Linea Nigra An by Jazmina Barrera

“Eminently worthy of acclaim.” —Vogue (The Best Books of 2022 So Far)

An intimate exploration of motherhood, Linea Nigra approaches the worries and joys of childbearing from a diverse range of inspirations and traditions, from Louise Bourgeois to Ursula K. Le Guin to the indigenous Nahua model Luz Jiménez. Part memoir and part manifesto, Barrera’s singular insights, delivered in candid prose, clarify motherhood while also cherishing the mysteries of the body.

Writing through her first pregnancy, birthing, breastfeeding, and young motherhood, Barrera embraces the subject fully, making lucid connections between maternity, earthquakes, lunar eclipses, and creative labor. Inspired by the author’s own mother’s painting practice, Linea Nigra concludes with an impassioned call: childbearing is art, and art is childbearing.

Jazmina Barrera was born in Mexico City in 1988. She was a fellow at the Foundation for Mexican Letters. Her book of essays Cuerpo extrano ( Foreign Body ) was awarded the Latin American Voices prize from Literal Publishing in 2013. In 2020, Two Lines Press published her On Lighthouses in a translation from Christina MacSweeney. She has also published work in various print and digital media, such as Nexos, Este Pais, Dossier, Vice, El Malpensante, Letras Libres and Tierra Adentro . She has a Master's Degree in Creative Writing in Spanish from New York University, which she completed with the support of a Fulbright grant. She was a grantee of the Young Creators program at FONCA. She is editor and co-founder of Ediciones Antilope. She lives in Mexico City. Christina MacSweeney received the 2016 Valle Inclan prize for her translation of Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth, and Among Strange Victims by Daniel Saldana Paris was a finalist in the 2017 Best Translated Book Award. Among the other authors she has translated are: Elvira Navarro ( A Working Woman, Rabbit Island ), Veronica Gerber Bicecci ( Empty Set, Palabras migrantes/Migrant Words ), and Julian Herbert ( Tomb Song, The House of the Pain of Others ).