Eduardo Halfon

Eduardo Halfon (Guatemala) was born in 1971 in Guatemala City. He has published eighteen books, and his work has been translated into more than fifteen languages. In 2018, he received the National Prize for Literature of Guatemala, the highest literary honor in his home country. He currently lives in Berlin.
At the Crossing Border Festival, he will speak about his new book, Tarantula.

About Tarantula
In late 1984, two young Guatemalan brothers, exiled to the United States, return to Guatemala to attend a youth camp for Jewish children in a forest on the high plains. Their parents have sent them there so they won’t forget their roots—they know little of their homeland and barely speak Spanish anymore. But one morning, the camp reveals itself to be a far more sinister place than the children had imagined—each of them will have to find their own way to survive.

The reasons and consequences of this childhood episode only become clear years later, through chance encounters: one with a Salinger reader turned lawyer in Paris, and another in Berlin with a former head instructor from the camp—a man who once carried a snake in his pocket and a giant tarantula on his arm.

By weaving together past and present, reality and fiction, Eduardo Halfon creates a story rich in symbolism, touching on the foundations of his identity: the strict and rigorous framework of Jewish religion and the maternal embrace of Guatemala.