Young Adult Literature in Bolivia

A few years ago in Bolivia, there only existed books for children and books for adults. It was not possible to think of any books for young adults. It was almost a barren territory. At that time I wrote an article about Bolivian children’s literature written in Bolivia: “Country Survey: Bolivia,” which was published by Bookbird. It may be said that Bolivian books, which could be read by young adults were not written for them; they didn’t relate to their problems and interests.

The current scenario is different. A significant group of writers has begun to direct their writings to young adults and their production is not only more abundant than literature for younger children, but also the issues they address are more meaningful for the life of young adults, they are new and questioning, and include topics such as military dictatorships, migration, gangs, bullying.

I will briefly go over some of them: La sonrisa cortada [The cut Smile] by Giggia Talarico, a tale told by a teenage girl interspersed with the journal or memory book of another adolescent. They both feel uncomfortable in the world of adults: the perpetual state of family conflict, the perspective of the adult world as ugly, insipid, dark, full of enigmas and bizarre secrets, the fear of becoming an adult like them ends when the truth hidden for years emerges. Because of telling the truth, “volvió la respiración y la esperanza” [breathing and hope returned], said one of them. There are some very sad pages, linked to politics during times of dictatorship. In the end, the spiritual growth of both young people takes place. The language throughout the whole novel is completely youthful and informal.

Another book, El abrigo de Matilde y otros cuentos en tiempo de dictadura [Matilde’s Coat and Other Stories from Times of Dictatorship] by Carlos Azurduy, is also linked to the times of military dictatorship in Bolivia. These are tales where the main characters are all children, either victims of the repression, vanishings, exile, or death. With the key idea of “as long as stories are told and heard, memories will live on,” the author wants to show the suffering of children during dictatorships to young adults of today. Sometimes, important historical details are included. The stories are all very well written and most of them have a shocking ending.

Absent parents, the poverty in Bolivia, which originates a constant migration, and the abandonment of children inspired Carlos Vera to write the novel for young adults El vuelo del murcielago Barba de Pétalo [The Flight of the Petal Beard Bat]. What’s original about this tale is that the child characters, who were at first made miserable by their family situation, meet a young researcher studying the life of bats; this allows them to relate their situation of victims of migration with the situation of the bat which is forced to migrate because of the climatic changes. At times, the author engages in word games; at other times, he stops to analyze the serious emotional situation lived by young adults.

Tatuaje Mayor [The Greatest Tattoo], one of my young adult novels, centers on the generation gap between a young fifteen year old girl and her grandmother. The young girl finds her grandmother’s journal on the day of her death and the dialogue begins, a dialogue which opposes ways of life, situations, decisions, all of them related to the main topics: love, loneliness, death. The connection of the main characters to gangs, tattoos, graffiti and drugs, makes the reading appealing for young adults.

Roger Otero writes a cinematographic novel, Bullying, about harassment in schools, attaining an excellent narrative tension in each chapter. Four violent teenagers use the Internet to show films about harassment in a prestigious school, installing fear among students, teachers and especially in the principal. To counter this situation, a young girl faces the band, smartly organizes the exposure of the bullying, and heals the secret wounds left by the rape and murder of her mother. This novel, despite all her suffering, includes the topic of love.

Fernando Canedo offers horror...