Sergio Pitol wins the Alfonso Reyes Prize 2015
29/03/2016The Mexican writer and essayist Sergio Pitol will be awarded the International Prize Alfonso Reyes 2015, in virtue of his valuable cultural, artistic, and literary contributions, and his extensive experience. In a statement, the Organizing Committee of the International Prize Alfonso Reyes announced today that Sergio Pitol is the winner of the award this 2015. It also marks that Pitol is a citizen of the world and at the same time a profound expert on Mexican culture. “He’s the living example of passion for knowledge and implacable criticism, whose unmistakable voice amongst the Hispanic-American narrators is fundamental to the writing, owing to his originality,” declare the organizers. The prize was created by Francisco Zendejas in 1972. It aims to appreciate the work of the Monterrey-native writer Alfonso Reyes by distinguishing personalities with a vast trajectory in the field of humanities. Amongst the prize-winners are Mario Vargas Llosa, Eduardo Lizalde, Ignacio Bosque, Fernando del Paso and Ida Vitale (previously). Pitol was born in Puebla, March 18, 1993. He studied law and letters at the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and is a member of the National System of Creators of Art, as creator emeritus, since 1994. He has received the Xavier Villaurrutia Award 1981 for “Nocturno de Bujara,” the Herralde Novel Award in 1984 for “El desfile del amor” and the National Literature and Linguistic Award 1993; as well as those of the Latin-American Literature and the Caribbean Juan Rulfo 1999, and the Cervantes of Literature in 2005. His work is translated into French, German, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Dutch, Russian, Portuguese, and Chinese. And he as a translator has rendered into Spanish works of authors such as Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Robert Graves, Jane Austen, Witold Gombrowicz, Alexander Zeromsky, Kazimierz Brandys, Jerry Andrzejewski and Bruno Schulz. The Organizing Committee is formed by the Secretary of Culture of the Government of the Republic, the Government of the State of Nuevo León through the Council of Culture and Arts, the Alfonsina International Society, the Autonomous Univeristy of Nuevo Leon (UANL), the Monterrey Technological, The University of Monterrey and the University Regiomontana. (El Universal, Mexico)
[ ... ]
Abad, Mercedes
Mercedes Abad debuted as a writer with Ligeros libertinajes sabaticos (Light Sabbatical Libertinage, 1986), a book of short stories which was awarded the Premio La Sonrisa Vertical. She has published the short story books Felicidades conyugales (Marital Happiness), Soplando al viento (Blowing in the Wind, 1995), Amigos y fantasmas (Friends and Ghosts, 2004), winner of the NH Vargas Llosa Award, Media docena de robos y un par de mentiras (Half a Dozen Heists and a Couple of Lies, 2009), La niña gorda (The Fat Child, 2014) and Casa en venta (House for Sale, 2020). She is also the author of the novels Sangre (Blood, 2000), El vecino de abajo (Downstairs’ Neighbour, 2007) and the essay Solo dime donde lo hacemos (Just Tell where can we do it, 1991). She has also written radio and theater scripts such as Pretèrit perfecte (Present Perfect), Se non è vero (If it’s not True) and Bunyols de Quaresma (Lent Fritters). She has staged Dangerous Liaisons by Christopher Hampton, and has collaborated in the playwriting of the show XXX with the adaptation of Philosophy in the Bedroom, by the Marquis de Sade, produced by La Fura dels Baus. She regularly writes in a number of news media outlets. Her write-ups in the supplement Catalonia of El País have been compiled into the volume Titúlate Tú (Name Yourself, 2002). Her work has been translated into several languages.
