For four minutes and fifty-two seconds, the night became a thing that he pounded with his fist...Every year, at the height of summer, the remote Argentinian village of Laborde holds the prestigious national malambo contest. Little known outside the Argentinian pampas, the malambo is a centuries-old gaucho dance, governed by the most rigid rules and shatteringly physically demanding. It is the object of obsession for thousands of young working-class men, who sacrifice their spare time, their bodies and what little money they have to try to win the title of Malambo Champion. The twist is that a Malambo Champion may never compete again.In 2011, Leila Guerriero travelled to Laborde for what was supposed to be a brief investigation into this intriguing contest. But on the second night, one dancer's towering performance takes her breath away - he doesn't win, but Guerriero, irresistibly drawn, spends the next year following him in his preparations for the 2012 festival. In this remarkable work of reportage Guerriero proves herself to be as sharp-eyed as Gay Talese, as lyrical as Norman Mailer.



Leila Guerriero is one of Latin America's most acclaimed journalists. Born in Junín in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, she began her career at the magazine Página/30. Since then, her work has appeared in many international publications, including Rolling Stone, El País, La Nación and L'Internazionale. Her books include A Simple Story, also available from Pushkin Press, and the prize-winning, bestselling La llamada, which is forthcoming from Pushkin in 2026. Guerriero lives in Buenos Aires.



An epic of noble proportions... [Guerriero] is a mistress of the telling phrase or the revealing detail'



[Guerriero] irrefutably proves that journalism can be one of the beaux arts



A brilliantly observed chronicle



Startling bit of journalism... a rich portrait into a little seen part of Argentina



Moving



A formidable writer who does not need to resort to fiction to tell real stories that seem too fantastic to be true... her writing manages to express so much with so little



Transcends parochialism to explore that common ground that has become the place of the human condition... Leila Guerriero is a maestro



Fascinating



Captures your interest from the first page... An exciting work that mixes reportage and fiction; a book that is both moving and strangely familiar