Literature in Translation Book Group

With a focus on indie presses and marginalized voices, our L.I.T. Book Group meets monthly to discuss books from around the world!

Literature in Translation Book Group with Maritza
Discusses La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated by Lawrence Schimel

Led by Greenlight bookseller Maritza, our Literature in Translation Book Group meets monthly to discuss books from around the world, with a particular focus on marginalized voices and indie presses.

For June, the group discusses La Bastarda by Trifonia Meibea Obono, translated from the Spanish by award-winning author Lawrence Schimel. The first novel by an Equatorial Guinean woman to be translated into English, La Bastarda is the story of the orphaned teen Okomo, who lives under the watchful eye of her grandmother and dreams of finding her father. Forbidden from seeking him out, she enlists the help of other village outcasts: her gay uncle and a gang of “mysterious” girls reveling in their so-called indecency. Drawn into their illicit trysts, Okomo finds herself falling in love with their leader and rebelling against the rigid norms of Fang culture, in this "unique contribution to LGBTQ literature" (Kirkus Reviews).