About this Event
Instituto Cervantes New York presents:
Centroeuropa
A Novel by Vicente Luis Mora Translated from the Spanish by Rahul Bery
Join us for an evening celebrating Centroeuropa, a groundbreaking novel that has been recognized as a 2026 National Book Award Finalist for Translated Literature, selected as a New York Times "Editors' Choice", and honored with the Málaga Novel Prize and PEN Translates Award.
This event features a conversation between author Vicente Luis Mora and translator Rahul Bery, moderated by Javier Valdivielso. The dialogue will unfold in both Spanish and English, making it accessible to all audiences.
About the Book
"Male, Prussian, hussar soldier, frozen. That was the first body I found while digging in the frozen earth to bury my wife."
At the dawn of the nineteenth century, newly widowed Redo Hauptshammer arrives in a small European town to claim a plot of land. But when he begins digging up the field, he uncovers the perfectly preserved corpse of a soldier. The next day, two more emerge. Then more still.
As bodies from past and future wars proliferate exponentially, this "archaeological novel" digs into the strata of Europe's soil, unearthing a long history of oppression, expropriation, and erasure. Subtle, subversive, and full of surprises, Centroeuropa is both a formally challenging work of experimentalism and a profoundly moving story about war, love, secrecy, and what remains buried beneath our collective consciousness.
"Deftly explores the legacy of war, personal and state secrets, and what may be revealed when we excavate the past." — National Book Award Judges' Citation
About the Author
Vicente Luis Mora is a Spanish novelist, poet, essayist, and literary critic. Former Director of Instituto Cervantes in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he currently teaches Spanish and Latin American literature at the University of Málaga in Spain. Centroeuropa is his first novel to be published in North America.
About the Translator
Rahul Bery is an award-winning translator from Portuguese and Spanish whose translations include works by Fernando J. Muñez, Michel Nieva, and David Trueba. He is the recipient of two PEN Translates Awards, and his translation of Centroeuropa was longlisted for the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Translation Prize. His work has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, White Review, Granta, and Words Without Borders, among others.
This program is supported by the Consulate General of Spain in New York.
Event venue & nearby stays
Instituto Cervantes - Nueva York, 211-215 East 49th Street, New York, United States
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