Juan Villoro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juan Villoro
|
|
|---|---|
Juan Villoro in Mexico City, January 2009
|
|
| Born |
Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz
24 September 1956 Mexico City, Mexico
|
| Alma mater | Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana |
| Occupation | Writer and journalist |
Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz was born on September 24, 1956, in Mexico City. He is a famous Mexican writer and journalist. His father was a well-known philosopher named Luis Villoro. Juan Villoro has been popular with thinkers and readers in Mexico, Latin America, and Spain for a long time. His books became even more popular after he won the Herralde Prize for his novel El testigo.
Juan Villoro's Life Story
Juan Villoro studied Sociology at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Iztapalapa. He also took a special class on writing short stories with the Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso.
Early Career and Interests
Juan Villoro loved rock music. From 1977 to 1981, he was a DJ for a radio show called "El lado oscuro de la luna." This name is the Spanish translation of the famous album The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. After that, he worked as a cultural helper in Berlin, which was part of East Germany at the time.
For 30 years, Villoro wrote many articles for different newspapers and magazines in Mexico. He wrote about many topics like sports, rock music, movies, books, and travel. His book Palmeras de la brisa rapida: un viaje a Yucatán (1989) tells about his trips to a part of Mexico famous for its Mayan culture.
First Books and Essays
His first novel was El disparo de argón, published in 1991. In 1995, he published Los once de la tribu. This book is a collection of his best short essays and interviews that are not fiction. The title refers to the number of players on an international football team. In this book, he wrote about many different things, including Andy Warhol, the Rolling Stones, and the TV show Dallas.
Film and Awards
In 2011, Juan Villoro appeared in a movie called Guerrero 12. This movie is a documentary about how much people love football. The film was directed by Miguel A. Reina. In 2018, Juan Villoro received the Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award from Chile.
Juan Villoro's Passions
Juan Villoro has loved football since he was a child. He is a big fan of the Barcelona team because his father was from that region. Villoro even played for the lower teams of Pumas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He left the team when he was 16 years old. When he started writing about football, he said he was a "fan of being a fan."
Writing Style
He often writes chronicles, which are like detailed stories or reports. He describes this type of writing as a "platypus of prose." This means it can mix many different styles and influences, just like a platypus is a unique animal with features from different animals.
Theater and Music
Juan Villoro started writing plays for the theater when he was 50 years old. As a rock music fan, Villoro also worked with the Mexican band Café Tacuba. He helped them with the songs "Sashimi (Corte fino)" and "Laberinto" for the movie Vivir mata.
Teaching and Journalism
Villoro is also a professor at the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Iberoamerican Journalism. He was also part of the group that decided on the winners for the Gabriel García Márquez Prize for Journalism. This group meets every year in Medellín.
Juan Villoro's Published Works
Novels by Juan Villoro
- El disparo de argón (1991)
- Materia dispuesta (1997)
- El testigo (2004)
- Llamadas de Ámsterdam (2007)
- Arrecife (2012)
- La utilidad del deseo (2017)
Short Stories by Juan Villoro
- La noche navegable (1980)
- La alcoba dormida (1992)
- Albercas (1985)
- La casa pierde (1999)
- Los culpables (2007)
- "Orden suspendido," in Manuel Felguérez Obra Reciente 2002-2005 (2005)
- "Palmeras de la brisa rápida" (2009)
- Forward: Kioto (2010)
- Espejo Retrovisor (2013)
Children's Books by Juan Villoro
- Las golosinas secretas (1985)
- El profesor Zíper y la fabulosa guitarra eléctrica (1992)
- Autopista sanguijuela (1998)
- El té de tornillo del profesor Zíper (2000)
- Cazadores de croquetas (2007)
- El libro salvaje (2008)
- El taxi de los peluches (2008)
- La cuchara del señor Zíper (2015)
Essays and Non-Fiction by Juan Villoro
- Tiempo transcurrido (Crónicas imaginarias) (1986)
- Palmeras de la brisa rápida: Un viaje a Yucatán (chronicle, 1989)
- Los once de la tribu (football chronicles, 1995)
- Efectos personales (essay, 2000)
- Safari accidental (chronicle, 2005)
- Dios es redondo (essays and chronicles on football, 2006)
- Funerales preventivos: Fábulas y retratos (political essays, with drawings by Rogelio Naranjo, 2006)
- De eso se trata (literary essays, 2008)
- Manuel Felguérez el límite de una secuencia (1997)
- La máquina desnuda (essay, 2009)
- 8.8: Miedo en el espejo (chronicle, 2010)
- ¿Hay vida en la Tierra? (articles, 2012)
- El Ojo en la Nuca (Stavans, ilan / Villoro, Juan, 2014)
- El vértigo horizontal (Barcelona: Anagrama, 2019. English translation: Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico, Knopf, 2021)
See also
In Spanish: Juan Villoro para niños
