Tidal Waters by Velia Vidal

Tidal Waters by Velia Vidal

Columbian fiction

Original title – Aguas de estuario

Translator Annie McDermott

Source – subscription edition

For the last few years, I have been adding subscriptions as I get sent fewer books than I once did shame, as I only review books in translation. But my Charco subscription is one I wanted to do. They have brought out so many good books as I have 1500 reviews on the blog over the years I have been blogging I have seen the changes and how publishers like Charco have changed the horizons of what is read from Latin America, I had read a few writers from Columbia, but they were all male and none of them were writers of Colour. So when I saw this was one of the first books from an African American writer and a female writer, I knew it was one I had to read. I love her story. She had been a successful person, a TV presenter in Medina, when the chance came, and she took it to go back to her small home town, as she says, where the Pacific meets the Caribbean. Work against the local tide to get youngsters reading in the poorest communities. We all know the power of books.

What are you trying to do? Take up what little space in my heart wasn’t already yours?

Well, you’ve succeeded. You’ve filled my whole heart, you’ve won it all, by going out of your way to help us take Dayana to Medellín for her birthday. I’ve learned here that a lot of things that many people find quite ordinary, for others are a great gift. Ana wanted her daughter to take a plane for the first time, to see a city with her own eyes. You and various other friends made it possible.

The gift might seem to have been for other people, but deep down it was a great gift to me. Knowing I can count on you, knowing I can count on so many friends who have put themselves, their families and their resources at my disposal to help make this dream come true.

Did you know you’re all telling me you love me very much?

A sea of thanks.

Kisses and hugs,

Vel

One of her letter show her vibrant mood in some of the letters

The book is a novel form of letters from a fictional version of Velia writing to a friend about the time she left Medina and took the job Founding Motete her project in the Choco region, among the poorest of the five places she tries to shine a light with books and literature. Like her love of the ocean, her fluid letters see a woman battling but, as she does, has a huge sexual awakening by returning to her roots. As she pours her heart out in her letters, we never see the answers one imagines, As she deals with those whose life has always just been to work and not be touched by the culture, she struggles but carries on and finally grasps the minds of those kids she wants to bring literature to a melting pot of races and a place that has rural, sea rivers and hard-working folk but there is always the sea to wash her worries away.

Doing the accounts, paying the accountant, planning the projects, talking to other organisations, managing my time, not letting go of the chances to read or write. Sometimes I get scared. Then I remember that the best decision I’ve ever made was coming to Chocó and being able to see the children smile when we get off the bus with a bag full of books.

I remember the mothers who come over and hug me in the street, or the little hands that high-five me from a passing moped after someone aboard shouts,

‘See you, Seño Velia!’

How she touches those via her work in the project

I was touched by this epistolary work by a writer who shines a light on the struggles to bring the arts to those who often get missed. She was on a list of the 200 most powerful women on the BBC website and also took part in an essay collection in conjunction with the British Museum about artefacts from Latin America in their collection, I must try and get hold of this book at some point. This is a woman rediscovering her joy and herself both in her work and her personal life as she comes on fire in the letters it has a feel of hope and sorrow it covers a range of emotions and, like a lot of books, I have read from Charco, they have this habit of picking a small epic book that are more than the page count. Books that break barriers break new ground for the reader of their books. It is fair to say I like this book. This is one you just need to read. Have you read many female writers from Latin America and many writers of colour from Latin America?

Winston’s score – +A is one of the best epistolary books I have read.