“Who am I?” Wendy Guerra wondered in a 2014 interview, before offering an answer: “A demon who writes what she feels, confident in her impressions, who manages to translate them.”
The Cuban novelist, poet, and artist has often been compared to the French writer Anaïs Nin; Guerra, too, keeps a meticulous diary that often becomes the basis for her novels, which seamlessly alternate focus between interior lives and global politics. Her latest novel, Revolution Sunday, was released in 2016 but is just appearing in English now—the first time, in fact, that any of Guerra’s work has been translated for English-speaking audiences.
While not totally autobiographical, Revolution Sunday (December 4th, Melville House) is the story of a Cuban writer who, like Guerra, travels between Cuba and Spain and finds herself accused of spying for the Castro regime abroad while coming under government observation at home. Fans of Rachel Cusk, Jennifer Egan, and Ottessa Moshfegh will find Guerra a welcome addition to their bookshelves. Her work offers a glimpse into modern Havana in an age of rapid sociopolitical change.
A version of this story originally appeared in the December/January 2019 issue of Pacific Standard.
