UC Davis tied for No. 9 among the nation’s top public universities and earned accolades for innovation, social mobility and more in the 2026 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings. This is the 5th consecutive year the campus has been ranked among the top 10 public universities: ucdav.is/46Pv7qx

Rereading “Nostromo.” From a Latin Americanist perspective, it seems preoccupied with the binarisms of the day (Latin/Anglo-Saxon, North/South America), partly recalling writers like Rodó - despite Conrad’s stereotyping and second-hand knowledge. A Latin Americanist novel? #booksky #academicsky

Congrats to my childhood friend, the incredible writer and artist, Sophie Campbell, @mooncalfe1.bsky.social, for her work on Supergirl! 🏳️‍⚧️

Just finished Dan Flores’s “Coyote America.” The coyote is impressive for so many reasons, not least of which is that it’s prospered and expanded its range immensely despite all attempts to destroy it. Coming to a North American city near you, if not there already! #booksky

Just finished Kei Miller's novel "Augustown." A really nice novel about historical repetition and cyclical injustice and resistance in contemporary Jamaica. Despite the narrator's assertion that it's not a magical realist novel, it compares with Alejo Carpentier's "El reino de este mundo." #booksky

Finishing up Wilson Harris's hallucinatory, occasionally maddening novel "Palace of the Peacock." An account of a hellish journey upriver in Guyana, it doubles as a lament for and denunciation of colonialism. Worth a look for readers of Joseph Conrad, Alejo Carpentier, and Juan Rulfo. #booksky

'The author of Girl, Woman, Other and Mr Loverman has been rewarded for her entire body of work, as well as her “transformative impact on literature and her unwavering dedication to uplifting under-represented voices across the cultural landscape”.' Kudos richly merited.

The UC Iberian Studies Consortium just started a listserv. University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) faculty interested in Iberian Studies are welcome to join. Email me at [email protected] if interested.

Planning to teach a seminar next year on Latin American literature in translation, focusing on three countries that are “peripheral” to Latin America: Brazil, Jamaica, & Haiti. I’d appreciate any recommendations of scholars of Jamaican or Haitian literature. I have questions! #academicsky #booksky

If no one has done this yet, someone should write a paper on the circulation of William DeVaughn‘s song “Be Thankful for What You Got” (1974) between the US, Jamaica, and the UK (via Massive Attack) as an example of cultural exchange across the Black Atlantic.

Delighted to see 'Strategies for Writing Gibraltar into the World'! Congratulations to guest editor, @rpnewcomb.bsky.social, contributors: Edwige Tamalet Talbayev, David Álvarez + José Juan Yborra Aznar. @antonpujol.bsky.social @acis46.bsky.social intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/ijis/38/1

Pleased to announce that the new issue of the International Journal of Iberian Studies features a dossier, "Strategies for Writing Gibraltar into the World," which I edited. It features articles on Gibraltarian literature by me, David Alvarez, José Juan Yborra Aznar, and Edwige Tamalet Talbayev.

My review of Earl E. Fitz’s “The Literatures of Spanish America and Brazil” is out now in the Luso-Brazilian Review.

My translation of the great, dearly missed Alfredo Bosi's "An Ideological Knot - On Interlaced Perspectives in Machado de Assis" has been published in a special issue of Santa Barbara Portuguese Studies dedicated to Bosi, a major Brazilian literary and cultural critic.

The United States are, have been, and will be a multilingual country, whether or not it has an “official” language. // EEUU son, han sido, y serán país plurilingüe, teniendo o no lengua “oficial.”

Compiling a list of non-current books that uncannily help explain the current political moment. I nominate Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent.” Share your picks and thoughts in the comments. #booksky

'An Interview with Cristina Martins' by Robert Newcomb on the Mirandese language. Fascinating! Both Robert Newcomb and Cristina Martins were keynote speakers at the 44th ACIS Conference in Porto back in 2023 🗣 ➡️ escholarship.org/content/qt93...

Your periodic reminder to listen to Kate Bush.

Really enjoying Ava Mendoza’s “The Circular Train”: dazzling solo guitar and occasional vocals. Sounds like it belongs on a Jim Jarmusch soundtrack. Thanks to KDVS for yet another recommendation.

