Romancero Books and Charco Press are proud to invite you to:

A conversation with Cristina Bendek about her book Salt Crystals 

Join Colombian writer Cristina Bendek and Romancero Books director Jorge Garriz to celebrate the book launch of Salt Crystals, winner of Elisa Mújica Prize for Novels (Colombia, 2018)

link.outsavvy.com/salt-crystals

Talk in English 

Copies of the book Salt Crystals  will be available for purchasing at the end of the event

Salt Crystals 

WINNER OF ELISA MÚJICA PRIZE FOR NOVELS (Colombia, 2018)

San Andrés rises gently from the Caribbean, part of Colombia but closer to Nicaragua, the largest island in an archipelago claimed by the Spanish, colonized by the Puritans, worked by slaves, and home to Arab traders, migrants from the mainland, and the descendents of everyone who came before. For Victoria – whose origins on the island go back generations, but whose identity is contested by her accent, her skin color, her years far away – the sun-burned tourists and sewage blooms, sudden storms, and 'thinking rundowns' where liberation is plotted and dinner served from a giant communal pot, bring her into vivid, intimate contact with the island she thought she knew, her own history, and the possibility for a real future for herself and San Andrés.

Cristina Bendek 

Is a Caribbean author. She was born on the island of San Andrés (Colombia) in October 1987. In 2018 her first novel, Salt Crystals, won the Elisa Mújica National Novel Prize (Colombia). The novel has been translated into Portuguese (Moinhos, 2021), and Danish Dutch (Aurora Boreal, 2020), and now appears in English translation for the first time with Charco Press, which will also launch the novel in Spanish for the North American readership. Some of her work has also been translated into German. Cristina is also a journalist but spends her time researching Caribbean literature and writing fiction. She lives in Berlin.

Charco Press

Charco means 'puddle' in Spanish. It is also a colloquialism used in some Latin American countries to refer to the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, cruzar el charco means 'crossing the puddle' and is a way of referring to when someone is going overseas, or travelling between continents.

Charco Press focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world. They aim to act as a cultural and linguistic bridge for you to be able to access a brand new world of fiction that has, until now, been missing from your reading list.

Romancero Books

Romancero Books is an online bookstore based in London.

We sell literature from Spain and Latin America. Our aim is to bring you the latest fiction, poetry, essays and graphic novels, with a special focus on literature written by women.

Working with selected large and small publishers from Spain and Latin America, we bring together a remarkable collection of books, including short stories and pocket books. Our catalogue covers themes such as Lorca, female writers from Generación del 27, writers in exile and diaspora, and new LGBTQ+ voices.