[ ... ]
Sergio Ramírez was awarded the Carlos Fuentes International Prize
13/11/2014Tuesday November 11th, Sergio Ramírez was awarded the Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Creative Writing given by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM ) and the National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA). The members of the jury were Juan Goytisolo, Mario Vargas Llosa (Nobel Prize and also awarded the first edition of this Prize), Soledad Puértolas, Margo Glantz and Gonzalo Celorio, who chose Sergio Ramirez for "Combining a high quality literature with a committed literature and its role as a free and critical intellectual with a civic high calling ". He has published over 50 titles in various genres such as novels, short stories, essays, and memoirs. His work has been translated into more than 15 languages and he has been awarded with the Dashiel Hammett Prize in 1990 for Castigo Divino (Divine Punishment), the Laure Bataillon Award in 1998 for the best foreign translated book into French for Un baile de máscaras (A mask dance), the Alfaguara International Prize, 1998, for Margarita está linda la mar (Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea), and the José Donoso Prize granted by the University of Talca, Chile. It´s an honor for the Antonia Kerrigan Literary Agency to represent this icon of Ibero-American literature.
[ ... ]
Aparicio, Juan Pedro
España Juan Pedro Aparicio was born in León. Since 1975, the year he published "El origen del mono y otros relatos" (The Origin of the Monkey and Other Stories), he has written novels ("Lo que es del César", "El año del francés", "La forma de la noche", "Malo en Madrid o el caso de la viuda polaca", "El viajero de Leicester" and "La gran bruma") and short story collections. He has also delved into essays, travel books, and so far has compiled his journalistic articles into two collections. In 1989, he won the Nadal Prize with "Retratos de ambigú" (Portraits of Ambiguity), and more recently, in 2005, he received the II Setenil Prize for Short Stories for the best book of stories published that year for "La vida en blanco" (Life in White). He collaborates with various media outlets and is currently the director of the Cervantes Institute in London. "La mitad del diablo" (2008) is his first book of microfiction, or quantum literature, as he himself suggests.
[ ... ]
Javier Sierra and María Dueñas were two of the best selling authors in 2013 in Spain
19/02/2014We're happy to see two of our titles in the best seller lists of 2013 published by Nielsen Bookscan. Javier Sierra, with his latest novel El maestro del Prado (The Master of El Prado), appears, in the sixth position, as the first Spanish author in the list, with almost 150.000 copies sold of this last book. María Dueñas is in the tenth position with Misión Olvido (Mission Oblivion), that sold almost 120.000 copies. Rights to El maestro del Prado (an intriguing mixture of fiction, essay and biography in which a mysterious master explains the works of the museum to the author) have been sold to the United States, Brazil, Russia, Poland and Romania, in translations that are in the works and will see the light of day at the end of this year. Misión Olvido blends love, intrigue and appealing characters through the story of Blanca Perea, a teacher that will come to surprising conclusions while working on a project that was thought to be boring and unsubstantial. The book has repeated the astounding success of El tiempo entre costuras (The Seamstress) and has been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Serbian, Swedish, Norwegian and Catalan.
