Alfaguara Launches Jaime Bayly's Backlist; New Editions of Four Titles With New Prologue

MIAMI, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Jaime Bayly is a writer known for his direct and persuasive style, and for his use of suggestive but credible dialog. His strong, gifted narrative style has been positively recognized for his charming or repulsive characters, fluid yet intense dialogs, an excellent action-filled narrative, and most importantly an acerbic sense of humor. "What a relief to read someone who has the narrative strength to write about anything and everything. I can say unequivocally that Bayly's prose is enlightening." Roberto Bolano.

For these many reasons, Alfaguara now proudly announces the publication of new editions of Bayly's most successful novels: "No se lo digas a nadie," "Los ultimos dias de la prensa," "Fue ayer y no me acuerdo," and "Yo amo a mi mami." These versions have been revised and updated by Bayly himself and also include prologues he has written to provide comments and insight into his own work.

With regard to "No se lo digas a nadie," Bayly tells us: "I wouldn't be able to write this novel today. When I wrote it 15 years ago, it was with a sense of urgency. This was the novel which, for better or for worse, I was anxious and desperate to write. If there's something worthwhile in the book, I think it's that I was faithful to my literary demons, my fantasies and obsessions, and to the sometimes dirty themes that stirred up my imagination and made it imperative for me to turn them into fiction."

Concerning the revisions made to "Fue ayer y no me acuerdo," Bayly comments: "It would be inaccurate to say that I nipped and tucked the original work. The truth is that I hacked it to bits, and whatever is left, if you have patience and compassion, is what you will now read."

"Los ultimos dias de La Prensa," like many of Bayly's books, is based on personal experiences from his youth. He says: "I did not choose to be sent to live with my maternal grandparents in 1980-1981 nor to work at the newspaper La Prensa before my 15th birthday. These two random facts (or perhaps not so random but due to my mother's will), left in my memory characters and experiences that I later tried to recreate in this novel.

Bayly remarks, with his usual dry humor, that in "Yo amo a mi mami," he failed in his attempt to portray his childhood. "I wound up inventing a story that was much more suitable and entertaining. And I also failed in the naive hopes that this book would please my mother and in my assumptions that she could read it without anxiety or fear. She didn't like anything about it and stopped reading because, as she told me, it's filled with lies and falsehoods."

Jaime Bayly was born in Lima, Peru, 1965. With Alfaguara he published "Los amigos que perdi," and most recently "El cojo y el loco." These are the first four re-editions of his masterful backlist that Alfaguara publishes. In the recent future, there will be others also published under the "Jaime Bayly Collection."

These works, published by Santillana Publishing Co. under the Alfaguara imprint, are already available at your nearest bookstore.

SANTILLANA AUTHORIZES THE REPRINT OF THIS TEXT FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE WORK.

SOURCE Santillana Publishing Co.