Liliana Heker on writing under a repressive regime

Series: Biblio File in Buenos Aires Liliana Heker was born in 1943 in Buenos Aires. Her writing career began at age 17 thanks to a letter she wrote Abelardo Castillo requesting a job at a magazine he edited. During Argentina's so called Dirty War in the seventies and eighties, she defiantly wrote and edited several well known left-wing literary journals, subtly protesting her country's violent, repressive regime, while defending the practice of literature. She also famously engaged in correspondence with Julio Cortázar , arguing that resistance to tyranny is better staged at home where the people can read your work and take faith from it, rather than from abroad. This from Biblioasis : "She is the author of two novels and numerous books of short stories and essays, in addition to being a founder of two important Argentine literary magazines. Her collected short stories were published in Spanish in 2004 and translated into Hebrew; her stories have been included in anthologies in many countries and languages. Her collection, The Stolen Party and Other Stories , is available in English. Her novel The End of the Story was not only a literary success, but a cultural event that provoked controversy and avid discussion of how best to remember the years of the Argentine dictatorship." I met Liliana at her home in Buenos Aires to talk about all of the above, and more. Her collection of short stories, Please Talk to Me , translated by Alberto Manguel and Miranda France, is available from Yale University Press