Unidos por la literatura: NCTA Spanish Book Club

By Ana Lis Salotti

The idea for a book club came to me in 2017 back when I was living in New York City. I was talking to a friend and colleague, Deborah Bentolila Hahn, and we were both aching to read more and have a group of people to talk about books. Since she already had experience hosting a book club years prior at her home in New Jersey, that was the last push I needed to embark on my own project. We established a bilingual book club called “Entre dos mundos” (Between Two Worlds), where we read contemporary books originally published in Spanish that had been translated into English. Back then, our participants would read either the original in Spanish or its English translation. In our meetings, we had the most interesting conversations about translation shifts between the original book in Spanish and its English version, language itself, the plot and characters, writing style, messaging, the challenges we see had we been the translators, and more. I’m happy to report that “Entre dos mundos” still meets every month or so in New York City.

When I moved to California in 2018, I was determined to keep my book club dream alive. I started my own book club, supported by the Northern California Translators Association and, since then, we have met every four to six weeks to discuss contemporary Spanish-language literature.

To arrive at the books that our group ultimately reads, I first gather a list of 10 to 12 books and put them to a vote by the participants. Any member can suggest a book to add to this list. The three that receive the largest number of votes are what we read and discuss over the next three months.

The only conditions are that the books need to be written originally in Spanish (an English translation is no longer a requirement) and published within the last 10 to 15 years. They also need to be easily available in the United States. I strive to bring a book selection that spans the whole breadth of the Spanish-speaking world, from all corners of the Americas and Spain, and dealing with all sorts of themes.

We have read literature from every type of author– from young adult writers to well-known, globally recognized authors. We have read books from Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Spain, Cuba and Ecuador. Our meetings are now held over Zoom, although we have met in person a few times in San Francisco and Berkeley, California. For two hours, we talk about literature and the power of language.

In our meetings, we usually delve into the different aspects of the selected book, including its formal aspects like its narrator, the various points of view, its setting, historical context and themes, and more subjective areas, such as the plot, the emotions, the characters. We always end up talking about our own personal perceptions, tastes, and experiences with the book in particular and literature in general.

We have had exciting book club meetings throughout the years. We had the pleasure of hosting the translator of one of our reads, Dick Cluster, who translated the novel Poso Wells by Ecuadorian writer Gabriela Alemán. On another occasion, Puerto Rican author Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón joined our meeting to discuss his novel Los días hábiles.

The current ATA Spanish Division’s administrator, Gabriela Escarrá, invited me to join forces and bring our California book club to the national league! We decided to do a trial run: NCTA and the ATA SPD would co-host a book club meeting on April 26th to commemorate Spanish Language Day. Just ten days after announcing our merged book club, the event was fully booked! We were going to talk about Catedrales by Claudia Piñeiro with a full house of 50 participants.

Two weeks before the meeting, I had the idea to send a private message to Claudia Piñeiro over Instagram. I told her about our book club and invited her to participate. Three days later, she replied and accepted my invitation!

On April 26^th, 2025, we had an awesome first meeting with NCTA and ATA SPD’s members as well as Claudia Piñeiro. We recorded her interview, and were beyond excited to learn from her and share our own thoughts.

Since then, this new NCTA/ATA SPD book club fusion has met every month and will continue to do so in the months ahead.

And so, little by little, magic happens, without any of us ever noticing it, like the simple act of opening a book.

A reading group that started out as an excuse to read more has grown into an indispensable meeting and (re)discovery space for our Spanish language, our roots, our culture. Within this space, we connect with peers that eventually become friends; we’re moved by the stories we read and share; we relate or respond to the characters’ experiences; we learn together to appreciate books more deeply; we reminisce about our childhoods and families when we read something that resonates with our own histories; we laugh with friends; we spend a pleasant moment together. Reading and sharing it with others reminds us how important it is to make connections, engage in meaningful dialogue, build bridges over differences, and to share in our united love for words. For those of us who translate or interpret every day, what else can we ask for?

I hope you join us so we can share in the beauty of reading, language and human connection together.

Ana Lis Salotti is NCTA’s Ethics Chair and Membership Director.