It is true that the loss of love, and love itself, one day disappears? What are the jaws of a wolf doing in the history of a man, a woman and a forest? A woman detective transformed into a writer returns after a prolonged absence and a serious failure, to accept a case that seduces her and might ultimately redeem her. She must find and bring back a woman who abandoned her husband and ran away with another man to the interior of Taiga – a Siberian landscape of grey sky and dense forest. The endless darkness and isolation of the forest absorb all consciousness. Where are the inhabitants hidden? Is there anything else besides the shelter? What can emerge from the passion and the blood? This story, based on a fairy tale and a thriller, reveals why no one is left undamaged by Taiga.

Cristina Rivera Garza is a native of the border (Matamoros, Tamaulipas, 1964), Cristina has lived and taught both in Mexico and the United States. She studied Urban Sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and received her Ph.D in Latin American History from the University of Houston in 1995. Author of trans-disciplinary works, written both in English and Spanish, she has received numerous awards, including the 2001 Iberoamerican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz-FIL and the 2005 Anna Seghers in Berlin. She has published extensively on the social construction of mental illness and the history of Mexican psychiatry at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of her works have been translated into English, Italian, Portuguese, German and Korean. Professor Rivera Garza writes La mano oblicua/The Oblique Hand, a weekly column for the cultural section of the Mexican newspaper Milenio. She also maintains No Hay Tal Lugar, her blog: www.cristinariveragarza.blogspot.com Her body of work has won the six most important literary awards in Mexico.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.

In Voices without Borders: Encounters with Contemporary Mexican Writers. series of talks Participants Cristina Rivera Garza Entidades Organizadoras Instituto Cervantes (Chicago) Collaborating Organisation Consulado General de México (Chicago) The Center for Latin American Studies- UC (Chicago) Revista Contratiempo (Chicago) Universidad Loyola (Chicago) / Loyola University (Chicago) National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago) UIC- School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics Universidad Depaul (Chicago) / Depaul University (Chicago) Hoy Newspaper (Chicago) Entidades Patrocinadoras Illinois Humanities Council (Chicago)

http://chicago.cervantes.es/FichasCultura/Ficha89363_47_2.htm