Elvira Navarro is the author of A Working Woman (Two Lines Press, 2017). Navarro’s translator, Christina MacSweeney, spoke with her about her writing process, the thematic threads in her work, and avant-garde literature.

Christina MacSweeney (CM):When we met, you talked about your love for Madrid, and that city is an important character in La trajabadora (A Working Woman). But your earlier works are set in the south of Spain. I’m interested in knowing how you reconcile these two different landscapes, both personally and in your writing.Christina MacSweeney was awarded the 2016 Valle Inclán Translation Prize for her translations of Valeria Luiselli’s The Story of My Teeth. 

Elvira Navarro (EN): Well, in fact, only one story in my first book, La ciudad en invierno (The City in Winter), is set in the south, although the reference isn’t explicit. My other stories take place in Valencia, which is in the east of Spain. I moved there in the eighties, when the old part of the city was a no-go area, and “decent” people wanted nothing to do with the dregs of society and the decrepit buildings of the old quarter, which was in a state of absolute decay.

Read full interview here