Landsmoder
by Elena Salamanca, Ryan Greene
Landsmoderhistórico, the performance poems in Landsmoder retool the laudatory pomp of patriotic ceremony to protest the weaponization of national myth as a mask for erasure, cruelty, and neglect at the hands of the state. This unflinching collection, whose title comes from a Norwegian word that Salamanca translates as "madre de la patria" — or "mother of the nation/homeland/fatherland"— is a work of feminist grief, rage, and irony populated with churning wombs, bloodied flags, and ratteboned she-wolves. Appearing now in a bilingual edition nearly a decade after it was first performed, Landsmoder remains an urgent subversion, loud as ever, both on and off the page.
Paperback
English
Brand New
Author Biography
Elena Salamanca (San Salvador, 1982) is a writer and historian. She has published La familia o el olvido (2017 and 2018), Peces en la boca (2013 and 2011), Landsmoder (2012), and Último viernes (2017 and 2018). Her most recent books, Claudia Lars: La niña que vio una salamandra (2020) and Prudencia Ayala: La niña con pajaros en la cabeza (2021) are the first two volumes of her "Colección Siemprevivas" series dedicated to the stories of more than 40 women who were born or lived in El Salvador between the XVIII and XX centuries. Her work has been translated into English, French, German, and Swedish. Since 2009, she has combined literature, performance, memory, and politics in public space. She is a doctorate candidate in History from the Colegio de México, and her thesis investigates the relationships between Central American unity, citizenship, and exile. She earned her masters in History from El Colegio de México (2016) and the Universidad de Huelva, Spain (2013).
Ryan Greene is a translator, poet, and book farmer from Phoenix, Arizona. He's a co-conspirator at F*%K IF I KNOW//BOOKS [], and he's translated collections by Elena Salamanca, Claudina Domingo, Ana Belén López, Giancarlo Huapaya, and Yaxkin Melchy, among others. Since 2018, he has facilitated the Cardboard House Press Cartonera Collective bookmaking workshops at Palabras Bilingual Bookstore. Like Collier, the ground he stands on is not his ground.
Review
"In its unique combination of protest, performance, and translation, this book opens Salamanca's truly monumental work to new audiences and future generations." –Diego Báez, Poetry Foundation
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Promotion through our social media account to 20k+ followers.Reading event scheduled around the publishing date.eBook will be made available at the same time as print publication.
Long Description
Landsmoder hist
Review Quote
"In its unique combination of protest, performance, and translation, this book opens Salamanca's truly monumental work to new audiences and future generations." -Diego B
Description for Sales People
A timely collection that speaks across borders: The performance poems in Elena Salamanca's Landsmoder draw critical connections between interlocking systems of structural abuse. As both a historian and a poet, Salamanca is attuned to the power of collective memory and the uniting force of shared grief. Having originally performed these poems in San Salvador's Plaza Moraz
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