Labinger showcases her work at book signing

photo by Reina Santa Cruz

Andrea Labinger, professor of Spanish, recently finished translating three books from Spanish to English. She said one of her biggest challenges was making long sentences shorter. Her book signing for "An Empty House" was last Friday at the ULV bookstore.

by Jessica Rodriguez
Staff Writer

Andrea Labinger, professor of Spanish at the University of La Verne, had a book signing last week for "An Empty House," which she recently translated from Spanish.

Labinger, who has been at ULV since 1981, teaches courses in Spanish and Latin American civilization and culture and also directs the Honors program.

"An Empty House," authored by Carlos Cerda, was first published in Spanish in 1996.

"I translated another novel by Cerda, "To Die in Berlin," a few years ago," Labinger said.

"Carlos asked me to translate all of his books into English and this is the second part of a trilogy."

Cerda, who died in 2001, is one of Chile's most acclaimed contemporary novelists.

"An Empty House" has won several literary prizes, Labinger said, adding that she is thrilled that the North American public will have access to it. Its name in Spanish is "Una Casa Vacia."

"It tells an important story about the detention centers in which many Chilean victims of the military junta imprisoned, tortured and murdered in the 1970s," Labinger said.

Labinger hopes that this book will be enjoyed not only by the ULV community, but by many others.

"I do this kind of work because I enjoy it and because I want the English-speaking public to have the opportunity to become familiar with some wonderful Spanish language fiction," she said.