Birds in the Mouth (Electric Literature's Recommended Reading Book 3)

Founding editor of PEN America M Mark says Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin is "exploring the boundary between strange familiar, uncanny and mundane, discovering eerie vistas along the way."

From the story, "Birds in the Mouth":
When I was a kid, I saw a bearded woman at the circus put mice in her mouth. She held them there awhile, with the tails moving between her closed lips, while she walked before the audience smiling and rolling her eyes back in her head, as if it gave her great pleasure. Now, unable to sleep, I thought about that woman almost every night and considered putting Sara in a mental hospital.

About Recommended Reading:
Great authors inspire us. But what about the stories that inspire them? Recommended Reading, the latest project from Electric Literature, publishes one story every week, each chosen by a great author or editor. In this age of distraction, we uncover writing that's worth slowing down and spending some time with. And in doing so, we help give great writers, literary magazines, and independent presses the recognition (and readership) they deserve.

About the author:
Samanta Schweblin was born in Buenos Aires in 1978, and studied cinematography at the University of Buenos Aires. Her first collection of short stories, El Núcleo del Disturbio (2002), was awarded the Fondo Nacional de las Artes and the Concurso Nacional Haroldo Conti. In 2008, she received an Artist in Residence scholarship in Oaxaca, Mexico. Schweblin's second collection of short stories, Pájaros en la Boca (2009), was translated into more than a dozen languages. Her story "La Furia de las Pestes" received the Premio Literario Casa de las Américas. Translations of Schweblin's short stories have been published in numerous anthologies, magazines, and dailies. In 2010, Granta named her one of the best young Spanish-speaking writers. Schweblin is currently a fellow of the DAAD Artists' Program and lives in Berlin.

Translator's Bio:
Joel Streicker's translations of Latin American authors have appeared in a number of publications, including The Bitter Oleander, Words Without Borders, and Gargolye. He received a 2011 PEN American Center Translation Grant to translate Samanta Schweblin's collection of short stories, Birds in the Mouth. Streicker also writes book reviews and essays for both the popular and unpopular press. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Stanford University.

About This Week’s Guest Editor:
PEN American Center is the U.S. branch of the world's oldest international literary and human-rights organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 in response to the ethnic and national divisions that contributed to the First World War. Today, PEN American Center has 3,400 Professional Members—distinguished writers, translators, and editors—as well as Associate Membersfrom all parts of the literary community—booksellers, librarians, students, passionate readers—who share PEN's goals. The direct involvement of this broad base of committed individuals allows PEN to advocate effectively for writers and readers at home and abroad. In September PEN will launch a redesigned website; the award-winning literary journal PEN America, founded in 2000, contributes to the organization's online presence and publishes anthologies that document and contextualize PEN's work.