This
is the first of Argentinean writer Angélica Gorodischer's award-winning
books to be translated into English. In eleven chapters, Kalpa Imperial's
multiple storytellers relate the story of a fabled nameless empire
which has risen and fallen innumerable times. Fairy tales, oral
histories and political commentaries are all woven tapestry-style into
Kalpa Imperial: beggars become emperors, democracies become
dictatorships, and history becomes legends and stories.

But this
is much more than a simple political allegory or fable. It is also a
celebration of the power of storytelling. Gorodischer and translator
Ursula K. Le Guin are a well-matched, sly and delightful team of
magician-storytellers. Rarely have author and translator been such an
effortless pairing. Kalpa Imperial is a powerful introduction to
the writing of Angélica Gorodischer, a novel which will enthrall readers
already familiar with the worlds of Le Guin.