Addition to the literary canon…
ESSENTIAL VOICES NEWSLETTER SPECIAL EDITION
FLOWERSONG PRESS
The Putinoika Phenomenon
New Addition to the Literary Cannon
Too Soon for the Canon? NEVER!
The Putinoika Phenomenon
Putinoika is not just a book; it is a tectonic shift in the contemporary literary landscape. Giannina Braschi’s multi-genre epic published in 2024 is already slated for inclusion in The Literary Encyclopedia this year, signaling its rapid integration into the canon and cementing Putinoika’sstatus as a gravitational publishing event that is rewriting the rules in real-time.
[Read more about Putinoika, a new addition to the literary canon, by clicking to World Literature Today.]
From Tennis Court to Literary Canon: A Trajectory of Radical Invention
From her early days as a tennis champion and fashion model in San Juan to being mentored by the titans of Spanish poetry in Madrid, Braschi has always defied convention. Jorge Luis Borges famously told the young poet upon hearing her recite her first poem: “You’ve got something original there. You have it.” That early validation was a prelude to a career defined by radical invention; what Borges identified as a singular spark more than fifty years ago has evolved into a seismic creative output. Today, as Elidio La Torre Lagares writes in his new book Hyperglossia and the Novel, “Giannina Braschi is a literary genre in herself.”
“Giannina Braschi is a literary genre in herself.”
Elidio La Torre Lagares, Hyperglossia and the Novel,
The Scholar-Brigade
The momentum behind Putinoika—ignited by the renowned Mexican novelist Carmen Boullosa and the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Forrest Gander—has drawn significant attention from an ever-expanding roster of scholars who celebrate Braschi’s masterwork as a defining epic of the Putin and Trump era, including:
· Frederick Luis Aldama
· Anne Ashbaugh
· Priscilla Gac-Artigas
· Manuel Broncano
· María Mercedes Carrión
· Cristina Garrigós
· Patricia López Gay
· Carmen Dolores Hernández
· Carmen Haydée Rivera
· Inmaculada Lara-Bonilla
· Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé
· Ronald Mendoza-de Jesús
· Nuria Morgado
· Carlos Labbé
· Elidio La Torre Lagares
· Mónica Ramón Ríos
· Marcelo Rioseco
· Miguel-Angel Zapata
The Verdict is In
…on why Giannina Braschi became the newest addition to the literary canon…
The critical consensus across American Book Review, World Literature Today, and Latin American Literature Today is clear: Putinoika is essential reading. Its reach is already becoming truly global, with an Italian edition now available through Feltrinelli—and a Spanish translation in route—further proof that Braschi’s incisive, radical inquiry into the modern era resonates far beyond our borders.
We are proud to consider Giannina Braschi a Flowersong Press “Hall-of-Famer” alongside MacArthur award winner Juan Felipe Herrera and Fuller Award winner Luis Alberto Urrea. Together, they are not just expanding the literary canon; they are reinvigorating it with the irrepressible Latinx spirit of ingenuity and a profound love for community.
