Álvaro Enrigue facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Álvaro Enrigue
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Enrigue at the 2016 Hay Festival
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| Born | Álvaro Enrigue Soler August 6, 1969 Guadalajara, Mexico |
Álvaro Enrigue (born on August 6, 1969, in Guadalajara, Mexico) is a Mexican writer. He writes novels, short stories, and essays. Enrigue has written many books, including six novels, three collections of short stories, and one book of essays.
Early Life and Education
Álvaro Enrigue's father, Jorge Enrigue, was a lawyer from Jalisco. His mother, Maria Luisa Soler, was a chemist who came from Barcelona. He is the youngest of four brothers, and one of them, Jordi Soler, is also a writer. Soon after Álvaro was born, his family moved to Mexico City because of his father's job.
He studied journalism at the Universidad Iberoamericana. Later, he taught literature there. When he was young, he started working as an editor and writer for different cultural magazines. These included Vuelta, which was started by Octavio Paz, and Letras Libres. He also worked as an editor for important publishing houses like the Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE) and the Secretariat of Culture.
Writing Career
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In 1996, when he was 27, Enrigue won the famous Joaquín Mortiz Prize for his first novel, La muerte de un instalador (Death of an Installation Artist). This book has been printed five times. In 2012, it was chosen as one of the most important Mexican novels of the 20th century. It was also included in a collection by Mexico's biggest publishing house, Fondo de Cultura Económica. His books Vidas perpendiculares (Perpendicular Lives) and Hipotermia (Hypothermia) have also received great reviews.
Hypothermia was published in the United States and England in 2013. It was translated by Brendan Riley and looks closely at life in the 21st century and the experiences of immigrants. His 2011 novel, Decencia (Decency), was also praised in major publications in Latin America and Spain.
In 2007, the Hay Festival's Bogotá39 group chose him as one of the most important modern writers in Spanish. In 2009, he received a special grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. This allowed him to stay at the Bellagio Centre to finish his novel, Decencia. In 2011, he became a fellow at the Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library. There, he started working on his fifth novel.
On November 4, 2013, Enrigue's novel Muerte súbita (Sudden Death) won the 31st Herralde Novel Prize. This award has been given to many famous authors from Spain and Latin America.
Besides writing, Álvaro Enrigue has taught creative writing at several universities in the United States. These include Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Maryland. He also studied for a PhD in Latin American Literature at the University of Maryland.
His books have been translated into many languages. These include English, German, French, Czech, and Chinese.
Personal Life
Enrigue lives in the Hamilton Heights area of New York City.
Selected Publications
Books
- Virtudes capitales, Mexico City: Editorial Joaquín Mortiz, 1998, ISBN: 9789682707285
- El cementerio de sillas, Madrid/Mexico City: Ediciones Lengua de Trapo, 2002, ISBN: 9788489618985
- Vidas perpendiculares, Barcelona/Mexico City: Editorial Anagrama, 2008, ISBN: 9789688673645
- Decencia, Barcelona/Mexico City: Editorial Anagrama, 2011, ISBN: 9788433932921
- Muerte súbita, Barcelona/Mexico City: Editorial Anagrama, 2013, ISBN: 9788433934505; English translation: Sudden Death, Riverhead, 2016, ISBN: 9781594633461
- Un samurái ve el amanecer en Acapulco, Mexico City: La Caja de Cerillos Ediciones, December 2013, ISBN: 9786078205097
- Ahora me rindo y eso es todo, Barcelona/Mexico City: Editorial Anagrama, 2018, ISBN: 9788433939838
- Tu sueño imperios han sido, Barcelona/Mexico City: Editorial Anagrama, 2022, ISBN: 9788433999498; English translation: You Dreamed of Empires, Riverhead, 2024, ISBN: 9780593544792
See also
In Spanish: Álvaro Enrigue para niños
