Houston: Jazmina Barrera, Christina MacSweeney, and Roberto Tejada
6:30 pm CDT
Brazos Bookstore | 2421 Bissonnet Street | Houston, Texas
Two Lines Press and Brazos Bookstore welcome Jazmina Barrera and Christina MacSweeney in person for a discussion of Linea Nigra: An Essay on Pregnancy and Earthquakes, by Jazmina Barrera and translated by Christina MacSweeney. They will be in conversation with Roberto Tejada.
This event will be in person and free of charge. Seating will be limited and first-come-first-serve. For more information and guidelines for attending an in-person event at Brazos Bookstore, please see the bookstore’s event page(opens in a new tab).
“Essayist Jazmina Barrera takes that physical line [the linea nigra] and writes about and (metaphorically) beyond it, packing her narrative memoir full of carefully considered and exquisitely worded musings on motherhood.…the multilayered, deeply felt work that her life experience and obvious talent have combined to produce is eminently worthy of acclaim.” —Vogue (The Best Books of 2022 So Far)
An intimate exploration of motherhood, Linea Nigra approaches the worries and joys of childbearing from a diverse range of inspirations and traditions, from Louise Bourgeois to Ursula K. Le Guin to the indigenous Nahua model Luz Jiménez. Part memoir and part manifesto, Barrera’s singular insights, delivered in candid prose, clarify motherhood while also cherishing the mysteries of the body.
Writing through her first pregnancy, birthing, breastfeeding, and young motherhood, Barrera embraces the subject fully, making lucid connections between maternity, earthquakes, lunar eclipses, and creative labor. Inspired by the author’s own mother’s painting practice, Linea Nigra concludes with an impassioned call: childbearing is art, and art is childbearing.
Jazmina Barrera’s books have been published in nine countries and translated to English, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, and French. Her book Cuerpo extraño (Foreign Body) was awarded the Latin American Voices prize by Literal Publishing, and On Lighthouses was chosen for the Indie Next list by IndieBound. Linea Nigra was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Autobiography Prize, CANIEM’s Book of the Year award, and the Amazon Primera Novela (First Novel) Award. She is editor and co-founder of Ediciones Antílope. She lives in Mexico City.
Christina MacSweeney’s work has been recognized in a number of important awards, and her translation of Valeria Luiselli’s The Story of My Teeth was awarded the Valle Inclán Translation Prize and also shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. Her most recent translations include works by Daniel Saldaña París, Elvira Navarro, Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Julián Herbert, and Karla Suárez.
Roberto Tejada is Distinguished Endowed Chair in Art History at Southern Methodist University. He is also the founder and co-editor of the journal Mandorla: New Writing from the Americas and the author of Exposition Park.