Tender Is the Flesh,

In speculative horror and dystopian fiction, few contemporary narratives match the unsettling impact of Tender Is the Flesh, a novel depicting a world where a sudden virus makes animal meat lethal and human consumption becomes institutionalized. Argentine writer Agustina Bazterrica gained widespread international attention with this award-winning work, establishing a powerful body of fiction that spans short story collections and dystopian novels.

Career & Background

Born in Buenos Aires in 1974, Agustina Bazterrica studied fine arts at the University of Buenos Aires before establishing herself within the regional and international literary scene. Her early recognition came through short fiction, winning First Prize in the Municipality of Buenos Aires Competition for an Unpublished Short Story in 2004/2005 and First Prize in the 38th Edmundo Valadés Latin American Short Story Contest in Puebla, Mexico, in 2009. Alongside her creative writing, she has actively shaped cultural programming in Buenos Aires as a cultural manager, workshop curator, and judge for literary competitions such as the National Arts Fund Prize and the Itaú Digital Short Story Prize.

Bazterrica published her debut novel Matar al niña and the short story collection Antes del encuentro voraz before achieving international critical acclaim with her 2017 novel Cadáver exquisito, published in English as Tender Is the Flesh. The novel won Argentina's Premio Clarín de Novela in 2017 and received the 2020 Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Novel, making her the first author awarded the honor for a work originally written in Spanish. Her translated works, including the story collection Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird and her novel The Unworthy, have further expanded her reach across global publishing markets.

Writing Style & Themes

Bazterrica's fiction frequently examines systemic violence, institutional cruelty, consumerism, and the ethical decay inherent in modern societies. Her writing employs stark realism alongside dystopian and horror elements to interrogate how language, political rhetoric, and societal apathy normalize horrific practices. Whether depicting extreme social hierarchies or psychological vulnerability, her prose maintains a precise, unsparing tone that forces readers to confront uncomfortable moral dilemmas and the mechanisms of human rationalization.

Major Works

• Tender Is the Flesh — Originally published in Spanish as Cadáver exquisito in 2017, this dystopian horror novel portrays a society where a virus renders animal flesh poisonous, leading governments to legalize the breeding and slaughter of humans for meat. Winner of the 2017 Premio Clarín de Novela and the 2020 Ladies of Horror Fiction Award, the book has been translated into more than thirty languages.
• Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird — This short story collection highlights Bazterrica's range in brief, dark fiction. The stories explore human absurdity, domestic dread, morbid obsession, and psychological fragility through surreal and macabre scenarios.
• The Unworthy — Published in Spanish as Las indignas in 2023, this character-driven horror novel envisions a post-catastrophic world marked by extreme religious cultism, environmental collapse, and oppressive control over women's bodies.