Alejandro Varela (he/him) is a writer based in New York. His debut novel, The Town of Babylon (2022), was published by Astra House and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His work has appeared in the Point Magazine, Georgia Review, Boston Review, Harper's, and the Offing, among others outlets. Varela is an editor-at-large of Apogee Journal. His graduate studies were in public health.
"Alejandro Varela’s The People Who Report More Stress: Stories is a
master class in analyzing the unspoken...This collection delights
in the layers of human interaction, and what might lie beneath
them."
—Gwen E. Kirby, The New York Times
"Varela’s witty, observant prose lifts each of these stories, even
if the premises are decidedly grounded in real world and
contemporary concerns. There’s a wisdom and lightness to Varela’s
work that nudges us toward the conclusion that our divisions, while
there may be many, can be mended."
—Leland Cheuk, The Boston Globe
"The People Who Report More Stress blends humor and social
commentary with the thing that drives the best fiction: an honest
and vulnerable exploration of messy human relationships. Fans of
Varela’s first novel, as well as newcomers to his work, will find a
lot to love in this collection."
—Laura Sackton, BookPage
"Varela's stories are provocative and witty; while eliciting
chuckles they also dispense uncomfortable truths that everyone
thinks about but won't address out loud."
—Andrienne Cruz, Booklist
"A searing collection about gentrification, racism, and
sexuality. [. . .] Varela provides invaluable insight on
the ways stress impacts the characters’ lives, and how they
persevere. Readers will be floored."
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"The prose shines throughout, with razor-sharp specificity about
human nature and an entrancing rhythm . . . the collection shows a
writer of impressive imagination continuing to deepen his
craft."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Alejandro Varela's book perfectly captures the stories of the
frustration of people who see the inequities in society fully
knowing that there isn't much they can do to sway the needle
forward."
—Mirtle Peña-Calderon, People en Español
“Varela’s debut novel, The Town of Babylon, came out just last year
and was a finalist for the National Book Award—so you know he’s got
chops. His second book is “a collection of interconnected stories
brimming with the anxieties of people who retreat into themselves
while living in the margins, acutely aware of the stresses that
modern life takes upon the body and the body politic.” I already
love Varela’s sense of humor and way of approaching the world, and
I’m sure I will love these too.”
—ET, Literary Hub
"No one writes fiction that is incisive, socially conscious, and
funny as well as Varela, and I'm happy to read anything he
publishes."
—David Vogel, BuzzFeed
"Varela has written a collection that is mordant, tender, and
hilariously self-critical. These stories navigate the myriad
creases between lust and longing, love and proprietorship, without
resorting to sanctimony. This is an incredible feat of wry
sincerity."
—Zain Khalid, author of Brother Alive
"The stories in The People Who Report More Stress are sharply
observant and tenderly irreverent. Varela beautifully captures the
anxieties of both structural limitation and possibility itself,
examining how people choose from among the many lives they might
lead, and how frequently even as they move away from their origins,
characters encounter familiar obstacles that demand they carry the
weight of history. This is a smart and gorgeous collection."
—Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections
"Alejandro Varela is one of my favorite short story writers, and
has been for years. Time after time, the mix of curiosity, humor
and care in these stories reminds me of the parts of my life no one
else writing currently describes. An iconoclast of tenderness, a
compass in the storm this life always is."
—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical
Novel
"Alejandro Varela’s The People Who Report More Stress effortlessly
walks the line between humor and grief to create a portrait of
modern queer life that is at once absurd and deeply sincere. These
stories capture the small, lonely moments of everyday life, the
rejections and misunderstandings and longings that make up great
fiction. Varela can do anything.”
—Isle McElroy, author of The Atmospherians and People Collide
"In The People Who Report More Stress, Alejandro Varela cracks the
veneer of gay domesticity to reveal the intricacies of anxiety and
lust, bewilderment and promise, shelter and placelessness in
everyday urban life. In linked stories driven by frenzied interior
monologue and roving analytical glee, Varela pivots from the rules
of bathroom cruising to the legacies of colonialism in
international relations, the hustle of selling bootleg designer
clothes to the racial hierarchies of Brooklyn gentrification.
Moving deftly between satire and hyperrealism, comic excess and
mundane pathos, The People Who Report More Stress dissects the
minutiae of relationships to self, city, space, and sensibility so
we don’t numbly succumb to the 'structured order of things.'"
—Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, author of The Freezer Door
“Brilliant, layered, funny, and so insightful about the way
communities, like hearts, are made and unmade. Alejandro Varela is
a marvel.”
—Justin Torres, author of We the Animals
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