Cosmopolitan, vivacious essays in the tradition of Brodsky'sWatermarkand Benjamin'sThe Arcades Projectby a celebrated young Mexican author. "An extraordinary new literary talent" (The Daily Telegraph).“Searching for a grave is, to some extent, like arranging to meet a stranger in a café…every person could be the one waiting for us; every grave, the one we are searching for.”This introductory salvo fromValeria Luisellipulls us immediately into the quest anchoring the opening essay ofSidewalks-  the search for the grave of the poetJoseph Brodskyin the cemetery of San Michele in Venice. Luiselli’s mission perfectly encapsulates the seeking of the essayist: the haphazard march towards the beacon end-point in the hope of finding some digressive sparks along the way."A collection that can't be categorized as memoir or travel writing or literary criticism but cohesively combines such elements and more."-Kirkus ReviewsValeria Luiselliis an evening cyclist; a literary tourist in Venice, searching for Joseph Brodsky’s tomb; an excavator of her own artifacts, unpacking from a move. In essays that are as companionable as they are ambitious, she uses the city to exercise a roving, meandering intelligence, seeking out the questions embed- ded in our human landscapes.Translated byChristina MacSweeney; Introduction byCees Nooteboom