Tidal Waters - by Velia Vidal (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An epistolary, fictional account of one woman moving towards happiness in the black community of Colombia's Pacific coast.

After a long absence, Vel has come home to Chocó - to the Afro-Colombian community, to her family, to the sea. This is where the Pacific meets the Caribbean, where she's establishing herself anew. And the record she keeps is a series of letters to a friend, clarifying for herself where she stands, as she describes that homecoming to another. Vel works to build a literary centre, writing career, and festival with and for the people there. But her return to Chocó is also a claim-staking of her decision to pursue happiness now; an account of her immersion in the towns and rivers and forests she came from; and a redefinition of her relationship to sex and love in real time. And Tidal Waters is a vision of how creating something (for your community, for yourself) is a way of reading and writing your way into a known place and a new self.

Review Quotes

"An engaging book, drawing you in with every page as it takes you on a literal and magical journey through Choco and the protagonist's life." --Morning Star

"Tidal Waters is personal and intimate [...] and at the same time an examination of a forgotten region of Colombia and of what it means to be a black woman there. A beautiful and moving book we should all read."" --Pilar Quintana, author of ABYSS

"In Tidal Waters Velia Vidal recounts her personal adventure, drawing us in with her sinewy, chromatic writing. She tells the story of her native region from the perspective - usually forgotten - of its Afro-descendant inhabitants."" --Irene Vallejo, author of PAPYRUS

"It is rare to find such a wholly sincere way of expressing oneself, free from intellectual stumbling blocks and apparently effortless."" --Tomás González, author of DIFFICULT LIGHT

"Without a doubt, Velia is a woman who found a pathway in literature, a voice to counter the racism she sees as systematic" --El nuevo siglo

"Returning to the essential, returning to the roots; this is the theme that runs through the whole novel" --Pulzo

"Velia's poetics is constructed from the greys that lie between dualities: land-sea, leave-return, give-receive (...) Her writing is fresh, honest and direct." --El Tiempo

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Praise for Velia Vidal

About the Author

Velia Vidal (Bahía Solano, Colombia, 1982) is a writer who loves the sea and shared readings. In 2021 she was a fellow at Villa Josepha Ahrenshoop, in Germany. For her book Tidal Waters she won the Afro-Colombian Authors Publication Grant awarded by Colombia's Ministry of Culture. She is the co-author of Oír somos río (2019) and its bilingual German-Spanish edition. She is the founder and director of the Motete Educational and Cultural Corporation and the Chocó Reading and Writing Festival (FLECHO). Vidal graduated in Afro-Latin American Studies and has a Masters in Reading Education and Children's Literature. She is also a journalist and specialist in social management and communication. In 2022 she was chosen by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential women in the world.

Annie McDermott is the translator of a dozen books from Spanish and Portuguese, by such writers as Mario Levrero, Ariana Harwicz, Brenda Lozano, Fernanda Trías and Lídia Jorge. She was awarded the Premio Valle-Inclán for her translation of Wars of the Interior by Joseph Zárate, and her translation of Brickmakers by Selva Almada was shortlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. In 2024 her translation of Selva Almada's novel Not a River was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. She has previously lived in Mexico City and São Paulo, and is now based in Hastings in the UK.