From the winner of the 2022 Sor Juana Inés de la
Cruz Prize: a fractal exploration of a woman's grief
as she moves through disjointed segments of time.
Divided Island is the story of a woman with a neurological
disorder. The day she goes in for the encephalogram that
will lead to her diagnosis, she finds herself splitting in two.
One of the women she becomes decides to travel to an island
to take her own life; the other remains behind. Scenes and
images real and imagined gradually coalesce into the story of
a life told from a singular location: a way of perceiving and
describing the world, guided by cerebral dysrhythmia.
Written in scraps and fragmented chapters, Divided Island is
a nonlinear narrative best read as a poetic experience, in
which the protagonist's memories and dreams recompose the
world and, in doing so, trouble the very notion of self.
This slim volume makes it abundantly clear why Daniela
Tarazona belongs in the company of other Sor Juana
winners like Lina Meruane, Cristina Rivera Garza, and Maria Gainza.
