The Beaches Are Always Empty in Winter: A Novel Expanding the LGBTQ+ Literary Horizons

In The Beaches Are Always Empty in Winter, author Amaro Mandolini delivers an intimate and profoundly human narrative that explores love, illness, and grief through a lyrical and close-knit narrative voice.

The story follows a protagonist embarking on a journey to the coast, where he reconstructs memories of a relationship filled with tenderness, fragility, and inevitable loss.

This confessional tale invites readers to listen to a conversation between memory and absence, examining how love endures even in the face of death.

With prose that artfully blends literary precision and contained emotion, the work represents a new generation of Latin American queer narratives aiming to portray diverse identities without oversimplifying them to mere conflict.

«I wanted to write a story where the protagonists’ sexual identity wasn’t the focal conflict, but rather a part of their humanity,» comments Amaro Mandolini.

«My goal was to depict love and illness as universal experiences shared by anyone who has loved and lost,» the author adds.

The novel, which began as a personal healing exercise, took shape over four years of writing and revision. Throughout the process, the author integrated the musicality of the Bolero de Ravel as an emotional and structural constant, giving rhythm and cadence to the narrative.

The Beaches Are Always Empty in Winter is ultimately a meditation on memory, the passage of time, and the resilience of love beyond loss. With sensitivity and depth, the work broadens the horizons of contemporary Chilean literature, inviting readers to engage with empathy and tenderness.

About the Author

Amaro Mandolini is a professor and graduate in Literature. He has built his career in teaching and literary research, publishing academic articles on Latin American literature. The Beaches Are Always Empty in Winter is his debut novel, a work that interweaves his aesthetic sensitivity with a critical perspective on the representation of identities and emotions in contemporary narrative.

About the Publisher

Inti Ediciones is an independent publishing house specializing in poetry and essays. The project aims to seek and disseminate new voices while creating literary spaces where anyone can participate.

The Citizen

Original article: Las playas siempre están vacías en invierno: Una novela que expande los márgenes de la literatura LGBTQ+