Text by Jorge Argueta

Illustrations by Fernando Vilela

To be published by Groundwood in 2010

Hardback - 32 pages

Rice pudding is one of the most international and traditional desserts which exist. It is also a dish that is typically homemade and easy to make, whose preparation is within the reach of any child who can cook beneath the attentive supervision of an adult.

But above all, it is perhaps one of the dishes most characteristic of childhood, with its particular texture and its unmistakable aroma.

Arroz con leche (Rice pudding) is a cooking poem by the Salvadoran writer and poet Jorge Argueta, already an expert in this type of poetic exercise. With his magical words, it is nature itself which erupts in the kitchen, with its rivers, waterfalls, rainfalls, skies, clouds, rainbows, and stars… And to cook thereby becomes a true adventure…

Fernando Vilela chose a palette of happy though gentle colors for this book and an undulating line which gives his illustrations a sweetness very evocative of familial tenderness. Magic and reality are united in one of the artist’s most accomplished works.

There is no doubt that the aroma of cinnamon of this marvelous rice pudding, a true gift, will always remain in the memory of all those who share it.

To be issued in a bilingual edition

(Spanish-English languages)

Modified on June, 28, 2010

Fondo de Cultura Económica and the Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas are publishing Los espejos de Anaclara (The Mirrors of Anaclara), a poetry collection by the Uruguayan writer Mercedes Calvo, winner of the prestigious Premio Hispanoamericano de Poesía para Niños, 2008.

From the perspective of early childhood, this book narrates the imaginings of a little girl who looks in the mirror and imagines that her eyes are two doors through which she can enter to discover what is trapped within her: dreams, fears, pains, joys, and yearnings. It is a book which unfolds at the limit between reality and fantasy and the channels through which these two communicate…

The Brazilian artist Fernando Vilela has chosen to work in three colors to illustrate these poems, creating transitions, paradoxes, shiftings, reflections, and games between reality and fiction and thereby creating a book that is suggestive, deeply intelligent, and full of life.

Hardback – 52 pages  – 18,5 x 24,5

Hispano-american Children’s Poetry Award 2008

On the edge of the well / I leaned / and a word to the bottom / I let fall.

The mirror of the water / which shattered / stole my word, / took it away.

Down a dark path / my voice went / I remained thinking / had I lost it?

But the echo of the water / answered me: / poetry always / is made between two.

Review by Pedro Villar in Revista Educación y Biblioteca (Spanish)

Interview of Mercedes Calvo by Pedro Villar (poet and Member of the Prize Jury) (Spanish)

Review in El Universal (México) (Spanish)

Interview of Mercedes Calvo by Agencia Noticias 22 (Spanish)

Review in María García Esperón’s blog (Spanish)

Letter to Mercedes Calvo by Pedro Villar

Querida Mercedes:

A través de nuestra amiga María García Esperón, ser alado y generoso, vuela este mensaje desde España hacia ti. Quiero dejarte mi testimonio de gratitud, como gran poeta y maestra que eres, y a las personas que como tú tienen el oído y el corazón atento a la escritura y saben entregar la poesía para niños y otros seres sensibles como una ofrenda, como el mayor de los tesoros.El destino me trajo a México como jurado para encontrarme con los espejos de Anaclara, un descubrimiento de versos gigantes, de palabras sencillas y profundas, que llevan la luz de la poesía a flor de labio, al borde del corazón. Versos para recitar serenamente o para ser jugados y cantados ( Ya lo dijo Cortázar, toda poesía que se precie es juego), versos arrebatadores, profundamente hermosos, con una hondura que no suele ser habitual.Vino tu voz como un sueño de nubes y de pájaros, de olor a tierra mojada, de infancia y de tradición en su estado de pureza. Vino cantando por los caminos, en un espacio sin tiempo, para reflejarse en la mirada y el misterio de cada uno de nuestros espejos. Gracias. Este abrazo de palabras es para ti.

Pedro Villar, desde España y con México en el corazón.

Message from Mexican children to Spanish children

Video by  María García Esperón (by courtesy of Pedro Villar)

“Poetry is a transgression” Conference by Mercedes Calvo