Rodrigo Blanco Calderón

Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, winner of the O. Henry Award in a selection by Lauren Groff, confirms with this new volume his enormous talent for the precious art of the short story.

"Venecos” is a disparaging way of referring to Venezuelan emigrants, the protagonists of these magnificent stories set in different cities around the world, such as Los Angeles, Paris and Málaga, and also those who lack the means to leave Venezuela, a country in a state of moral and economic collapse.

These Venezuelans make up a select cast of tragicomic characters, the prisoners of personal feuds, small miseries and predictable misfortunes, such as the confidant of Hugo Chávez who falls into disgrace for having written an ode to paedophilia in his youth, the two friends who make bets in front of the television on which film will win the most Oscars, the criminal who admires the actor John Cazale, the girl who loses her virginity and fears her family’s retribution; the writer who meets up with a jury in a Paris café to deliberate on a literary award; and the cleaner who learns to read to surprise her husband

“After reading the stories by Rodrigo Blanco, one harbours the nostalgia for those faraway days in which one could read just by the pleasure of reading.”—El Nacional

“One of the great names in contemporary Venezuelan literature, a literature that now often gives its best outside its borders.”—La Vanguardia

“Rodrigo Blanco’s style is admirable.” —ABC Cultural