Dear The Readers,
I am writing this from the place with the most museums in the world, Mexico City. There are bookstores everywhere here, small independent ones that host poetry readings and offer spaces for writers to work, and larger ones too with good English sections. When I need something (like a local film-maker) I walk into one of these bookshops and ask and somebody could recommend possible collaborators.
There are so many great books and writers inspired by Mexico City. We considered Octavio Paz, who was problematic for the artists I approached, Malcolm Lowry, Antonin Artaud, Rosario Castellanos (I will post soon a short story by her I loved very much) also very exciting contemporary writers working on the borderlands like Valeria Luiselli, but in so many cases there were problems with the rights or distribution. A brilliant artist Lucia Vidales recommended that we send a book about the conquest of the Aztecs, The Broken Spear by Miguel Leon Portilla, a great poem about the origins of Mexican nationality and the defence of a culture and civilisation before the Spanish conquest. We at Sendb00ks urge you to source these books, study and love them, while we work to make more relationships with different publishers who can help us send them at a later date. Lucia and I will work together when we arrive to Guatemala, the birthplace of one of her favourite poets.
Lucia had, in her bag a book which surprised me, The Art of Cruelty by Maggie Nelson, a writer from California who I became obsessed with when I discovered her, devouring all books, interviews and articles. Later, I met with Ana Segovia, a Mexican artist and an avid reader who listens to audiobooks while painting movie stills from the golden age of Mexican cinema. In one of her paintings, cowboys sit around a table with I love Dick by Chris Kraus. We came back to Maggie Nelson again and her writing on gender and identity. We decided to send The Argonauts, a poem, essay, novel, one of those books that you will read over and over to absorb all the lessons.
To receive the work of Ana Segovia, inside one of our favourite books plus the whole great package; podcast, essay, journal please follow the link in bio/website.
All our love,
Sendb00ks