From one of Mexico’s most exciting young writers, a cosmopolitan and candid essay collection exploring life in cities across the world and reflecting on the transformative importance of literature in understanding ourselves

In ten intimate essays, Daniel Saldaña París explores the cities he has lived in, each one home to a new iteration of himself. In Mexico City he’s a young poet eager to prove himself. In Montreal—an opioid addict desperate for relief. In Madrid—a lonely student seeking pleasure in grotesque extremes. These now diverging, now coalescing selves raise questions: Where can we find authenticity? How do we construct the stories that define us? What if our formative memories are closer to fiction than truth?

Saldaña París turns to literature and film, poetry and philosophy for answers. The result is a hybrid of memoir and criticism, "a sensory work, full of soundscapes, filth, planes, closed spaces, open vastness" (El País).

Story Locale:Mexico City, Montreal, New York City, Madrid

Format: Trade Paperback

Author: París, Daniel Saldaña

Publisher: Catapult

Pub Date: December 9, 2025

Category: Social Science / Sociology / Urban

ISBN: 9781646223053

Evening House Books

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Spanish Translated

Of Love and Other Demons

Like Water for Chocolate

Planes Flying Over a Monster: Essays