraordinary translator. I love the offbeat, flea-bitten reality Variations on the Body captures … It’s as if Ospina has cut beautiful, odd scraps from our world using her own unique writer-made scissors.”  — Camilla Grudova

American Delirium by Betina González
(Henry Holt, Feb 2021)

* * Books We Love (2021) @ NPR * *
* * 2021 Most Anticipated @ The New York Times * *
* * February’s Most Anticipated @ The Millions * *
* * 16 Best Books to Read in February @ Kirkus * *
* * 10 Latine-Authored Books for Your 2021 Reading List @ Remezcla * *
* * 10 Debut Books to Read this February @ Debutiful * *
* * Book of the Week, Feb 15 @ Publishers Weekly * *
* * February Reads For the Rest of Us @ Ms. * *
* * Best Reviewed Books of the Week @ BookMarks * *

Reviews:

“González’s distorted utopian vision is a memorable trip.”  — Starred review, Publishers Weekly

“An uncategorizable novel that manages to be both zany and profound.”  — Starred review, Kirkus

“González manages to merge the stories of Berenice, Vik and Beryl … into one dizzying vortex, combining colonial history, generational delusions and psychedelic drug trips. Fluidly translated by Cleary, the novel offers an eerily familiar vision of American madness and decay — from an Argentine writer, no less.”  — Anderson Tepper for The New York Times

An “unsettling yet erudite…social commentary on capitalism and the progressive mentality replete with astute observations on aging, death, and human nature.”  — Andrienne Cruz, starred review for Booklist

“[U]nsettling, fantastical, and often hilarious…consistently riveting … The best and most memorable translations give the sense that the translator has literally occupied the writer’s brain. This was one of those. To call it limber is an understatement; we can practically hear a prim but also deranged voice speaking to us, like Steven Millhauser on hallucinogens.”  — Max Winter for The Boston Globe

“Betina González writes with tremendous verve. What a sharp, audacious novel about the escalating delirium of our current era. Heather Cleary’s translation recreates the quicksilver scenes of American Delirium with superb artistry.”  — Idra Novey, author of Those Who Knew

“This is a beautiful and ruthless novel that asks readers to dive into it with their whole selves, to see themselves in its violence and its flickers of hope. It is, like few are, a book that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.” — Yuri Herrera, author of Signs Preceding the End of the World

Events and interviews:

Interview @ Debutiful
Interview @ Southwest Review
Book presentation with Carlos Fonseca @ McNally Jackson (video)
Book presentation with Idra Novey @ Politics and Prose (video)

Mrs. Murakami’s Garden by Mario Bellatin
(Deep Vellum/Phoneme, Dec 2020)

“Bellatin is a playful novelist who isn’t trying to hold the mirror to reality, provide allegory or philosophy or life lessons, and reading this provocative novella makes one consider all sorts of assumptions about why read? and why write?”  — Kirkus

“An homage veering on pastiche of great modern Japanese writers such as Junichiro Tanizaki (whose book on aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows, plays a minor but important role) or Fumiko Enchi—translator Heather Cleary does an excellent job of producing their slightly rarefied tone”  — World Literature Today

“As Mr. Murakami’s garden is demolished, so too is the narrative’s authenticity, leaving the reader to wonder: did this book’s creator exist at all? Mario Bellatin has revolutionized the state of Latin American literature with his experimental, shocking novels. With this brand-new, highly anticipated edition of Mrs. Murakami’s Garden from lauded translator Heather Cleary, readers have access to a playful modern classic that transcends reality.”  — Books & Books

The Incompletes by Sergio Chejfec
(Open Letter Books 2019)

* Finalist, CLMP Firecracker Award

Read an excerpt at Latin American Literature Today

“This is a strange book. I don’t know how I got it. But I like it and having been reading in random sections. It’s like carrying around an atmosphere. I read it awhile and then am compelled to write. I love the Hotel Salgado, the narrative dotted with gems in unceremonious settings. Sergio Chejfec is an admirable writer and finely translated by Heather Cleary.”  — Patti Smith

“What is the responsibility of the storyteller to adhere to the facts as told? Is it possible to ever completely know what happened? If the story is vivid and engaging—as this book is—does it matter? In this innovative novel, Chejfec is gesturing toward the grand European traditions on his own terms.”  — Kirkus

“An intensely ruminative travelogue.”  — Publishers Weekly

“In the end you’ll stumble out of the book, a bit dazed, wondering what the hell you just read, but it’s an enjoyable trek if you like beautiful sentences.”  — NPR

“Another reminder of how deeply Chejfec is thinking about the form of the novel, pushing its boundaries to let modern varieties of social malaise leak in, and thereby renewing the novel’s ability to reflect—and affect—our lives.”  — 4Columns

Comemadre by Roque Larraquy
(Coffee House Press 2018)

* Nominated for a National Book Award for Translated Literature
* Nominated for a Best Translated Book Award (BTBA)
* Nominated for a National Translation Award (NTA)
* Nominated for an International Dublin Literary Award

