Piñen - by Daniela Catrileo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A fierce, tender collection of stories about the lives, traumas, and dreams of Mapuche youth in modern-day Chile.

The word "piñen" comes from Mapudungun and refers to the dust or the dirt that sticks to the body.

In the all-too-real streets of Santiago de Chile, Daniela Catrileo gives us a portrait of a generation in search of itself. In "Warriache," two childhood friends whose lives have been marked by their part Mapuche identity and the memories that bind them circle each other at a party. Their dance of delays and inevitable meeting expands into a tale across epochs--one that gives life to the hidden and suppressed experiences of those who live on the margins of other stories. In "Pornomisery," a young girl considers the sexual violence that seems to lurk behind every closed door in her cloistered community and darken every possible route of exit.

Piñen is suffused with the humanity of its vivid, complex characters, bringing a side of modern Chile to vibrant life. It also marks the confident next step in the career of a writer poised to become one of the boldest and most uncompromising chroniclers of modern life in Latin American literature.

Review Quotes

"Striking . . . Throughout, Catrileo paints her characters with a fine brush, showing how they each attempt to thrive amidst their gritty daily lives. It's a powerful testament to resilience. " --Publishers Weekly

"Though these are stories of individual comings of age--full of the specifics of bands and books and teenage spats and heartbreaks--they take place within a wider Mapuche culture . . . The river disrupts the capitalist, rationalist grid of the city as it insists upon itself and its flow. But it is also changed by its passage through the urban sprawl. This is the push and pull that Catrileo deftly lays out for her characters." --Alejandra Oliva, America's Quarterly

About the Author

Daniela Catrileo is a writer, an artist, an activist, and a professor of philosophy. She is a member of the Colectivo Mapuche Rangiñtulewfü and part of the editorial team for Yene, a digital magazine featuring art, writing, and critical thought from across Wallmapu and the Mapuche diaspora. She has published two collections of poetry: Río herido and Guerra florida; two chapbooks: El territorio del viaje and Las aguas dejaron de unirse a otras aguas; and a book of short stories: Piñen.

Jacob Edelstein is a translator from the South Bay of Los Angeles, California. He earned an MFA in literary translation from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and holds a certificate from the Taos Institute. His translation of Patrimonio by Santiago Arau was published in 2024, and his translations of Monserrat Sepúlveda's ¡Hasta mi mama! and Daniela Catrileo's Chilco were published in 2025.