|
Claudia Piñeiro Argentina
|
|
|
|
|
Claudia
Piñeiro was born in the province of Buenos Aires in 1960. As an author and
scriptwriter for television she has already won numerous national and
international prizes for her literary, dramatic and journalistic work.
„Thursday
Night Widows”, the film based on her bestseller of the same name Las viudas de
los jueves was released in Buenos Aires in 2009 with a record of espectators.
In the UK, the novel has been selected by Amazon
to be included in its Rising Star promotion.
In
2010 Claudia Piñeiro was awarded the renowned German LiBeraturpreis for her
novel Elena sabe. Her novel Las grietas
de Jara was honoured with the prestigious Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize 2010.
In Las
viudas de los jueves, fifty kilometres outside the gates of Buenos Aires
lives the small society of Altos de la Cascada. Behind locked doors, shielded
from the crime, poverty and filth of the people on the streets, it is seemingly
occupied with troubles such as the summer’s drought of the communal golf
course. Behind this façade, however, lie conflicts that cross all borders of
social class: Infidelity, alcoholism, infertility and abusive marriage. And
finally, the economical consequences of 9/11 and Argentina’s crisis take their
toll. Yet instead of rolling up their sleeves, three devoted family fathers
from Cascada find an alternative solution in order to save their loved ones
from lowering their accustomed standard of living, let alone their wives having
to do the housework… The novel opens with the discovery of the three men’s
corpses in the pool. Had not Romina – psychologically victimised by her
adoptive mother for her dark skin – and her boyfriend Juani witnessed the
event, no one would ever have known what really happened. Claudia Piñeiro has
invented this story before it took place in a similar way, and, in sparse and
powerful prose, tells of a crime that generated a scandal in the Argentinean
media.
Jury members of the Premio Clarín on Las viudas de los jueves:
An unrelenting analysis of a social microcosm in an accelerating
process of decadence.
José Saramago
A razor-sharp psychological and social portrait not only of
Argentina, but of the affluent Western world as a whole.
Rosa Montero
An attention-grabbing story with cinematic rhythm and the vigour
of a punch in the stomach.
Eduardo Belgrano Rawson
Tuya (“All Yours”) tells us what a woman is capable
of when she finds out she is being cheated on. When Inés discovers that her
husband Ernesto is having an affair, her world falls apart. Nevertheless, she
holds on to him and even helps him cover his tracks when she witnesses his
lover's accidental death. But then Inés learns that Ernesto intends to accuse
her of the murder in order to escape with his new lover – and takes revenge.
Hitchcock is a
lady who lives in Buenos Aires.
Corriere della Sera
If you read only one crime book in translation this year, make
it this one.
Crime Time UK
Claudia Piñeiro is a real discovery: her debut novel Tuya is an
explosive, tightly-plotted romantic tragedy which gets straight to the point –
the deepest darkest point – and highly entertaining. Further evidence that
South America is a global player in current crime literature.
Deutsche Welle
This
morning, Elena knows she has a hard day ahead of her. She must take the train
from the suburb into central Buenos Aires, in spite of her Parkinson’s disease.
She want’s to prove that her daughter Rita, who stayed with her even when she
had her first boyfriend at the age of 40 and caring for the ill mother became
hard work, did not commit suicide. Elena sabe (“Elena Knows”), although
nobody believes her. After all, she is the mother. And only one person still
owes her a favour: Two decades before, Rita had saved a woman from abortion. In
Buenos Aires, when Elena finally sits face to face with this woman, Isabel
claims she owes her nothing. On the contrary. She was raped by her husband,
beaten and humiliated. Her words put a harsh end to all of Elena’s certainty...
Claudia
Piñeiro skilfully interweaves plot lines from the past and present and lets
them conversely highlight each other. She succeeds in giving a wonderful
portrayal of the relationship between mother and daughter, between dependence,
hate and love, of an increasingly common illness nobody wants to talk about, of
old age and the situtation of the caring relatives. Besides our arrogance is
reflected, with which we judge so easily, simply on the grounds of a belief or
prejudice, and without really knowing anything at all.
In Las
grietas de Jara (“Jara’s Crack”), Claudia Piñeiro once again demonstrates
her capacity to reveal the things hidden behind the facades of our existence;
human relationships based on habit and cowardice, rather than love; on
excessive ambition and personal gain, rather than morality. The author brings
it all bubbling to the surface with her unbiased eye and a narrative voice
that, like a detective novel, successfully engages the reader from start to
finish.
For
Pablo Simó, neither his marriage nor his career as an architect, have turned
out quite as he had expected them to. Family life is dominated with arguments
between him and his wife over their rebellious daughter, Francisca. At the
office he designs houses that are all much the same and of no particular architectural
interest. To top it all, he has never been asked by Borla, the director of the
company and his supposed friend, to be a partner, even though his colleague has
been.
