Argentina’s economy collapsed in December 2001, becoming one of the worst national crises in history, a prelude perhaps of what would occur not many years later in the rest of the world. The crisis affected everyone, the rich, the poor, the young, the old, the tired, the hopeful, some more directly than others. How did its sufferers cope with it; how did they manage to reinvent their lives in spite of their dire circumstances?

In the ten stories that make up Argentinos: stories, the characters speak for themselves through their intimacy, their relationships and their unique challenges and experiences. None of the protagonists are famous or extraordinary; they are just people: lovers, strangers and couples who aside from their particular conflicts and notions share a need to survive and prevail in the impulsive and erratic Argentina of the new millennium. Though the stories are not always centered on the crisis, it is always looming in the background, cornering the characters into a reality they cannot ignore.

A dazed adulteress, an accordion missing keys, an encounter between strangers that may (or may not) have taken place, a fallen man rummaging through garbage, a young woman starting a new life in Spain, another one contemplating ending hers in Buenos Aires and a border dispute between beggars are a few of the subjects of Argentinos: stories.

About Mariana Dietl

Mariana Dietl is an Argentine-American writer with a major in International Relations from St. Andrew's University in Argentina. She worked for Clarin, the leading newspaper in that country, and for the Argentine Consulate in Los Angeles, as Chief Communications Officer. She studied fiction writing at UCLA Extension and at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. Her novel, Confined (The Litchfield Review Press, 2009), was awarded the Litchfield Review's Fiction Prize. Argentina: Se Me Hace Cuento, her first story collection, received third prize in UC Irvine's 2004 Chicano/Latino Literary Award and was published by Ahadada Books (ARGENTINOS: STORIES, Ahadada Books, 2010), and individual stories were finalists in contests from the United States and abroad. Her work can be found in hotmetalpress.net, Literary Chaos, Tertulia, Luces & Sombras, The Externalist, Revista Baquiana, Rattle, The Litchfield Review, Tonopah Review, and in Palabra.