Welcome to an issue of Litro that draws from as broad a range of Hispanic sources as we could fit into this slim magazine, with a special emphasis on Catalonia and Catalan.

Two contemporary Catalan writers contribute stories: Francesc Serés’ shocking, brief tale “The Price” and – online only, so you can explore Catalan writing in more depth – Jordi Puntí’s story of class transgression and fantasy fulfilment “Bubbles”. Shaun Levin’s tracing of Bloomsbury artist Mark Gertler’s troubled times in Barcelona mingle with his own rich narrative of love and fancy. < ahref="http://www.litro.co.uk/?p=871">Stuart Evers takes us to less cultivated territory, as his hero attempts to fill in some gaps in his family tree with a fact-finding trip to Benidorm.

From further afield in South America, we bring you poetry and prose by writers as deserving of the glib title ‘modern classic’ as anyone can be. We have two darkly suggestive poems from Chilean phenomenon Roberto Bolaño; this is the first time his poetry has been published in English on this side of the Atlantic. We hope that “The Lost Detectives” and “In the Reading-Room of Hell” will appeal to your sense of the mysteries of the metropolis. In contrast, “Kief” by influential 20th-century Argentinian writer Silvina Ocampo (specially translated for Litro by Christina MacSweeney) is the gently surreal story of a big cat and his semi-domesticated mistress. Lastly, for a truly classic French angle on the myth of the hot-blooded Spanish gipsy, we can only turn once more to “Carmen”…

We hope that you enjoy this international, time- and space-travelling collection. As a new editorial team, we want to re-cast Litro’s net as widely as possible, including short fiction from foreign and local writers, from the critically appreciated as well as the completely new. Please, tell us what you think and keep sending in your stories! June’s double theme will be Travel and Adventure.

Sophie Lewis & Dena Ziari