Jorge Nedich
The Souls of Outcasts
ROMANI LITERATURE
BOOK
A novel about the clash between the individual and the community, tradition and modernity, and the conscience of a man who realized his responsibility toward his family too late. In the main character, Stieve became a renowned writer, we sense Nedich himself. Stieve is a proud Romani man, yet one capable of appreciating non-Romani life as well. In his conversations with his son, a young doctor whom he abandoned as a little boy, he explains why he felt inadequate as a father. Eventually giving up the role, he revisits characters and events from his own past as potential answers and describes the complexities of the transition from the Romani community, with its rigid structure, to the majority culture, in which he ultimately finds fulfillment. Although written by a Romani author, the work far transcends ethnic experience and addresses universal human themes.
Published by Kher, 2026
AUTHOR
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Argentine writer Jorge Nedich (* 1959) lived a nomadic life until he was seventeen, which is why he never attended school. Nevertheless, he learned to read as a child and to write as a teenager, driven by a desire to become a writer. In his thirties, after completing several literary workshops, he published his first two novels: Gitanos, para su bien o su mal (Roma: For Better or Worse, 1994) and Ursari (1997). In 1999, he submitted both works as part of his application for the entrance exams for applicants over the age of 25. The National University of Lomas de Zamora thus set a legal precedent, and Nedich began studying literature. That same year, he was a finalist for Argentina’s Premio Planeta with his novel Leyenda gitana (Gypsy Legend, 2000). He has lectured at universities in Buenos Aires and Lomas de Zamora.
TRANSLATION
Markéta Cubrová