[ ... ]
Cueto, Alonso
Perú Alonso Cueto (Lima, 1954) is the author of several novels, short stories, and essays. Cueto has won several distinctions for his literary work, including the prestigious Herralde Award (Spain 2005) for his novel La Hora Azul (The Blue Hour), the 2007 Casa de Ámericas-Planeta second-place prize for his novel Susurro de la Mujer Ballena (Sigh of the Whale Woman) and the Anna Seghers Prize for his body of work (Germany, 2000). In 2006, the Chinese based National Publishing House, considered La Hora Azul, the best novel published in spanish in the 2005-2006 period. He also received a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation grant in 2002. Filmmaker Francisco Lombardi adapted Cueto’s novel Grandes Miradas (Knowing Gazes) to the screen in “Mariposa Negra,” which won several international awards. Cueto’s work has been translated into 15 languages, including dutch, german, french, italian, rumanian, polish, chinese and korean. Random House published the English-language translation of La Hora Azul (The blue Hour, translated by Frank Wynne). His novel La Viajera del Viento (Voyager of the wind, Planeta) along with The Blue Hour and La Pasajera forms a trilogy around violence in recent Peruvian history. In the book fair of Lima in 2016, La Viajera del Tiempo was the most sold novel. His latest novel is Francisca: Princesa del Perú. Cueto, a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, currently lives in Lima, Peru. He is a full professor of the Literature and Linguistics Department of the Universidad Católica. He is also a member of the peruvian chapter of the Academia de la Lengua of Spain. In 2017, he was awarded the title of meritorious personality of culture by the Peruvian government. alonsocueto.com/
[ ... ]
AK Digital releases "The Remade Parent", by Brett Hetherington
20/12/2013After Matthew Tree’s SNUG’s success, and becoming the eighth title in a catalogue that includes works by authors such as Emilio Calderón or Pedro L. Yúfera, AK Digital releases its first essay: The Remade Parent, by Brett Hetherington. Staff writer for Catalonia Today magazine and commentator for Australia’s ABC radio, Hetherington, who has been living in Catalonia since 2006, explains in detail the challenges of parenthood today, analyzes the different roles and proposes a new type of parent: one that is «thoughtful, understanding and physically present». «An original and much-needed book», in Matthew Tree’s words, that will appeal to all those who are beginning the adventure of parenthood. The Remade Parent will be available soon on Amazon (print on demand).
[ ... ]
Freixas, Laura
España, 1958 Laura Freixas (Barcelona, 1958) studied in the French Licée in Barcelona. She got a degree in Law in 1980, but has always worked as a writer. She became known in 1988 with a collection of short stories; El asesino en la muñeca (Murder in the doll). In 1997 she published her first novel; Último domingo en Londres (The Last Sunday in London), followed by; Entre amigas (1998) (Between Friends), Amor o lo que sea (2005) (Love or whatever), Adolenscencia en Barcelona hacia 1970 (2007) (Adolenscence in Barcelona towards 1970), and Los otros son más felices (2011) (The Others are Happier). Her latest book is, Una vida subterráneo, Diario 1991-1994 (2013) (A Subterranean Life, Diary 1991-1994). Parallel to her narrative work, Laura Freixas has dedicated much time to women's studies. In 1996 she coordinated and wrote the prologue for an anthology of short stories by contemporary Spanish women writers; Madres e hijas (Mothers and Daughters) having nine editions published in the first year. In 2000 she published the influential Essay; Literatura y mujeres (Literature and Women). In 2009 brough light on another anthology of similar character; Cuentos de amigas (Stories of Friends) as well as the work; La novela femenil y sus Lectrices (The Feminine Novel and its Readers) winning the Leonor de Guzmán Award. She has also published the biography about the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, titled Ladrona de rosas (2010) (The Rose Thief). Freixas gives literary workshops for diverse institutions and has been a professor, lecturer and invited writer in numerous Universities both in Spain and Iternationally. Visit: http://www.laurafreixas.com/ www.laurafreixas.com/
[ ... ]
José María Merino awarded with the National Narrative Prize (Spain's Culture Ministery)
28/10/2013The Literary Agency Antonia Kerrigan wants to congratulate the author José María Merino for receiving, the well deserved, Premio Nacional de Narrativa 2013 (National Narrative Award 2013) for his novel; The River of Eden (El río de edén) published in 2012 by Editorial Alfaguara. José María Merino is a member of the Real Academia Española (Spanish Royal Academy) and has received various awards for his works that include, narrative, young adult literature, short stories, essays and poems. His first novel, The Novel by Andrés Choz, (La Novela de Andrés Choz) published in 1976, won the Novel and Short Story Award. In 1985 he was distinguished with the Critics Awards for his novel; The Dark Shore, (La orilla oscura). In 1993 he was given the National Young Adult and Children’s Literature Award for; I’m Not a Book, (No soy un libro). The novel Lucrecia’s Visions, (Las visiones de Lucrecia) (1996) received the Miguel Delibes Narrative award. In 2004, the novel The Heir, (El heredero) won the Ramón Gómez de la Serna Award and The Place without Guilt, (El lugar sin culpa), won the Torrente Ballester Award. The River of Eden; (El río del edén) has also won the critic Award of Castilla and León. The jury highlighted The River of Eden as: “a book in which the author has adopted a second auto-reflexive voice in order to bring life to a familiar micro-cosmos, that revolves around a boy with a disability and the crisis that his appearance provokes on family life. It is a technically risky work that has been well resolved, and that gains tension as the story advances and its crucial problems, like the right to a dignified death, find themselves perfectly exposed.”
