Diego Valverde Villena facts for kids

Diego Valverde Villena

Diego Valverde Villena, born on April 6, 1967, is a talented writer with three citizenships. He is a poet (someone who writes poems), an essayist (someone who writes essays), and a polyglot (someone who speaks many languages). He was born in Peru, and his parents were from Spain and Bolivia.

About His Life

Diego Valverde Villena was born in Lima, Peru, on April 6, 1967. When he was four years old, in 1971, his family moved from Peru to Spain. Like many writers with a Catholic background, he went to a Jesuit school called San Jose in Valladolid.

His Education

From 1985 to 1991, he earned three degrees in Spanish, English, and German literature at the University of Valladolid. During this time, he also took classes in languages and literature at several other universities. These included the University of Salamanca, the University of Edinburgh, University College Dublin, and the University of Wroclaw.

After his degrees, he studied for his doctorate in Medieval English Literature. He did this at famous universities like the University of Oxford, the University of Heidelberg, and the University of Chicago. He earned a master's degree in English Literature from the Complutense University of Madrid.

His Work

Valverde Villena worked as a teacher at different universities. He mainly taught at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia. There, he taught about old poems and poetry from 1996 to 1998, and again after 2010.

From 2002 to 2004, he worked for the Secretary of State for Culture in Spain. Today, he lives in Bolivia, but he often travels to Spain.

He has translated many literary works into Spanish. He has translated books by authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Emily Dickinson, and Paul Celan.

His Writing Style

Diego Valverde Villena's poetry is known for its many hints and references. The poet Julio Martínez Mesanza says his poems are a "perfect mixture of life and culture." His cultural references help him show his deepest feelings. This is similar to how "Metaphysical poets" used clever comparisons in their work. Martínez Mesanza believes that John Donne and Ausias March greatly influenced Valverde Villena.

"Flash Poems"

Some critics call Valverde Villena's short poems "flash poems" or "spark poems." This is because they pack so many ideas into just a few lines. The poet Ahmed Higazi once said, "it's like having a big lion in a little cage."

Valverde Villena's poetry includes references to many things. These include literary traditions from different languages, history, anthropology, religion, music, and even cinema.

His Published Works

Poetry

• El difícil ejercicio del olvido, La Paz, Bolivia, 1997.
• Chicago, West Barry, 628, Sueltos de la Selva Profunda, Logroño, 2000.
• No olvides mi rostro, Huerga y Fierro, Madrid, 2001.
• Infierno del enamorado, Valladolid, 2002.
• El espejo que lleva mi nombre escrito, Cairo, 2006.
• Shir Hashirim, Ediciones del Caracol Descalzo, Madrid, 2006.
• Iconos, a three-part poem with music by Juan Manuel Ruiz, 2008.
• Un segundo de vacilación, La Paz, Bolivia, 2011.
• Panteras, Madrid, 2015.

Anthologies

• 33 de Radio 3, Calamar/RNE 3, Madrid, 2004.
• Antología de poesía española y egipcia contemporánea, Instituto Egipcio de Estudios Islámicos, Madrid, 2005.
• Diez poetas, diez músicos, Calambur, Madrid, 2008.

Essays

• Para Catalina Micaela: Álvaro Mutis, más allá del tiempo, UMSA, La Paz, Bolivia, 1997.
• Varado entre murallas y gaviotas. Seis entradas en la bitácora del Maqroll el Gaviero, Gente Común, La Paz, Bolivia, 2011.
• Dominios inventados, Plural, La Paz, Bolivia, 2013.
• "Poesía boliviana reciente" in La Jornada Semanal, Mexico, June 27, 1999.
• "El espejo de la calle Gaona: los pasadizos entre ficción y realidad en Jorge Luis Borges", Clarín, 30, Nov.-Dec. 2000, pp. 5–10.
• "Don Álvaro ante el rey, tantos años después", Clarín, 32, March–April 2001, pp. 3–8.
• "Mujeres de mirada fija y lento paso: el eterno femenino en la poesía de Álvaro Mutis", Excelsior, Mexico, June 7, 2002.
• "Hechos de armas bajo la bandera de Álvaro Mutis", Letras Libres, 10, July 2002, pp. 46–48.
• "Spain: Agape and conviviality at the table", in Culinary Cultures of Europe, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, 2005.
• "Al amparo de Isis (un viaje a Egipto)", in Clarín, 63, May–June 2006, pp. 66–68.
• "Cuando Stonewall Jackson conoció al General Lee: una semblanza de José María Álvarez", introduction to Los prodigios de la cera, by José María Álvarez, Caracas, 2008, pp. 13–17.
• "Los caminos de T. S. Eliot", in Renacimiento, Seville, 2008, pp. 106–108.

Prose Translations

• Nuestro visitante de medianoche y otras historias, by Arthur Conan Doyle, Valdemar, Madrid, 2001.
• La vida imperial de Rudyard Kipling (The Long Recessional), by David Gilmour, Seix Barral, Barcelona, 2003.
• En interés de la Hermandad (In the Interests of the Brethren), by Rudyard Kipling, in Conde de Aranda, 3, 2007, pp. 91–110.

Edited Works

• Alvaro Mutis, La voz de Alvaro Mutis, edited by Diego Valverde Villena, Poesía en la Residencia, Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid, 2001.
• Luis Alberto de Cuenca, De amor y de amargura, edited, selected and with a preface by Diego Valverde Villena, Renacimiento, Seville, 2005.
• Gaviero. Ensayos sobre Álvaro Mutis, edited, selected and with a preface by Diego Valverde Villena, Verbum, Madrid, 2014.

See also

In Spanish: Diego Valverde Villena para niños