“How can I know what I think, until I see what I say?” (E. M. Forster). How much of your writing surprises you?
I’m constantly surprised not only by the details I can’t fathom, but also by the characters’ actions. I control them, but they push the boundaries, and I find that fascinating.
What is the first thing you remember reading or having read to you?
My mother read to us all the time, and I think that’s why we’re big readers in my family. I give my siblings books, and they look forward to those gifts.
The book my mother read to us that I remember fondly is Artemito and the Princess by Marjorie Torrey. That book was part of the Robin Hood Collection, which was a fundamental collection for Spanish speakers of my generation.
Is there a particular sentence that has stayed with you throughout your life?
My favorite Argentine author is called Juan José Saer. I study his work. I read and reread it. That’s why the first line of his novel El entenado (The Stepson) is so important that I had it made into a T-shirt: “De esas costas vacías me quedó sobre todo la abundancia de cielo”. (“From those empty shores, I was left above all with the abundance of sky.”) On first reading, one might think it’s a line that places the reader geographically, and it’s true, but there’s more. I emphasize the words “Empty shores, abundance of sky”. One reading hypothesis could be that there’s a specific reference to Borges because of the paradoxical play between fullness and emptiness, and also because it connects with the beginning of the short story “Las ruinas circulares” (“The Circular Ruins”) But there’s more. It could also be referring to the emptiness of the protagonist’s identity (a theme explored throughout the novel) and to the abundance he later finds in the tribe with whom he lives for so many years. But there’s more. I could think of Saer’s work, throughout his entire oeuvre, with the thesis that words are incommunicable. There’s always a lack of communication because words are porous; they say nothing; actions do. The emptiness of language, and yet its abundance.
What is the most interesting item on your bookshelf?
The marked books, with annotations, that I studied, like “El entenado” (The Stepson) and others. But also, my watermark. I mark my books with that seal so there’s no doubt who owns them. They’re my treasure. My precious ones.
Have you ever regretted publishing something?
Yes, indeed. My first novel, Matar a la niña (Kill the girl). Being my first novel, it has all the flaws of someone who can’t write novels: it’s pretentious, the structure is weak, it has unnecessary information, and it’s also meant to be funny, which, today, I can say it isn’t. There’s a reason I never republished it. But thanks to that novel, I was able to write Tender Is the Flesh, and for that I’m grateful. But it should have stayed in a drawer.
Proust had madeleines. Which foods or meals trigger your memory?
In my country, Argentina, we have a sweet called dulce de leche. It’s similar to caramel. When we were kids, we ate toast with butter and dulce de leche, and it reminds me of the countryside, horses, swimming in the river, and spending time with family in the summer.
Have you had any notable experiences meeting authors you admire?
Yes, I have met Samanta Schweblin, Mónica Ojeda, Giovanna Rivero and Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, and besides being writers I admire, they’re also loving and generous people.
I have also met a few writers I admire and would have preferred not to meet, but I reserve the names of those.
Do you have a favourite bookshop?
I live in Buenos Aires, which is the city with the largest number of bookstores in the world, so I go to many of them. But there’s a tiny bookstore called Magia Libros where the booksellers love to read, are passionate about literature and have recommended excellent books to me. They’re a benchmark, and I always recommend them because there’s nothing better for a reader than booksellers who love their job.
How does distraction inform your writing?
It’s hard to pinpoint, but I do know that distracting myself gives me mental space for new ideas to emerge. The other day, while I was cooking, I was listening to a podcast where they interviewed a war correspondent. She recounted a situation that directly inspired a character in the novel I’m writing. So, maybe distractions are just new places to brainstorm.
What are you currently reading or watching?
Reading: I’m reading several books at the same time. 1. El obsceno pájaro de la noche (The Obscene Bird of Night) by the Chilean writer José Donoso. 2. Cuarto de desechos (Waste Room) by the Brazilian Carolina María de Jesús. 3. “Sangre dulce” (Sweet Blood), an unpublished book by the Bolivian Giovanna Rivero, for which I’ll write the prologue. 4. “Odorama”, an essay on smells by the Argentine Federico Kukso. 5. Poetry by the Argentine poet Susana Thénon.
Watching: Yesterday I finished the excellent HBO series The Pitt about doctors in an emergency room. Today I’m starting an Argentine series called Black Widows on HBO as well. And my husband and I are watching a Danish series called Reservatet on Netflix, and Rick and Morty.
Who has influenced your writing?
I read a lot, voraciously, but there are authors I study. I read and reread their books to understand how they created such a marvel. As you know from my previous answers, Juan José Saer is one of them. And then there are the Argentine writers Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Andrés Rivera, Silvina Ocampo, Sara Gallardo; also William Faulkner, Clarice Lispector, Flannery O’Connor, James Joyce (yes, I read Ulysses in English), Virginia Woolf (what a beautiful novel is To the Lighthouse!), Carlos Fuentes (his novel Aura I’ve read countless times), Juan Rulfo and Toni Morrison, among others. I also read poetry and recommend contemporary Argentine poets such as Claudia Masín, Elena Annibali and Pamela Terlizzi Prina. And I read a lot of fiction by contemporary authors that influences what I write: Leïla Slimani, Diego Muzzio, Fernanda Melchor, Mónica Ojeda, Samanta Schweblin, among others.
Which piece of music have you listened to the most in your life?
What a difficult question. I’m not sure. I can confirm that since I go running every day, the first song I put on is “Misa criolla” sung by Mercedes Sosa. While I don’t believe in religion, and this song is religious, I find it one of the most powerful I’ve ever heard because I do believe that Negra Sosa (as we call Mercedes Sosa) has the voice of Pachamama, so this song gives me the energy to exercise in the parks where I run.
Do your ideas form themselves in your head or on the page?
I believe ideas are formed first in my body, not just in my mind. I feel them with my whole body. Then, on paper, others may emerge, I refine them, I change them, but if I don’t feel them in my body first, they don’t make it to paper.
What is the worst job you ever had?
I worked for twenty-two years in a law firm as a secretary. Some years were very good, but others weren’t. Especially when I had one boss who tortured me. My revenge was to transform this person into a horrible character in one of my novels. You don’t mess with writers.
If you could choose any piece of art to hang above your desk, what would it be?
I have it hanging on my desk. It’s a watercolor that an artist did of my cats.
What was your favourite text studied at school?
I went to a school run by Catholic nuns, so none.
Which font do you write in?
At first in Times New Roman, but since my Word is programmed to write in Arial, it finally won me over and I write in Arial 11/12 with double spacing.
What does a writing day look like for you?
I spend my mornings running and going to the gym. I spend my afternoons reading (which is part of the writing process), working (answering emails, writing blurbs, prologues, preparing talks), and I spend the evening writing. All of this is interrupted by traveling, which is now a lot.
Which other art forms are necessary to your writing?
All of them. I studied art history, so art in general is a great source of inspiration. But movies, television shows, theatre – for me, everything this reality offers can become part of a story.
Where do you seek refuge?
At home with my husband, cats, books and writing.
Agustina Bazterrica holds a degree in Arts from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), is a cultural manager, and a literary awards judge. Recognized for her fiction, she received the Clarín Novel Prize and the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Cadáver exquisito (2017; Tender is the flesh), which has been translated into more than thirty languages. Her most recent novel, Las indignas (2023; The Unworthy), was one of the best-selling books in Latin America in 2024.
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