In February 2025, Mouthfeel Press published my English translation of Wonderland: Crónicas of Belonging in América, a book of crónicas, essays, and experimental texts by Ecuadorian American writer Melanie Márquez Adams. In this collection, Márquez Adams invites readers on a road trip with stops at the places throughout América that have shaped her identity and her writing, from the skyscrapers looming above the Río Guayas in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to the backyard of Dollywood in the smoky mountains of East Tennessee, from the dizzying cacophony of New York City to the undulating cornfields of Iowa as far as the eye can see. The author understands that, while some readers may expect harrowing border crossings and suffering at every turn, hers is a different type of immigrant story. With incisive social commentary and a dark sense of humor, she palpably conveys her struggles to find a sense of belonging between countries, languages, and cultures.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR’s immigration correspondent, said about the book: “In her new book Wonderland, author Melanie Márquez Adams treats the immigrant experience with the same wonder, delight, and fear as Lewis Carroll’s Alice did. Márquez Adams navigates her own versions of the Queen of Hearts and Cheshire cats, challenging these times of mass hysteria, in which immigration is depicted as a threat or a menagerie of suffering. Wonderland questions these types of narratives –– from the righteousness of allies to stereotypes of immigrants as one monolithic cultural block.”
The book is available for purchase directly from Mouthfeel Press, or you can support your local independent bookstore by buying it through Bookshop.org.
Bonus content:
Elle Charisse interviewed Melanie and me for her excellent podcast, Speaking Tongues. You can check out the episode here.
I gave a virtual presentation about my approach to translating Melanie’s writing at a symposium organized by the Observatory of the Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures in the United States at Harvard.
