Juan Villoro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juan Villoro
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Juan Villoro in Mexico City, January 2009
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Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz
24 September 1956 Mexico City, Mexico
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| Alma mater | Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana |
| Occupation | Writer and journalist |
Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz (born September 24, 1956, in Mexico City) is a famous Mexican writer and journalist. He is the son of the philosopher Luis Villoro. Juan Villoro is well-known for his novels, short stories, essays, and even books for children! He became even more popular after winning the Herralde Prize for his novel El testigo.
Contents
About Juan Villoro
Juan Villoro studied Sociology at the Metropolitan Autonomous University. He also learned a lot about writing short stories from the Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso.
Early Career and Interests
When he was younger, Juan Villoro loved rock music. He was even a DJ for a radio show called "El lado oscuro de la luna" (which means "The Dark Side of the Moon") from 1977 to 1981. This was the Spanish name for a famous album by Pink Floyd. Later, he worked as a cultural attaché in Berlin, in what was then East Germany.
For over 30 years, Villoro has written many articles for different Mexican magazines and newspapers. He writes about many topics like sports, rock music, movies, books, and travel. His book Palmeras de la brisa rapida (1989) is about his travels in Yucatán, a part of Mexico famous for its Mayan culture.
His first novel was El disparo de argón, published in 1991. In 1995, he published Los once de la tribu, a collection of his best non-fiction essays and interviews. The title refers to the number of players on a football team. In this book, he writes about many interesting people and topics, including Andy Warhol, the Rolling Stones, and the TV show Dallas.
In 2011, Juan Villoro appeared in a documentary film called Guerrero 12. This film explores the strong passion of football fans. In 2018, he received the Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award from Chile.
His Love for Football
Since he was a child, Juan Villoro has loved football. He is a big fan of the Barcelona team because his father came from that region. Villoro even played in the lower divisions for the Pumas team of the National Autonomous University of Mexico until he was 16. When he started writing about football, he said he was a "fan of being a fan."
Writing Style and Other Collaborations
Juan Villoro often writes "chronicles." He describes this type of writing as a "platypus of prose" because it can mix many different influences. He 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 with the songs "Sashimi (Corte fino)" and "Laberinto" for the movie Vivir mata.
Villoro is also a professor at the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Iberoamerican Journalism. He was part of the council for the Gabriel García Márquez Prize for Journalism, which meets every year in Medellín.
Books by Juan Villoro
Juan Villoro has written many different kinds of books. Here are some of them:
Novels
- El disparo de argón (1991)
- Materia dispuesta (1997)
- El testigo (2004)
- Llamadas de Ámsterdam (2007)
- Arrecife (2012)
- La utilidad del deseo (2017)
Short Stories
- 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
- 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, Chronicles, and Non-Fiction
- 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
