“Mudanças: voltar aos livros” is a Portuguese translation of the Spanish essay “Mudanzas: volver a los libros” by Mexican author Valeria Luiselli from her essay collection Papeles falsos. In “Mudanças: voltar aos livros”, Luiselli reflects upon her recent move to a new apartment, the physical and emotional changes she has experienced, and physical familial resemblances. Among her many awards and prizes, Luiselli is the recipient of a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship, and her work has been published in The New York Times, Granta, and McSweeney’s. In 2017, she was the Writer in Residence at The Park School of Baltimore, where I read her essay “Alternative Routes” about the Portuguese concept of saudade. My conversation with her at that time was influential in my decision to pursue Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, in addition to Spanish. The advisor for this translation is Sherrerd teaching award-winning Associate Professor Marguerite Harrison Spanish and Portuguese department at Smith College.
by Thao Kahn '21