Between the Land and Stars: Nona Fernández & Renato Cisneros
In their stunning, intricate accounts of life and death in Peru and Chile, Renato Cisneros and Nona Fernández uncover some devastating home truths. Two Hispanoamerican journalists with their fingers on the pulse of the region’s complex history reckon with the shadowed and secret pasts of family and country.
In the autofictional You Shall Leave Your Land, Cisneros struggles to draw the truth from reluctant relatives. As these truths come to light, the author finds parallels and collisions with the troubled history of the Republic of Peru. Nona Fernández’s voyage begins with the Atacama desert. One of the world’s best spots for stargazing, it is also where Pinochet’s regime murdered twenty-six political opponents in 1973. Weaving together Chile’s political history with her mother’s failing health, and with our relationship to the cosmos, Fernández’s Voyager: Constellations of Memory is a fascinating chronicle of our times.
Renato Cisneros was born in Lima in 1976, and is a highly regarded journalist, broadcaster and writer in Peru, where he presents current affairs programmes on radio and TV.
Nona Fernández was born in Santiago, Chile. She is an actress and writer, and has published two plays, a collection of short stories, and six novels.