Pablo’s
life changes significantly with the unexpected appearance of Leonor. The girl
brings to light a crime that happened years before, in which Pablo had played
an important role – one which he thought he had managed to forget about. This
turn of events gives him back his joie de vivre and opens him up to the
possibilities of love again, as it becomes clear that he needs to change his
life. The victim of the crime was an old man called Jara who had tried to claim
compensation for cracks that were appearing in his flat, due to an adjacent
construction that Borla was in charge of. The architect, however, refused to
pay anything and instead opted to speed up the construction of his building
instead. Jara catches on and tries to interfere personally in an attempt to
slow it down. During a quarrel between Borla and Jara, Jara fell down a hole in
the foundations. Pablo discovers that Leonor now lives illegally in Jara’s flat
and he soon realises that everyone in this small human cosmos has a secret to
hide. His gives his life a radical shake-up and leaves his wife, but maintains
an affectionate relationship with his daughter. He leaves his job, but not
before taking a small piece of revenge by following up on Jara’s case and his
cracks, whilst also sorting out some business the girl had introduced to him.
Claudia Piñeiro is a real discovery. Further evidence that South
America is a global player in current crime literature.
Deutsche Welle
In her latest novel Betibú,
Claudia Piñeiro uses her typical human touch to combine an exciting thriller
with an astute portrait of the Argentinean media and society. When the crime
journalist Jaime Brena hears of a murder in the well-guarded community La
Maravillosa, he hooks up with the famous writer Nurit Iscar, also called
Betibú. She is to cover the case for the newspaper director, who also happens to
be her ex-lover. While uncovering the crime's horrifying background, Betibú and
Brena come steadily closer.
Through the strength and the complexity of her characters,
Claudia turns literature into a 3D experience. This is true Argentine
literature from the first to the last line.
Sergio Olguín
Betibú is a personal
manifesto of the times we live in. An engaging novel.
Ñ
Betibú reads with the
rhythm of suspense itself as if we were watching a movie. A very tight plot,
disarming characters and dialogues that mark an elaborate way of writing.
Página 12
Original editions and rights sold:
Novels:
Las viudas de los
jueves, Buenos
Aires: Alfaguara 2005, 318 p.
More than 200.000 copies sold
Premio Clarín 2005
Film
rights with Tornasol and Haddock Films, directed by Marcelo Piñeyro, 2009
Albania:
Dudaj 2011 ● Brazil: Editora Objetiva
2007 ● Bulgaria: Colibri ● Croatia: Profil ●
France: Actes Sud 2009 ● German:
Unionsverlag 2010, Büchergilde 2011 ●
Israel: Keter 2010 ● Italy: Il
Saggiatore 2008 ● Netherlands: Signatuur
2009 ● Portugal: Quidnovi 2008 ● Romania: Univers ●
Russia: Ast 2010 ● Serbia: Profil 2010 ● Sweden: Leopard ●
Turkey: Pegasus ● UK: Bitter Lemon 2009
Tuya, Buenos Aires: Colihue 2006,
Alfaguara 2008, 165 p.
Film
rights under negotiaition
Czech Republic:
Albatros ● German: Unionsverlag 2008,
pb 2009 ● Hungary: Európa ● Italy: Feltrinelli 2011, pb 2011 ● Russia: Ast 2010 ●
UK: Bitter Lemon 2011
Elena sabe, Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2007, 173
p.
Film
rights under option
LiBeraturpreis
2010
France: Actes
Sud 2011 ● German: Unionsverlag 2009,
pb 2011 ● Israel: Keter ● Netherlands: Signatuur 2010
Las grietas de Jara, Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2009, 250
p.
Film
rights sold to Haddock Films
Sor Juana
Inés de la Cruz Prize 2010
Croatia:
Profil ● France: Actes Sud ● German: Unionsverlag 2011 ● Italy: Feltrinelli ●
Serbia: Profil 2011
Betibú, Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2011, 352
p.
Film
rights under negotiation
France:
Actes Sud ● German: Unionsverlag ● Italy: Feltrinelli 2012 ● Netherlands: Signatuur
Theatre:
Cuánto vale una
heladera, Buenos
Aires: Ministerio de Educación, 2004
Un mismo árbol verde
Verona
Stories for children:
Un ladrón entre
nosotros, Bogotá:
Norma 2005, 92 p.
Serafín, el escritor y
la bruja, Buenos
Aires: Ed. Don Bosco 2000, Alfaguara 2011, 85 p.
Barcelona:
Edebé 2000, 2007
For young readers:
El fantasma de las
invasiones inglesas,
Buenos Aires: Norma 2010, 126 p.