Childish Literature

“Hopeful, funny, and full of wisdom. A meditation on fatherhood by one of our most perceptive writers.” —Tara Westover, author of Educated


From the author of My Documents and Chilean Poet, a wise, humorous, and captivating literary exploration of the delights and absurdities of childhood, fatherhood, and family life

Childish Literature is a charming and wide-ranging collection of short stories, essays, and even a couple of poems produced under the influence of fatherhood, a transformative experience that reshapes and enlivens the author's relationship to aging, intimacy, and time. Written in Alejandro Zambra’s brilliantly warm, playful, and philosophical voice, these pieces explore the lives of families and their stories through a wide variety of topics—from screen time and "soccer sadness" to personal libraries, fishing, and psychedelics. Throughout, Zambra captures the texture of daily life and deep truths about how we feel and live, with particular insight into the ways parents and children challenge, enrich, and entertain each other.

Simultaneously lighthearted and profound, and brilliantly rendered by National Book Award-winning translator Megan McDowell, Childish Literature is an intimate and unclassifiable new work by an internationally celebrated writer.