About

Step into history, love, and stories of resilience with authors Christine Estima and Martha Bátiz. Estima’s debut novel Letters to Kafka brings to life translator and resistance fighter Milena Jesenská, whose intense correspondence and fleeting romance with Franz Kafka reveal the struggles of a woman torn between love, marriage, and intellectual freedom in post-war Europe. Bátiz’s A Daughter’s Place traces the hidden story of Isabel, the illegitimate child of the celebrated author of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes. Together, their works illuminate untold histories where women’s voices rise with passion and defiance.

Moderated by Catia Dignard

A Daughter’s Place

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Letters to Kafka

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Martha Bátiz

Martha Bátiz is an award-winning writer, translator, and professor of creative writing and Spanish language and literature. She is the author of five books, including the story collections No Stars in the Sky and Plaza Requiem (winner of an International Latino Book Award), as well as the novella Boca de lobo/Damiana's Reprieve (winner of the Casa de Teatro Prize).

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Christine Estima

Christine Estima is an Arab woman of mixed ethnicity (Lebanese, Syrian, and Portuguese) and the author of the short story collection The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society, which the CBC called one of the Best Fiction Books of 2023. She has written for The New York Times, The Walrus, VICE, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maisonneuve, the Toronto Star, and the CBC.

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Photo credit: Panther Sohi