Chiquitita

by Pedro Carmona-Alvarez

Translated by Sean Kinsella

Akoya Publishing

Paperback, 2026

192 pages

Marisol's country is collapsing. A military coup sends the five-year-old and her family fleeing into the night. They seek shelter in a refugee camp where her parents try to protect her from danger while they await asylum abroad.

Marisol spends her adult life trying to forget her childhood, the aunts and uncles she left behind and the friends whose names she no longer recalls. But when her partner starts to ask about her past, she finds herself confronting the memories that haunt her.

*Chiquitita* is a tender novel about flight and exile, the passing of time and the experiences that remain with us, refusing erasure.

‘Carmona-Alvarez masterfully depicts a story about escape, longing, and fear – seen through a child’s eyes and later re-experienced from an adult’s perspective. . . It’s impossible to come away from Chiquitita without being deeply moved by the literary experience it offers.’ 6/6 Dagbladet

‘Through his meticulous and inventive use of language, Carmona-Alvarez has crafted a profoundly thought-provoking piece of literary art, deepening the reader’s comprehension of the enduring impact of displacement on the human psyche.’ Dagens Næringsliv

‘This is a poem, not only a novel, a song about fear and fate, loss and longing, with a language so sharp and clear, existential and tender, that you can smell the sea where it all begins’ Luchterland, Regina Kammerer