The first English-language translation of Rosabetty Muñoz’s vital and innovative poetry from across her extraordinary body of work
Rosabetty Muñoz is one of Chile’s most acclaimed and innovative contemporary poets. Her poems highlight the lives of girls and women on the islands of the Chilean archipelago, portraying the hardships they encounter in this often-overlooked region of the world. In this meticulous and compelling translation from Elena Barcia, Nothing Like Paradise offers a collection of selected works from across Muñoz’s oeuvre, offering a close look into the breadth and emotional intensity of her poetry.
These poems depict the wounds inflicted by the Pinochet dictatorship, foreign invasions, sexual exploitation, the incursions of global capitalism, and political exile. Renowned for her powerful use of multiple voices and striking images, Muñoz channels the thoughts and emotions of the islands’ female inhabitants, bringing immediacy and drama to their stories and transforming readers into their witnesses and confidants. Her poems invite us to confront pain and injustice with empathy and to turn understanding into a collective act of compassion and resistance.
