6 Questions for Catalina Infante Beovic

Q

What writers or works have accompanied you as of late?

A

The author who’s been with me most this past year is Han Kang. I identify with her sensibility and strength; they speak to me. Her way of portraying the body, with its pain and violence, as well as how she features landscapes and nature in her storytelling, I find it inspiring in every way. 

Q

Beyond writers, who are the artists that spark your creativity and inspire you?

A

Music is what inspires me most as an art. Lately I’ve been glued to Rosalía’s new album, Lux. It’s the most creative and inspiring work I’ve heard in recent times. Her creative force, the drive she had as an artist to outdo herself, has greatly influenced the novel I’m writing now. Also, Milo J, a really young Argentine singer who mixes trap and Latin American folk music; I’m struck by his ability, being so young, to write lyrics with such wisdom.

Q

If we could see behind the scenes, can you tell us about your writing space, the ambience? Where do you write to us from?

A

I try to write while sitting at my desk during the day, on a crusade to professionalize the craft and get more done. But while I’d like to be that person, for some reason I always wind up writing while lying in my bed, at night. I suppose some impulses are beyond our control; writing has its moments and moods, and for me that seems to be coziness, at night.

Q

Your writing always features landscapes, and I know the countryside is a special place for you. What do they mean to you?

A

Nature calms me; I find the silence I need there. I just need some large trees and a touch of breeze to feel like I’m back where I belong. I grew up in the city but was fortunate to have had a childhood deeply connected to the countryside, because my parents also valued and sought that space, as if they were rediscovering themselves there, every weekend and vacation. Without being too outdoorsy—they were city people—they instilled in us this idea of nature as a human necessity.

Q

You broach the complex topic of motherhood using an intimate narrative voice in your recently released novel, The Cracks We Bear, work you continue here with your story “A Nostalgia for Desire.” Reflecting on motherhood and women, what are you searching for with this story?

A

I was looking to write about desire for women over forty, about what happens to their sexuality and the relationship they have with their bodies within the context of family life, in the wake of marriage and raising children. The character in the story longs to feel the vitality of her youthful body again, to feel pleasure again, but everyday life has snuffed it out. This is an exploration of that feeling; I wasn’t interested in telling a story or developing a character, just simply capturing that feeling.

Q

When you look at the world, what keeps you up at night and how do you face it? And where do you find joy?

A

What keeps me up at night is everything that’s happening in the United States with Latin American immigrants, the violence, contempt, and persecution. When it comes to culture, the United States has been a strong cultural reference point for the people of Latin America. US movies, literature, visual arts, and music are a part of our everyday lives; we feel close to them. And we know that the Latino community is a fundamental part of US society, and that our culture has influenced the US as well, permeating its everyday life, through music, food, traditions . . . that’s why it’s distressing and upsetting to think that the current administration’s hateful rhetoric may be poisoning younger generations and building a wall between what should be brotherly peoples. I hope we’re able to find the balance and peace necessary to get back to a meeting of cultures that respect and value each other. In the face of that, I find peace by moving away from social media and disinformation, because it’s overwhelming. And of course, advocating for that cultural exchange through books.

Translation from the Spanish