Texas_Cover_Carmen_Boullosa
2016 Nominated

Texas: The Great Theft

Translated from the Spanish by Samantha Schnee
artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Loosely based on the little-known 1859 Mexican invasion of the United States, Carmen Boullosa’s newest novel Texas: The Great Theft is a richly imagined evocation of the volatile Tex-Mex borderland, wrested from Mexico in 1848. Boullosa views the border history through distinctly Mexican eyes, and her sympathetic portrayal each of her wildly diverse characters-Mexican ranchers and Texas Rangers, Comanches and cowboys, German socialists and runaway slaves, Southern belles and dance hall girls-makes her storytelling tremendously powerful and absorbing. With today’s Mexican-American frontier such a front-burner concern, this novel that brilliantly illuminates its historical landscape is especially welcome.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Carmen
Boullosa

Carmen Boullosa is one of Mexico’s leading writers. The author of over a dozen novels that have received numerous prizes and honors, Boullosa has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library. Also a poet and playwright, she has taught at New York University, Columbia University, CUNY, and Georgetown, among other universities, and she hosts a television show, Nueva York, on CUNY-TV, which has received five New York Emmys. Her work has been translated into several languages, and she is currently a FONCA fellow in Mexico. She lives in Brooklyn and Mexico City.

Carmen Boullosa is one of Mexico’s leading writers. The author of over a dozen novels that have received numerous prizes and honors, Boullosa has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library. Also a poet and playwright, she has taught at New York University, Columbia University, CUNY, and Georgetown, among other universities, and she hosts a television show, Nueva York, on CUNY-TV, which has received five New York Emmys. Her work has been translated into several languages, and she is currently a FONCA fellow in Mexico. She lives in Brooklyn and Mexico City.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Samantha
Schnee

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Work translated into English. The author received the following prizes: Xavier Villaurrutia (1989), LiBeraturpreis (1996), Anna Seghers-Preis (1997), a novel Cafe Gijon (2009). She has received the following scholarships: Guggenheim (1991), Künstlerprogramm DAAD, Berlin (1995), and the Center for academic writers at the New York Public Library (2001).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
15/01/2015
Country
Mexico
Original Language
Spanish
Publisher
Deep Vellum Publishing
Translator
Samantha Schnee
Translation
Translated from the Spanish by Samantha Schnee

RELATED FEATURES

Video April 7 2026

The 2026 Shortlist

Discover this year's Dublin Literary Award Shortlist
News April 7 2026

2026 Dublin Literary Award Shortlist is Announced

Delve into the 6 novels shortlisted this year.
News April 2 2026

Past Winner Spotlight: Michael Crummey

Reflecting on his 2025 Dublin Literary Award win with his novel 'The Adversary', libraries, literature and more.
News March 11 2026

Translator Spotlight: Jo Heinrich

Reflecting on translating the 2023 winning novel 'Marzahn, Mon Amour' and life as a literary translator.

STAY CONNECTED

Stay in touch and sign up to our newsletter to receive all the latest news and updates on the Dublin Literary Award.