Can travel transform your life? This author says yes

Mexico City-based writer Daniel Saldaña París has been called “the Mexican Philip Roth” — no doubt not only for his candid and gritty renderings of life, but also for the moving insights found in his writing.

He has published two novels, “Strange Victims” and “Ramifications,” but coming out Aug. 20 from Catapult is the English language translation of his first essay collection, “Planes Flying Over a Monster.” Through 10 personal essays, Saldaña París takes readers through Havana, Montreal...