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INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED 2026
On land where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down. But in the prison’s waning days, a new horror is unleashed: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the warden is armed with rifles, and the hunt begins. Every man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond the prison walls. Ana Paula Maia has once again delivered a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witness.
Review
International Booker Prize (Shortlist)
Republic of Consciousness Prize US (Longlist)
English PEN Translates Award
São Paulo Prize for Literature (Winner)
"Beautiful and gripping... a must read for those who like their poetry written in blood." —New York Times
"On Earth As It Is Beneath is a stark, unsettling exploration of power, violence, destruction and institutional corruption that will linger with readers long after the final page." —Booker Prize Judges
"Maia has delivered a masterclass in suspense and allegory." —Morning Star
"A thinking person’s sociological thriller that is also somehow a sort of fable, as tough to endure as it is to put down." —Southwest Review
"When such unspeakable violence, rendered in sparse prose, unfolds against an unforgiving landscape, comparisons with Cormac McCarthy are inevitable. Much credit is due to Padma Viswanathan, whose translation preserves a mythic vision that recalls McCarthy’s oracular intensity." —Necessary Fiction
"A fast-paced and impactful book (…) Ana Paula Maia treads her own path, and it's a brutal one. All the better for us." —Escotilha
************
Praise for Ana Paula Maia
Cercador Prize (Winner)
Republic of Consciousness Prize (Winner)
English PEN Translates Award
"This short sharp shock of a book brings a surprise with every new page...a fresh and spirited report on how civilisation has done nothing to tame humanity’s worst instincts." —The Guardian
"Brutal yet gripping, as if Cormac McCarthy penned an anti-meat noir." —Kirkus
"Intense and provocative….This goes straight for the jugular." —Publishers Weekly
"In Perry’s visceral, understated translation…the narrative unfolds with the compulsiveness of a psychological thriller." —The Times Literary Supplement
"Maia’s stark style lends her novella a chilling, detached quality, allowing the violence and viscera to be all the more overwhelming." —Jeremy Garber, Powell's Bookshop
"Biblical in scale and language, Of Cattle and Men is a book to squirm beneath; to measure oneself against." —Southwest Review
"Of Cattle and Men is an excellent book of many dark, quiet questions." —World Literature Today
"Powerful." —EcoLit Books
************
"Not from the soul, nor from the heart. Ana Paula Maia’s characters suffer from the liver." —O Estado de S. Paulo
"One must possess a profound understanding of fiction, of reality, and of the representation of reality to be able to write like this." —O Globo
"Amid the most repugnant manoeuvres, Ana Paula Maia discovers the mythic tone of a biblical curse, cloaked beneath the pop sensibilities of the surface." —Rolling Stone Brazil
**********
About the Author
Ana Paula Maia is the author of On Earth As It Is Beneath , shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026. Her novel Of Cattle and Men won the UK Republic of Consciousness Prize, the inaugural Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation in the United States, and an English PEN Translates Award. An award-winning Brazilian writer and scriptwriter, she is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Brazilian fiction.
Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American writer and translator. Her novels have been shortlisted for the PEN USA and Scotiabank Giller Prizes. Her work has appeared in Granta , The Boston Review and BRICK . Her translations include SãoBernardo by Graciliano Ramos. She teaches at the University of Arkansas.
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On Earth As It Is Beneath
SIZE GUIDE
- ISBN: 9781917260107
- Author: Ana Paula Maia
- Format: Paperback
- Publisher: Charco Pr
- Publication Date: August 2025
Book Description
INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED 2026
On land where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down. But in the prison’s waning days, a new horror is unleashed: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the warden is armed with rifles, and the hunt begins. Every man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond the prison walls. Ana Paula Maia has once again delivered a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witness.
Review
International Booker Prize (Shortlist)
Republic of Consciousness Prize US (Longlist)
English PEN Translates Award
São Paulo Prize for Literature (Winner)
"Beautiful and gripping... a must read for those who like their poetry written in blood." —New York Times
"On Earth As It Is Beneath is a stark, unsettling exploration of power, violence, destruction and institutional corruption that will linger with readers long after the final page." —Booker Prize Judges
"Maia has delivered a masterclass in suspense and allegory." —Morning Star
"A thinking person’s sociological thriller that is also somehow a sort of fable, as tough to endure as it is to put down." —Southwest Review
"When such unspeakable violence, rendered in sparse prose, unfolds against an unforgiving landscape, comparisons with Cormac McCarthy are inevitable. Much credit is due to Padma Viswanathan, whose translation preserves a mythic vision that recalls McCarthy’s oracular intensity." —Necessary Fiction
"A fast-paced and impactful book (…) Ana Paula Maia treads her own path, and it's a brutal one. All the better for us." —Escotilha
************
Praise for Ana Paula Maia
Cercador Prize (Winner)
Republic of Consciousness Prize (Winner)
English PEN Translates Award
"This short sharp shock of a book brings a surprise with every new page...a fresh and spirited report on how civilisation has done nothing to tame humanity’s worst instincts." —The Guardian
"Brutal yet gripping, as if Cormac McCarthy penned an anti-meat noir." —Kirkus
"Intense and provocative….This goes straight for the jugular." —Publishers Weekly
"In Perry’s visceral, understated translation…the narrative unfolds with the compulsiveness of a psychological thriller." —The Times Literary Supplement
"Maia’s stark style lends her novella a chilling, detached quality, allowing the violence and viscera to be all the more overwhelming." —Jeremy Garber, Powell's Bookshop
"Biblical in scale and language, Of Cattle and Men is a book to squirm beneath; to measure oneself against." —Southwest Review
"Of Cattle and Men is an excellent book of many dark, quiet questions." —World Literature Today
"Powerful." —EcoLit Books
************
"Not from the soul, nor from the heart. Ana Paula Maia’s characters suffer from the liver." —O Estado de S. Paulo
"One must possess a profound understanding of fiction, of reality, and of the representation of reality to be able to write like this." —O Globo
"Amid the most repugnant manoeuvres, Ana Paula Maia discovers the mythic tone of a biblical curse, cloaked beneath the pop sensibilities of the surface." —Rolling Stone Brazil
**********
About the Author
Ana Paula Maia is the author of On Earth As It Is Beneath , shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026. Her novel Of Cattle and Men won the UK Republic of Consciousness Prize, the inaugural Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation in the United States, and an English PEN Translates Award. An award-winning Brazilian writer and scriptwriter, she is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Brazilian fiction.
Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American writer and translator. Her novels have been shortlisted for the PEN USA and Scotiabank Giller Prizes. Her work has appeared in Granta , The Boston Review and BRICK . Her translations include SãoBernardo by Graciliano Ramos. She teaches at the University of Arkansas.
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