“Muy de mañana, al alba del barrio todavía dormido, un auto se detuvo en la casa de la Loca del Frente y varios golpes apresurados zamarrearon la puerta. Ella aún en los albores del sueño, saltó de la cama a medio vestir, cubriéndose pudorosa con su bata nipona regada de heléchos plateados.”
Come and join us online, on April 27, 7pm (BST), to discuss Pedro Lemebel’s Tengo miedo torero (My Tender Matador, in the 2005 translation by Katherine Silver).
About the book: First published in 2001, Tengo miedo torero is notable for its exploration of the Chilean dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet through a unique LGBTQ+ lens. The book tells the story of an aging drag queen, La Loca del Frente, during the late 1980s in Santiago, Chile. She becomes entangled in a revolutionary plot against the dictatorship after falling in love with a young guerrillero. The novel weaves together themes of love, political resistance, and the struggle for identity and dignity, against the backdrop of a repressive regime.
About Pedro Lemebel (1952-2015): Lemebel was a prominent Chilean writer, performance artist, and activist. A trailblazer in queer literature in Latin America, Lemebel's work is celebrated for its sharp exploration of the intersections between gender, sexuality, and politics. His legacy includes not just his fiction, but also his crónicas, a blend of journalism and literature, where he dissected Chilean society with a critical but tender gaze. A collection of his essays and crónicas — A Last Supper of Queer Apostles: Selected Essays — is forthcoming in May 2024 with Pushkin Press, in a translation by Gwendolyn Harper.