Buenos Aires Book Fair

I was invited by the U.S. Embassy to lead two chats at the Buenos Aires Book Fair about two books that I have worked on in recent years.

The first chat, which we called "Mixing Cocktails & Languages" was led by myself and Rodolfo Reich, author of "Cocteleria Argentina" - an awesome and informative book about the cocktail culture in Argentina. I did the English-language translation of the book, entitled "Mixology in Argentina."

The chat focused on the difficulty of translating Argentine expressions, as well as the names of liquors and ingredients used in popular local cocktails, from Spanish to English. I am not a translator, and had never done anything like this before, which is why we refer to the book as an "interpretation" not a "translation." I suppose I did something right because "Mixology" was recently nominated for a prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the "Best Translation" category.

You can read two reviews of the book here and here.

The second chat was about my experiences as a travel writer, specifically my work on the Fodor's Travel Guides to Argentina and Buenos Aires. I just completed Fodor's Buenos Aires 2nd edition, where I once again wrote the Hotels and Restaurant chapters, to be published in 2010. I still don't understand why it takes so long to publish a book. If a newspaper can be printed in one day, and a magazine in a week, why does a book need an entire year? It's endlessly frustrating because I know some of the places that I review will be completely different (or worse, closed) by the time the book is published. But I digress. The chats at the book fair went very well. Thanks to all who attended. Photos below by the talented Felix Busso.




















Photos by Felix Busso.