Notes / Notas

Discover Argentina’s award-winning, revolutionary poet Juan Gelman

Juan Gelman’s Notes / Notas captures the sorrow and violence of Argentina's 1976 military dictatorship; translated for the first time into English, this collection is renowned for its linguistic innovation.

Poetry Book Society Translation Choice 2026

'One of the greatest poets the world has today.' —José Saramago, Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature

This bilingual edition makes Juan Gelman’s hauntingly beautiful poetry collection, Notes / Notas, available to English-speaking audiences in its entirety for the first time.

Originally published in 1979, Notas / Notes was composed in exile, following the 1976 military coup d'etat in Argentina. This period of state terrorism resulted in the disappearance of writers, comrades, and Gelman’s own son.

With a deep appreciation for Gelman’s masterful linguistic play, translators Afsari and Tandeciarz channel the force of his poetic testimony against the real violence of dictatorship.

Interweaving reflections on revolution, loss and memory, Argentina’s poet laureate conjures forth a sense of hope in the wake of inconceivable suffering.