In Translation: A Book Club
Presented by Think+DO Tank Foundation
Supported by Fairfield City Council and the Copyright Agency
About the Program
In Translation: A Book Club is a nine-month literary journey exploring how stories move between languages, cultures, and communities.
Each book in the series is read and discussed in two versions—the original language and its English translation—creating a space for bilingual and multilingual readers to come together through the art of translation.
Through this program, we celebrate translation as a creative act of mediation, inviting participants to think deeply about language, storytelling, and cultural exchange.
This initiative is proudly hosted by the Think+DO Tank Foundation, which builds power, generates connections, and expands possibilities through the arts with excluded and marginalised communities.
Join the First Chapter: Spanish Edition
Temporada de huracanes / Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
Translated by Sophie Hughes. Facilitated by Rosario Lázaro Igoa
Session 1: Saturday 15 November 2025, 3–5 pm
Think+DO Tank Foundation Community House, 2/40 Harris Street, Fairfield
Session 2: Saturday 6 December 2025, 3–5 pm
Pauline McLeod Room, Marrickville Library, 313–319 Marrickville Road
How to Join In Translation: A Book Club
To take part in our multilingual reading journey, simply:
Register using the online form below.
Select which book club sessions you’d like to join — Spanish, Arabic, or Indonesian - see registration for more information on dates.
Purchase your book through Lost in Books, our multilingual bookshop.
Have questions? Speak with our friendly team — we’re here to help!
Temporada de huracanes / Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, among other prizes, Temporada de huracanes/ Hurricane Season was inspired by a real event of the murder of a woman in rural Mexico. The Witch is dead. After a group of children discover her decomposing corpse, the village is rife with rumors and suspicions about the murder of this feared and respected woman, who had carried out the community’s ritual shamanic customs. In dazzling, visceral language, Melchor extracts humanity from otherwise irredeemably brutal characters, and spins a terrifying and heartrending tale of dark suspense in a Mexican village that seems damned.
Let's explore one of the most memorable novels in recent Latin American literature. We will discuss Melchor’s remarkable use of language and exploration of provocative themes, as well as some of the translation choices made by Hughes.
“‘Hurricane Season is, first and foremost, a horror story—its horror coming from rather than contrasting with the lyricism of Melchor’s prose. Instead of supplying a welcome breeze in the heat, the local river is where the children find the Witch’s body. Sophie Hughes’s translation renders the expansive, punishing spirit of Mexican slang impressively.’,”
credit: Maja Lindströem
About the Author
Fernanda Melchor was born in 1982 in Veracruz, Mexico. She is widely recognised as one of Mexico’s most exciting new voices. She won the Anna-Seghers-Preis and the International Literature Award for Hurricane Season, which was also longlisted for the National Book Award, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and was a New York Times Notable Book. Her most recent novel, Paradais, was published in 2022 and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize. This Is Not Miami is a collection of narrative non-fiction pieces. Melchor’s books are published in thirty-four territories. She lives in Mexico.
credit: Harry Zundel
About the translator
Born in Surrey, Sophie Hughes is a literary translator from Spanish and Italian. She is the translator of more than 20 novels by authors such as Fernanda Melchor, Alia Trabucco Zerán and Enrique Vila-Matas. Hughes has been shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, and the Valle Inclán Prize, and in 2021 she was awarded the Queen Sofía Translation Prize. Her translations have been longlisted or shortlisted for the International Booker Prize five times, most recently her translation of Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection (shortlisted in 2025). Sophie Hughes lives in Trieste.
credit Helen Guiliana
About the facilitator
Rosario Lazaro Igoa is a Uruguayan writer, literary translator, and researcher. She holds a PhD in Translation Studies (UFSC, Brazil) and has lectured in literary translation. From Portuguese and English into Spanish, Rosario has translated Mário de Andrade, Danielle McLaughlin, Gerald Murnane, Edmund De Waal, and Dalton Trevisan, among other authors. She has published the short story collections Peces mudos, and Cráteres artificiales, as well as the collection of essays Hasta el sol y todas las ciudades en el medio.
“‘A formidable and mighty novel, a masterpiece of Mexican literature.‘, ”
“‘Fernanda Melchor has a powerful voice, and by powerful I mean unsparing, devastating, the voice of someone who writes with rage, and has the skill to pull it off.’, ”