AUTHOR EVENT: ‘Carnaval Fever’ by Yuliana Ortiz Ruano and Madeleine Arenivar
House of Books & Friends is overjoyed to welcome author Yuliana Ortiz Ruano and translator Madeleine Arenivar to discuss their book, ‘Carnaval Fever’. The event will take place on 25th August, and will involve a discussion, a Q&A, and a chance for you to get your book signed by Yuliana and Madeleine.
Tickets
As always, we have a limited amount of complimentary tickets for this event for anyone who needs it. Please contact us directly at bookworms@houseofbooksandfriends.com or call 07597365380.
About the book
Sheltered within her grandmother’s fiercely protective household, Ainhoa blossoms under the guidance of her constellation of aunts—women who become her teachers, guardians, and spiritual anchors. Through Ainhoa’s keen observant eyes, readers experience how music and dance – particularly during the explosive energy of Carnaval – don’t merely entertain but form the very heartbeat of existence, a pulsing testament to Afro-Ecuadorian identity and resistance.
Yet beneath this tapestry of warmth and celebration, Carnaval Fever fearlessly confronts the shadows: crushing economic hardship, the heartbreak of migration, and the ever-present threat of male violence hovering at the community’s edges. At its luminous core, however, this novel stands as a defiant celebration of women’s resilience, collective power, and the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood that sustain communities through generations.
About the authors
Yuliana Ortiz Ruano (Esmeraldas, Ecuador, 1992) is a research professor at the University of the Arts of Ecuador, and an Afro-music DJ. A novelist and a poet, she is the author of the collections Sovoz, Canciones desde el fin del mundo, and Cuaderno del imposible retorno a Pangea. Carnaval Fever won the Joaquín Gallegos Lara Award, the Primo Romanzo Latinoamericano Award, and the PEN Presents English PEN Award.
Madeleine Arenivar is a literary translator from Spanish living in Quito, Ecuador. Her short translations have been published in Another Chicago Magazine, Latin American Literature Today, Los Angeles Review, and the Best Literary Translations Anthology (Deep Vellum, 2024). She is a winner of the PEN Presents program (2023), and a past attendee of Bread Loaf Translator’s Conference. She has degrees from Vassar College and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) Ecuador.