Elvezia's House (+SVIZRA 4)

Book 4 for Strangers Press' chapbook series, +SVIZRA.

In this touching tale, a Moroccan boy is left in the care of Elvezia, an elderly Swiss widow who lives in an alpine village in the Ticino mountains. Through his tender childhood and teenage years, the boy grapples with the various challenges of puberty and racism while supported by the loving relationship of his adoptive mother, Elvezia, Helvetia – Switzerland.

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+SVIZRA is a series of eight playfully designed chapbooks published as an exciting showcase of contemporary writing from the four official languages of Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Romansh. It takes its name from the Romansh name for ‘Switzerland’ and is the result of our latest collaboration with an international group of authors, translators, publishers, designers and editors.

In publishing them, along with other sets on the way, we are continuing our mission to broaden the appreciation and breadth in the UK of contemporary European writing in particular and international literature in general against a still rising political tide of mutual suspicion, intolerance and aggression.

In giving equal visibility and weight to each of the four languages, +SVIZRA offers a range of Swiss writing never before seen in English from a diverse group of some of the best authors living and working in Switzerland today, including National Literature Prize winning Anna Ruchat, Iraqi exile Usama Al-Shahmani, and Romansh author, Rut Plouda.