Coming Soon: "Mauko Meets a Monkey"

I've finally finished translating the next story that my friend Nando (Fernando da Costa Pires) sent me back in July last year. From its title, this one might sound like the last one, only this time our protagonist is meeting a monkey instead of an eel. But it's actually very different: for one thing, the hero, Mauko, is disabled, and the story has a lot to say about how disabled people have been regarded in Timor-Leste. It has some magical elements like the last story, but every detail strikes me more deeply this time than last time--though I loved last time's story too. I have more things to say about it, but I'll save them for when I post the story. I've also asked Nando to write an author's statement, so he can share some of his own thoughts on the topic of disability and why he wrote the story.