November 3, 2025: Author Marta Sanz and translator Katie King take us on a satirical detective adventure in their poetic memoir, “My Clavicle: And Other Massive Misalignments”
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In "My Clavicle" we invite you to explore a masterpiece of autofiction from one of Spain’s most celebrated contemporary voices
In the aftermath of Marta Sanz's discovery, we realize that something fundamental has changed for her, and that whatever has happened, however elusive, it is something very real. Read all about it!
Monday Morning Magic from Inkandescent® PR + Publishing Co. — On an international flight to a conference, the author Marta Sanz noticed a tiny bump beneath her skin, just below her clavicle, near her breastbone. So begins an inquiry that is at turns a satirical detective story, a philosophical inquiry, a memoir, and pure poetry in her new memoire, My Clavicle: And Other Massive Misalignments.
“In Spanish, the title is Clavícula, which refers to the collarbone, but also makes a direct pun on the word clavé or key,” explains the book’s translator Katie King, based in Alexandria, VA. “In the aftermath of Marta’s discovery, readers realize that something fundamental has changed for her, and that whatever has happened, however elusive, it is something very real. At the same time, the mystery is reflected in everything the author encounters, but especially in the bodies of women, and particularly in those of a certain age.”
What critics are saying: My Clavicle is a masterpiece of autofiction from one of Spain’s most celebrated contemporary voices–the narration of the episodes fracturing like the author’s body into a deeply moving series of vignettes that never lose their tension: imperfect, obsessive, and often hilarious.
Katie King adds: “The difficulty of giving a name to Marta’s pain, of even locating a precise place for it, provokes a number of reflections: about the edge that separates the body from scientific definitions and imagination; about the function of poetry; about our intolerance for psychological gray areas; about anxiety as a pathology of late stage capitalism; and, in the face of constantly dispiriting headlines, the perversion of a public health system. Ultimately, Marta’s attempts to define something impossible are channeled through her strange and roving pain, manifesting in curiosity, humor, and love.”
Marta is the 2025 Cheuse Center Writer-in-Residence in Washington, DC
About Marta Sanz Pastor: Born in 1967 in Madrid, Marta is a Spanish writer whose work includes the novels Susana y los viejos (nominated for the Premio Nadal), Daniela Astor y la caja negra (winner of the Premio Juan Tigre and the Premio Calamo), Los mejores tiempos (winner of the Premio Ojo Crítico de Narrativa). and most recently Farandula,which won the 2015 Premio Herralde. She is also a noted poet, including the award-winning collection, Vintage.
About translator Katie King: A journalist, scholar, and literary translator whose poetry and prose translations from the Spanish have appeared in print and online, Katie holds a PhD in Hispanic Studies and is a Harvard Nieman Fellow. She has lived and worked as a foreign correspondent in Spain and Latin America. Her research focuses on the evolution of translation and translation studies in the digital age, and on the literature of Spain in translation to English. Read her essays here.
Translator Magdalena Navarro
About the literary event’s translator Magdalena Navarro: Originally from Barcelona, Magdalena is a Spanish & Catalan to English conference interpreter currently based in Washington D.C. She obtained her MA in Conference Interpretation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and holds BAs in Journalism and East Asian Studies. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Until next Monday: May you have the compassion and power for yourself to explore your massive misalignments, and, as it did for Marta, may they manifest in curiosity, humor, and love. — Hope Katz Gibbs, founder and president, Inkandescent® Inc. Inkandescent.us
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