Reviews & Press
“Anca Szilágyi’s Daughters of the Air is a fantastic debut…a product of alchemy, a creation of unearthly talents.” -Paul Constant, “2017 in Review: The Seattle Novels That Made My Year,” The Seattle Review of Books
“A striking debut from a writer to watch, Daughters of the Air is gritty yet gorgeous, severe yet convivial, as it navigates uncertain times in a treacherous world. ”-Dave Wheeler, Shelf Awareness
“Anca L. Szilágyi’s intense debut novel, ‘Daughters of the Air,’ locates a deeply personal story against the surreal backdrop of [Argentina’s Dirty War].”-Ellen Emry Heltzel, The Seattle Times
“Only Le Guin bothers to write coming-of-age stories with such attention to each word.…Beyond its singular blend of myth and magic, its potent and poetic language announces a worthy new voice in, if I can call it this, the literature of the melting pot. Szilágyi is writing from the center of multiple cultural Venn diagrams, about historical and emotional topics more readers need to explore.” -Katharine Coldiron, Locus
“Daughters is a confident and finely wrought novel. Szilágyi is at equally at home writing about Argentina’s complex historical conflict and the glittering garbage heaps of Brooklyn. She focuses unflinchingly on the violence we deliver on each other, and the mental scars that violence leaves behind.” -Paul Constant, “A Fairy Tale of New York,” The Seattle Review of Books
“A clear-eyed meditation on the experience of being haunted by the unknown and what we are perhaps too scared to imagine.” -Leena Soman, Cleaver Magazine
“In every way this is a mature intelligent book which may not suit all readers, but it is an example of how magic realism is so suited to ambiguity and to difficult subjects.” -Zoe Brooks, Magic Realism
“The narrative surprised me, the gravitas shocked me, and the fantastical elements challenged me—all of which made for a worthwhile read and will make me a better writer.” -Isla McKetta, A Geography of Reading
“[Szilágyi] is a smart writer, dropping you straight into the white hot truth of life.” –Elizabeth’s Editions
Interviews
“Powell’s Q & A: Elastic Realism and Political Fiction; Or, A Conversation Between Anca Szilágyi and Susan DeFreitas” on the Powell’s blog
“A Conversation with Anca L. Szilágyi” by Yona Zeldis McDonough, Lilith Magazine
“Building Artifacts from Artifacts” by Thea Prieto, Propeller Magazine
The Writers Connection with E.C. Murray
Must Read Fiction with Erin Popelka (video)
Read Learn Live with Jon Menaster (podcast)
Glossophonics on Hollow Earth Radio with Bryan Edenfield and Morris Stegosaurus (podcast)
Essays Related to Daughters of the Air
“Writing a Holocaust Novel without Writing about the Holocaust” in Salon
“Twenty-Six Notes on Cannibalism” in Los Angeles Review of Books
“If My Book” in which authors compare their new releases to weird things, in Monkeybicycle
“Mapping Imagination” in Airplane Reading
“How to Finish a Novel in Only 15 Years” in The Nervous Breakdown
“Poems That Helped Me Write Novels” on the Submittable Blog
“Whatever Works: Looking at Visual Art to Write Inspired Prose” guest post on Lisa Romeo Writes (the blog)