Marayrasu: Stories

The first English-language collection of short stories by award-winning Peruvian author Edgardo Rivera Martínez

The stories in Marayrasu stage fantastical, mysterious encounters that belie the characters' often harsh economic and political realities as they seek belonging in modern Peru through art, music, and relationships. Depicted in poetic prose, these characters are loners, orphans, and outcasts experiencing quiet, tender encounters with other people and animals, the creative arts, and the land they find themselves depending on. Living vibrantly within these stories, the leviathan of Inca lore considers its own form, a young boy moves to a mining town and gets involved with a local union leader's fight for worker rights while feeling the powerful pull of a large mountain overlooking the town, and a Persian cat captures the attention of a family down on its luck. Amy Olen's translation smoothly captures Rivera Martínez's impressive stories, offering a unique lens into the region at the heart of this canonical author's inimitable work.

Author: Edgardo Rivera Martínez
Publisher: Curbstone Press
Published: 12/15/2025
Pages: 105
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 8.91h x 5.99w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9780810149434


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 12/01/2025

About the Author

EDGARDO RIVERA MARTÍNEZ (1933-2018) was a prolific Peruvian writer, critic, and translator who published novels, short stories, essays, travel chronicles, anthologies, poetry, and literary and cultural studies. His celebrated novel País de Jauja (Jauja Country, 1993) was a finalist for the Rómulo Gallegos Literary Prize.

AMY OLEN is an associate professor in the Translation and Interpreting Studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.