She has published three novels, but is best known for her debut with La Virgen Cabeza (2009), which gained her literary recognition and laid the foundations of her style.[5][6] It was translated into English by Frances Riddle as Slum Virgin and published by Charco Press.[7] This translated version was shortlisted for the Silverio Cañada Memorial Prize at the Gijón Noir Week in Spain[8] and chosen as book of the year by Rolling Stone magazine in Argentina in 2009.[7]
Her other two novels are: Las aventuras de la China Iron (2017), which interpreted Gaucho literature from a feminist and queer point of view—the English version of which was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize—[9][10][11] and Las niñas del naranjel (2023), about the historical figure of Monja Alférez and the Conquest of the Americas, which obtained the Ciutat de Barcelona award in Spanish-language literature.[6][12][13][14]
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara was born on 4 November 1968 in San Isidro, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. She studied Humanities at the University of Buenos Aires.[22] One of her first stories, La hermana Cleopatra (the first draft of what would become her first novel, La Virgen Cabeza), appeared in 2006 in the anthology Una terraza propia, from publishing company Norma.[23] In 2011, she published the novellaLe viste la cara a Dios, about human trafficking,[24] which became the first Spanish-language e-book to be chosen as the book of the year by Revista Ñ [es].[25]
She published her second novel, Las aventuras de la China Iron, in 2017.[31] Critics referred to it as having una prosa encantada y casi milagrosa,[b][32] referring to it as otra fundación[c] of Argentine literature.[33] Moreover, the novel was chosen as one of the books of the year by the Spanish-language edition of The New York Times and by newspaper El País.[34][35] Both Iona Macintyre and Fiona Mackintosh worked on its translation into English, which was published with the title The Adventures of China Iron by Charco Press.[36] That translation was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2020.[2] The jury for the award considered it a maravillosa reelaboración feminista y queer de un mito fundacional americano (…) con un lenguaje y una perspectiva tan frescos que cambian 180 grados la idea de lo que una nueva nación americana podría ser.[d][37] Its film adaptation was announced that very same year.[38] In 2022, the book was one of the five finalists for the Prix Montluc Resistance et Liberté award.[39]
In 2023, she published her third novel, Las niñas del naranjel, about the historical figure of Monja Alférez, who was born a woman in Spain in 1592 and later, living as a man, took part in the Conquest of the Americas.[40][41][42] In January 2024, she obtained the Ciutat de Barcelona award in Spanish-language Literature for this book.[6]
Style
Cabezón Cámara's fictional worlds are inhabited by slum-dwellers, human trafficking victims, and okupas. Her literary plots are highly dynamic, and her narrators build their discourse outside the identity principle of unity. Thus, the characters change, both by contingency and by choice, and in an instant, they transform the definitive sign of their lives.[43] Her novels are set in recognizable and violent places, and the main source and trigger of the story are news events and the crime genre.[44]
Her protagonists include a trans woman who is a religious fanatic, a reporter on the police beat, and a victim of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Due to the mix of characters, social classes, and sexual identities, her literature is considered part of the queer genre.[45] Her narrative style blends content from reality (from slums to social networks) with expressions of classic literature, the gaucho genre, slang, and a touch of black humor.[46]
One of Cabezón Cámara's concerns when it comes to the suffering of others is what happens to women as objects of prostitution, which she describes as ser violada las 24 horas.[e][47] The main character of her novel La Virgen Cabeza goes to live in a slum where she finds love. On the other hand, it is worth noting that the reference to the Virgen[f] is a vindication of the place of women, since the Church only legitimizes this image as a wife, mother, and defender of sus maridos: Dios, el papa, y el Espíritu Santo.[g][45] Consequently, we can say that her work questions the various social classes and the images which sustain the patriarchal culture. Also, that through her writings, she blends egalitarian relationships in public spheres and, later, their dissolution.
^English: Wonderful feminist and queer retelling of an American foundational myth (…) with a language and a perspective that are so fresh, they make the idea of what a new American nation could be do a 180-degree turn
.jpg)
