The Jacaranda Whispers
The Jacarandas Whisper pays homage to the amazing jacaranda trees that transform Mexico City into a purple spectacle heralding the arrival of spring.
Mexican writer Alberto Ruy Sánchez adds yet another “secret garden” to his opus of wonder. The Jacarandas Whisper is carefully structured into six sections of lyrical poems that reflect upon the paradoxical nature of the jacaranda trees, their immortal yet transient character, their origin myths, their multicultural history of migration, and the lessons they offer on the human condition. The book closes with a final “Resounding Coda” that celebrates the jacaranda’s power of communication: “She whispers things when silent, / and says even more if you listen.”
Alberto Ruy-Sánchez is an award-winning writer and editor who has authored thirty-two books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. His works have been translated into fifteen languages. He has received international acclaim for Quinteto de Mogador, a series of five novels that explore the many facets of desire while extending a cultural bridge between his native Mexico and Morocco. His previously translated works in English include The Secret Gardens of Mogador: Voices of the Earth and The Poetics of Wonder.
Rhonda Dahl Buchanan, Professor Emerita of Spanish at the University of Louisville, translations of Ruy Sánchez’s novels earned her a 2006 NEA fellowship and were published by White Pine Press. Her other published translations include works by the Argentine authors Mempo Giardinelli, Tununa Mercado, Ana María Shua, and Perla Suez, and the Spanish poet Fernando Operé.
