Peruvian writer Katya Adaui, winner of Peru’s National Prize for Literature in 2023, will be presented next Wednesday, May 8 at 4:45 pm in a Literary Café with Pablo Silva Olazábal. The event, organized by the Embassy of Peru in Uruguay, the Museo de Arte Precolombino e Indígena (MAPI) and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, will be a unique opportunity to learn more about her latest work, “Quiénes somos ahora”, published by Random House in 2023.

“Quiénes somos ahora” narra la historia de una escritora peruana en Buenos Aires que rememora el impacto de un accidente llamado familia, cuyas secuelas se extienden a lo largo de los años como una herida mal cicatrizada. La novela, compuesta por recuerdos meticulosamente entrelazados con la intimidad, se presenta como un ajuste de cuentas entre la protagonista y sus padres. A través de una narrativa filial, Adaui busca disipar olvidos, esparcir cenizas y replantear distancias, al tiempo que explora temas como el amor, el duelo, el maltrato y la búsqueda de independencia.

Katya Adaui, born in Lima in 1977, has also distinguished herself for her work in the fields of short fiction and children’s literature. A finalist for the 2024 Ribera del Duero Short Fiction Prize for “A Name for Your Island,” she is the author of the short story collections “Geography of Darkness,” “Here Be Icebergs” (translated into English by Charco Press), and “Something Has Escaped Us.” She has also written the novels “I’ll Never Know What I Understand” and “Who We Are Now,” the latter recognized for its refined pointillism and sensitivity in exploring family complexities.

Adaui’s writing has been published in prestigious magazines and newspapers such as Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Granta, El País, Letras Libres, La Nación magazine, and Anfibia Papel, cementing her position as one of the most prominent voices in 21st-century Peruvian fiction. With multiple awards and a body of work spanning diverse genres and themes, Katya Adaui continues to enrich the literary landscape both nationally and internationally.