PhD candidate in Hispanic Studies, Bárbara Fernández Melleda, will participate in the launch of Carmen Berenguer’s book Bobby Sands desfallece en el muro, published by La Joyita Cartonera. Berenguer’s book was written and crafted in the 1980s, during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile. This event will be the first official launch of this book, after over 30 years since the author had a few hand-made copies circulating in underground groups of dissidents to the regime. Bobby Sands desfallece en el muro (1983) is
clearly one of the most relevant poems written in dictatorship times, and it uses the figure of the Northern Irish rebel as a vehicle through which Berenguer exalts those who are imprisoned for thinking differently.
Bárbara has been studying this poem as part of her doctoral research, and she was asked to write the prologue to the Cartonera edition, as well as to present the book in the launch. The event will take place on December 11, 2015 in Santiago de Chile.
La Joyita Cartonera is an independent publisher that handcrafts copies of books using different techniques, collage being one of the most outstanding ones. Cartonera publishers, spread all over Latin America, craft their book covers using cardboard which is recycled from different sources.
The Centre for Contemporary Latin American Studies at the University of Edinburgh is proud to support Bárbara’s presentation and share it with the community.
