SEM Literary Agency
Gustavo Nielsen
argentina
(Buenos Aires, 1962) is a unique figure in Argentine literature—an author whose work draws upon his dual background as a writer and an award-winning architect. His narrative fiction, published by prestigious imprints such as Alfaguara, Planeta, and Páginas de Espuma, frequently explores urban spaces, the monstrous, and the grotesque. With a substantial body of work spanning novels, short stories, and essays, he has crafted a singular literary universe, recognized with honors such as the Antorchas Prize for his novel *Auschwitz*. The caliber of his literary project has been validated by some of the country’s most significant accolades, most notably the Clarín Novel Prize. Beyond the awards themselves, the prestige of his work is reflected in the caliber of those who have bestowed these honors upon him: he has been recognized by juries composed of some of the most prominent figures in Hispanic literature, earning the endorsement of masters such as César Aira, Ana María Shua, and Rosa Montero.
BIO
WORK
Auschwitz
Blending realism, crime fiction, and science fiction, *Auschwitz* is a novel that perfectly combines horror with the mundane, cruelty with humor. Berto, the protagonist, transforms a version of Buenos Aires—instantly recognizable through its distinct patterns of speech—into a living hell. Individual and collective hatred, ugliness, filth, and refuse are the raw materials of this story.
Engrossed in the dubious pleasures of torturing a child—who might just be an extraterrestrial—a young, neo-Nazi accountant finds himself at a loss for ideas. How should he proceed? Suddenly, a lightbulb goes on: *Nunca más* (“Never Again”)—of course! The notion of using the very book that laid the foundation for human rights policy in Argentina’s restored democracy as a manual for torture techniques is just one of the many perversions explored in this unsettling, “cursed” novel—in the best sense of the word. It serves as a reminder that it is the prerogative of literature to give space to the atrocious, the inhumane, every conceivable deviation, and that which remains unspeakable in any other form of expression.
Antonio and Marta meet up with a married couple—friends of theirs—to look at slides from a trip taken by people they don’t know. But living through the lives of others does nothing to soothe the discontent they feel in their own. Antonio senses that he no longer loves his wife and that he is “out of place” almost everywhere; his only true passion is photography. Disturbed, he wanders the city with his camera in tow. A young woman catches his eye, and he begins to photograph her obsessively. She becomes an obsession—and the catalyst for a journey in which a beach house, a horror novelist, and the eternal enigma of death all play a pivotal role.
Entertaining, tender, and full of suspense, clever nods, and charming, lighthearted moments, *La otra playa* is a novel with a perfectly crafted plot—one in which a sudden attraction becomes the key to unraveling the traps of memory and finding reconciliation with family relationships and love.
La otra playa (The other beach)
