Book Piracy in Peru
Claudia Alva

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The book market at Amazonas

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The book market at Grau

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Browsing at Amazonas

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Pirated books on sale at the Grau market

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A vendor at an intersection in Lima, the capital
Photographer Claudia Alva accompanied Daniel Alarcón on his investigation into the book piracy business in Peru. Some more photos from this selection were published on the Guardian website.
Daniel Alarcón’s piece, ‘Life Among the Pirates’, is published in Granta 109: Work. You can also read the piece online.
Claudia Alva
Claudia Alva, a journalist by profession, was a political writer before working as a forensic photographer for Lima’s Central Morgue, documenting the exhumations of mass graves containing victims of the country’s long internal conflict. She has worked for Diarios Expreso, La República and Revista Etiqueta Negra, as well as other publications.
More about the author →More on Granta.com
Life Among the Pirates
Daniel Alarcón
‘Being pirated is the Peruvian equivalent of making the bestseller list.’
An Ounce of Gold and Máxima Acuña Atalaya
Joseph Zárate
‘To end up with an ounce of gold – enough to make a wedding ring – you need to extract fifty tonnes of earth, or the contents of forty removal lorries.’
Al-Birr Islamic Trust Morgue, Greenwich Islamic Centre, April 2020
Gus Palmer & Poppy Sebag-Montefiore
‘Palmer’s portraits of Kafil Ahmed sit alongside those of other people risking their lives to take care of others.’
The Mezzanine, or: The Most Important Book About Nothing You’ll Ever Read
Joel Golby
‘It’s like taking an escalator trip into someone else’s mind for an hour, finding nothing of actual substance up there, and realising, as you retreat mournfully back into your own skull, that there’s nothing there, either.’
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