Year-end round-ups: Best Fiction of 2018
*  Huffington Post
* Publishers Weekly
* Entropy Magazine
* Literary Hub
* Vol.1 Brooklyn

More kind words
* One of World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2018
* Publishers Weekly Best Books We Read in 2018 (any pub. date)
* Publishers Weekly: 10 Writers to Watch
* Brazos Bookstore Brazos Best (July)

“Shuttling between B-movie horror and exceedingly dark comedy, the novel is somehow both genuinely scary and genuinely funny, sometimes on the same page—a wickedly entertaining ride.”  — Starred Publishers Weekly Review (plus an early note here)

“Part of the horrifying joy of this novel is how safely you can rest in the hands of a maniac as the narrative world is built and burned down around you.”  — Los Angeles Review of Books

“In this dark, dense, surprisingly short debut novel by the Argentinian author, we’re confronted with enough grotesqueries to fill a couple Terry Gilliam films and, more importantly, with the idea that the only real monsters are those that are formed out of our own ambition.”  — The Millions: Most Anticipated

“Deeply unsettling and beautiful … The language, which Cleary does a remarkable job transforming into English, draws the reader into the story, making him or her complicit in the horror through his or her spectatorship. The consumption of this novel is quick, but the text will inevitably continue to haunt its reader.”  — Asymptote: New in Translation July 2018

“Roque Larraquy is a strong monologist. … As for the translation by Heather Cleary, it is hard to imagine Comemadre functioning as effectively as it does without her. ”  — The Cleaver

… and a very cool visual review over at The Rumpus

Don’t Send Flowers by Martín Solares
(Black Cat / Grove Press 2018)

* Named one of the Best Mysteries of 2018 by The Wall Street Journal

“Crime novels don’t get much grittier.”  — Kirkus Review

“A powerful, kaleidoscopic tale set in a society where there is no center to hold … another urgent and vital work from a writer to watch.”  — Starred Review at Booklist

“Extraordinary … Without losing sight of its central narrative, the book on occasion ascends into the realm of surrealism and the fever dream.”  — Wall Street Journal

“Any noir fan will feel at home with this novel immediately; gritty and vicious but so real it’s scary … The writing is cool, even lyrical, the dialogue is a hard-boiled joy … A pacy, sharp-witted thriller that will stay with you for a long time.”  — Nudge

“Throughout the book’s bold narrative choices, Solares maintains a deft touch for suspense. [His] most frightening ability of all, though, is to give even monstrous characters understandable motivations.”  — Shelf Awareness

The Dark by Sergio Chejfec (Open Letter Books 2013)
* Nominee, National Translation Award

The Planets by Sergio Chejfec (Open Letter Books 2012)
* Finalist, Best Translated Book Award

POETRY

Poems to Read on a Streetcar by Oliverio Girondo (New Directions 2014)
* Recipient, Programa SUR Translation Grant
* Recipient, PEN Translation Fund Grant

Cosmological Me by Luis Correa Díaz (El fin de la noche 2009)

NON-FICTION

Ikigai by Frances Miralles and Héctor García (Penguin Random House 2017)

Sociophobia by César Rendueles (Columbia University Press 2017)

“The Smile” by Dahlia de la Cerda (with Julia Sanches) (Astra Magazine 2022)

“Liliana Porter: Reality, Representation, and Problematizing Scale” by Brenda Lozano (Frieze 2018)

“A Trip to the Cemetery” by Sergio Chejfec (Words Without Borders 2018)

“Love is a Natural Disaster” by Betina González (The Literary Review – TLR – 2017)

“My Country, O My Country” by Efraín Huerta and “Ancestors” by Guadalupe Nettel (Village Voice 2016)

“Torres-García’s Other Workshop” by Sergio Chejfec (MoMA Publications 2015)

“Interiors” by Andrea Maturana (A Public Space 2015)
* Named “Story of the Week” by Ploughshares

Excerpt from Florencia Werchowsky’s No-Tell Motel (Two Lines 2015)

“Banbury Road” by Liliana Colanzi (Michigan Quarterly Review 2015)

“Four Stories by Pablo Katchadjian” (Make Magazine 2015)

Fiction by Abilio Estévez, Evelio Rosero, and José María Merino for A Thousand Forests in One Acorn (Open Letter 2014)

“Nocturnes” by Oliverio Girondo (Stonecutter 2014)

Fiction and essays by Liliana Colanzi, Giovanna Rivero, and others (Review, the magazine of the Americas Society, 2013-2016)

Excerpt from Sergio Chejfec’s The Dark (The Coffin Factory 2012)

Interviews with Carlos Fuentes, Chavela Vargas, Jorge Volpi, and others, for Revealing Mexico (Melcher / PowerHouse Books 2010)

“Tropes” and “Requiem in Living White” by Oliverio Girondo (Two Lines 2010)