[ ... ]
Ramírez, Sergio
Nicaragua, 1942 Sergio Ramírez was born in 1942 in Masatepe, Nicaragua. He published his first short stories at the age of eighteen. Whilst studying law he founded the literary magazine “Ventana” (“Window”) and in 1970 published his first novel, Tiempo de fulgor (Glaring Times). Since then till Tongolele no sabía bailar (Tongolele did not know how to dance) there have appeared Ya nadie llora por mí (No One No Longer Cries for Me, Alfaguara, 2017), Un baile de mascaras (Masked Ball), Castigo Divino (Divine Punishment) (Premio Dashiel Hammett in 1990), Margarita está linda la mar (Margarita How Beautiful the Sea) (Premio Alfaguara in 1998), Mil y una muertes (One Thousand and One Deaths), La Fugitiva, (The Fugitive), or the detective novel El cielo llora por mi (The Sky Cries for Me). Another of his constant genres has been the short story, of which stand out the volumes El reino animal (Animal Kingdom), Perdón y olvido (Forgivness and Oblivion), Flores oscuras (Dark Flowers) and his Personal Anthology, 50 Years of Short Stories (Oceáno Mexico, 2017). But also the recollection, Adiós muchachos (Goodbye Fellows, 1999), the essay Mentiras verdaderas (True Lies, 2001) and the indefatigable oped writer. His books have been translated into 20 languages. His latest novel is Ese día cayó en domingo (That Day Fell on a Sunday, 2022). • Cervantes Prize 2017 • Premio Iberoamericano de Letras José Donoso, awarded by the Universidad de Talca, Chile, 2011 • Premio Panamá Negro. Feria Internacional del Libro, Panamá, 2017. • Premio Carlos Fuentes a la Creación Literaria (Spanish language), awarded in México, 2014. • Premio del Festival Internacional Metrópolis Bleu, Montreal, Canadá, 2011 • Premio Latinoamericano José María Arguedas, 2000 • Premio Alfaguara de Novela, 1998 • Prix Laure Bataillon, 1998 • Premio Internacional Dashiel Hammett de Novela ,1995 • Named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 1993) www.sergioramirez.com/
[ ... ]
Rubio, Salva
Salva Rubio is a screenwriter, writer, and more. An associate member of the Writers Guild of America and the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he was a finalist for the prestigious SGAE Julio Alejandro Award, and his work has been nominated for both an Eisner Award and a Goya Award for Best Animated Feature. Holding a Master’s Degree in Film and TV Screenwriting from UC3M, he has worked as a screenwriter on five feature films for various Spanish production companies, including the Goya-nominated Deep. He has also written for Disney Channel. Additionally, he is a script analyst and has collaborated with companies such as Alta Films, Colomo PC, Instituto Cervantes, F. Carolina, and ICAA. As a graphic novel writer, he has published The Photographer of Mauthausen (three editions and five translations) and Monet, Nomad of Light (eight translations), which was nominated for an Eisner Award. He currently writes for some of Europe’s most important publishing houses, including Dupuis, Delcourt, Glénat, and Le Lombard. With Planeta Cómic, he published the spin-off of The Tango of the Old Guard by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. In 2012, he released the novel Zíngara: Looking for Jim Morrison with Suma de Letras (Penguin Random House) and has recently completed his fourth novel, Dance, Laia. As an essayist, he is the author of the pioneering book Extreme Metal: 30 Years of Darkness (six editions), the most extensive work on the subject ever published. It was followed by a second volume, Extreme Metal: Chronicles from the Abyss, and he was selected to continue the successful Save the Cat! series with the U.S. release of Save the Cat! Goes to the Indies. He is also a regular contributor to Jot Down.
