Martha Bátiz Writers in Residence Archives
Martha Bátiz is an award-winning writer, translator, and professor of Spanish language in literature. She is the author of four books, including the story collection Plaza Requiem, winner of an International Latino Book Award, and the novella The Wolf’s Mouth, winner of the Casa de Teatro Prize. Her most recent publication is the story collection No Stars in the Sky (House of Anansi). Born and raised in Mexico City, she lives in Toronto.
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September 29, 2022On Listening to Music and Writing a Novel
Do you listen to music as you write? I often do, particularly when writing a short story, but it has been several months since I typed the night away with a melody playing in the background. At this moment, ...
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September 27, 2022The Joy of Literary Festivals – And Dreams Coming True
It’s hard to believe we’ve come to the end of September and that the time I have been privileged to spend with you on this Open Book platform is almost over. Looking back at what I have shared with ...
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September 22, 2022A Thousand More Lives: On Reading
I recently stumbled across an article written by Umberto Eco in Rome in 1991, translated into Spanish by Jorge Cruz and published in the Argentinean newspaper La Nación, explaining why he believed that ...
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September 18, 2022Plant a tree, have a child, write a book? Not so fast!
“Plant a tree, have a child, write a book.” Whether it was Cuban poet and freedom fighter José Martí or some other worthy who first uttered this maxim is irrelevant. What matters is its message: ...
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September 15, 2022On Translation
My favourite assignment during my time as an undergraduate student at the English Literature Department in Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM), was the translation of a short story of my ...
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September 11, 2022I believe in... workshops
A escribir se aprende escribiendo, we say in Spanish: It is only by writing that one learns how to write. Lots of writing and reading are an absolute must, but acquiring writing techniques is equally ...
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September 08, 2022On Federico García Lorca's "Duende"
What immediate need of yours has to be satisfied before you can hit the keyboard? If I had to have a clean house before I sat down to write, I would never have written anything after I got married and ...
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September 04, 2022On Writing as Rehearsal
Growing up surrounded by music was a unique privilege whose ramifications, as a child, I was incapable of comprehending. I developed an impeccable musical ear, of course, but more than that, I bore witness ...
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September 01, 2022On Shooting Stars and Poetry as Fuel
To live at all is to grieve;but, once, to have it all at onceis to see a shooting star: shooting starshooting star.Arthur Sze (From Shooting Star) I read a poem every morning. Not because I have a pile ...