What Camus’s “The Plague” was for the early Covid years, Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent” should be for our current moment. It has domestic extremism, political bad actors, a diffuse fear of foreigners, gaslighting, and a tenacious desire to get at the truth. Read it. #booksky

A escritora Maria Teresa Horta, a última das “Três Marias”, morreu hoje, aos 87 anos, em Lisboa

Ha fallecido Maria Teresa Horta, última de las “Três Marias” que se rebelaron contra la situación política y social de la mujer en los estertores de la dictadura salazarista. Las tres escribieron colectivamente "Novas cartas portuguesas", obra esencial en el feminismo portugués.

Santiago Pérez Isasi’s “Iberism and the Latin World: Political and Cultural Potentialities and Resistances in Portugal and Spain (1870-1930)” available in the Romance Quarterly now.

Taking another run at Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent." This time the novel seems even more relevant, and the pacing much less plodding - practically speedy by Conradian standards! Amazing what a few years distance can do. "Nostromo" will probably still be my favorite, but who knows? #booksky

My first book, “Nossa and Nuestra América: Inter-American Dialogues” (Purdue, 2011), is now available for free download from Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures. Check it out!

Reading Benjamín Labatut’s “When We Cease to Understand the World” (trans. Adrian Nathan West, NYRB, 2020), a dazzling hybrid of fiction, essayistic reflection, and the history of science - with none of the ponderousness that description might imply. #booksky

Just finished Miranda July’s novel “All Fours.” It’s an evocative account of middle aged dissatisfaction, of accepting mortality and denying death-in-life. I don’t have an overall “take” on it, other than that I read it obsessively and I continue to think about it. Maybe that’s the point? #booksky

Thrilled to get a follow from @bernardineevaristo.bsky.social, author of one of my favorite recent novels, “Girl, Woman, Other,” and much else besides.

Ready to go for later today at #mla2025: “Other Andalusians? Gibraltarian Writers on Andalucía.”

Looking forward to presenting this Friday at #mla2025 at the “Iberian Exteriorities” roundtable, chaired by @benitasampedro.bsky.social, with @ericcalderwood.bsky.social and other colleagues.

Proud to share my interview with the linguist, Prof. Cristina Martins (U Coimbra), on the history, present, and future of the Mirandese language, published in the latest issue of the journal Transmodernity. escholarship.org/uc/item/93x7...

I've made a playlist of favorite music from 2024, and of older songs I discovered that I loved last year. Limited myself to one per artist. open.spotify.com/playlist/3RV...

New book chapter: "La Lira Lusitana de Manuel Curros Enríquez: un caso de traducción triangular," in: Versiones, inversiones. La traducción de poesía entre las literaturas ibéricas modernas y contemporáneas" (Ed. Miguel Mochila, Trea, 2024). trea.es/producto/ver...

Minha resenha da antologia No Gods Live Here, da poeta santomense Conceição Lima (trad. David Shook, @deepvellum.bsky.social), foi publicada no último número da revista acadêmica Portuguese Studies. Recomendo muito a poesia desta autora: ela é uma poeta brilhante e importante.

My review of the Santomean poet Conceição Lima's English-language anthology, No Gods Live Here (trans. David Shook, @deepvellum.bsky.social), was just published in the journal Portuguese Studies, 40(2), 2024. I thoroughly recommend Conceição Lima's poetry. She's a brilliant and important poet.

Some favorite reading from 2024: Novel (newer): Girl, Woman, Other, by @bernardineevaristo.bsky.social Novel (older): No Longer Human, by Osamu Dazai Non-fiction: We Don't Know Ourselves, by @fotoole.bsky.social Poetry: No Gods Live Here, by Conceição Lima, trans. David Shook #booksky

Nueva publicación: "La Lira Lusitana de Manuel Curros Enríquez: un caso de traducción triangular," en: Versiones, inversiones. La traducción de poesía entre las literaturas ibéricas modernas y contemporáneas" (Ed. Miguel Mochila, Trea, 2024). trea.es/producto/ver...

I’m thrilled that my book, "On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus," has received honorable mention for the MLA's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies. Huge thanks to the committee for this honor, and congratulations to the other awardees.

Quite a thrill getting a follow from @jonsavage.bsky.social, author of one of the smartest books of cultural criticism I've ever read, "England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond." I routinely assign chapters from it in my first-year punk seminar at UC Davis.

Just finished Fintan O'Toole's We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland. Like so many Americans with familial roots in Ireland, I have a warped relationship with the place. This is the antidote. Magisterial but approachable, relentlessly intelligent and humane.