A Hero for the People, by Arthur Powers

I’m in the midst of reading A Hero for the People: Stories of the Brazilian Backlands by Arthur Powers. (Arthur’s a friend here in Raleigh. I met him working on the poetry/art collaboration with Debra Wuliger.) I have the paperback version of his book, but I wanted to let you know if you’re an ebook person, you can get the Kindle version for only $.99 through Friday, October 31.

Arthur spent much of his adult life in Brazil, where he and his wife worked with the Franciscan Friars in the Amazon, doing pastoral work and organizing subsistence farmers and rural workers’ unions in a region of violent land conflicts. His short stories quickly ground you in the Brazilian landscape and culture. I am put in mind of Isak Dinesen’s stories in a way (though admittedly it has been many years since I read them). There’s a simplicity and clarity in Arthur’s writing that I find appealing.

A Hero for the People is published by Press 53, an indie press in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Check them out; they do nice work. (And if you’re a writer, it looks like they have a call for short fiction right now.)