[ ... ]
Sietecase, Reynaldo
© Gentileza Alejandra López Reynaldo Sietecasas was born in Rosario, Argentina. He is a writer and journalist. Author of the novels "Un crimen argentino" (An Argentine Crime) (2002, Alfaguara), "A cuántos hay que matar" (How Many Must We Kill) (2010, Alfaguara), "No pidas nada" (Ask for Nothing) (2017, Alfaguara), and "La Rey" (2024, Alfaguara). He published the short story collection "Pendejos" (Fools) (2007, Alfaguara) and eight poetry books. Much of this work was compiled in the anthologies: "Nadie es de nadie" (No One Belongs to Anyone) (2019, Sial Pigmalión, Spain) and "Lengua Sucia" (Dirty Language) (2020, Lumen). The book "No hay tiempo que perder" (There's No Time to Lose) (2011, Aguilar) brings together a selection of his best chronicles. He also published the journalistic investigation "Kamikazes, los mejores peores años de la Argentina" (Kamikazes, the Best Worst Years of Argentina) (2013, Aguilar) and the photographic essay "Desnudos de vidriera" (Naked Shop Windows) (2017, Reservoir). In 2022, the film adaptation of "Un crimen argentino" was released, produced by Pampa Films and Warner Bros (currently on HBO Max and Filmin platforms). https://reynaldosietecase.com.ar/
[ ... ]
Solares, Martín
Martín Solares (Tampico, Tamaulipas, 1970) has published a book of essays, Cómo dibujar una novela (How to Draw a Novel); a children's book, Los monstruos y tú (The Monsters and You); and two novels set in the Gulf of Mexico: No manden flores (Don't Send Flowers), translated into English, French, and Polish, and a finalist for the Violet Noir Prize, as well as Los minutos negros (The Black Minutes), translated into six languages, a finalist for the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize, the Antonin Artaud Prize, and the Bibliothèque des Littératures Policières Prize. The Black Minutes was selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the best novels of the year and was adapted into a film in 2022. He has won three national literature awards: the José Revueltas Fine Arts Prize for Literary Essay, the Juan de la Cabada National Prize for Children's Short Stories, and the Efraín Huerta National Short Story Prize, as well as the International Book Award for Best Mystery Novel. This year, the third installment of the Catorce colmillos (Fourteen Fangs) trilogy will be published. These three detective novels blend historical accuracy with the freedom of fantastic imagination and take place in the turbulent Paris of the 1920s, a city teeming with spies, anarchists, and assassins.
[ ... ]
Torrijos, Pedro
Pedro Torrijos (Madrid, 1975) is a writer and creator of cultural content. He is known for his narrative approach that explores unconventional spaces and realities. His publishing career began with Territorios Improbables (2021), a collection of stories and essays that uncover unusual and enigmatic places. This book marked the beginning of a literary path in which the author has masterfully combined stylistic precision with an analysis of the human condition that shapes the world. The book was translated into Italian in 2024. He later published Atlas de Lugares Extraordinarios para Descubrir el Mundo (2022), aimed at both adults and younger readers, which invites readers to explore the planet through visual and evocative storytelling. In 2023, Pedro released his first novel for adults, La Tormenta de Cristal, which blends elements of suspense with real-life events inspired by the structural crisis of New York’s Citicorp skyscraper. In 2024, La Pirámide del Fin del Mundo reaffirms his commitment to exploring the stories that shape our existence. With these works, Pedro Torrijos has established himself as a leading voice in cultural — and also purely literary — narrative, offering readers a fresh and thoughtful perspective on the world around them.
[ ... ]