“No tengo que ganar. Mi verano con Diamela Eltit”, de Javiera Tapia (Tusquets)

Building upon this foundational genre of journalism, and sharing elements with the essay, the chronicle, and the blog, journalist Javiera Tapia offers us a book “with,” not “about,” the author of “Lumpérica,” “Sumar,” and “Mano de obra.” Tapia’s book is neither a biography nor a literary study of Eltit, but rather a thematic record of a warm, fluid, honest, and profound conversation, where they address power and its manifestations, the passage of time, the body, community and the collective, the construction of memory, and, of course, literature. “Diamela has a very sweet and high-pitched voice, a graceful laugh, and her manner is gentle. Her writing is an earthquake,” she notes in this previously unpublished portrait of Diamela Eltit, not only one of our country’s most important authors, but also the only child, raised in downtown Santiago, the first professional in her family, and an avid reader before becoming a writer.