The University of Guadalajara, through a project created by the Environmental Sciences Museum as part of the University’s Cultural Center, and with the support of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, has established the José Emilio Pacheco City and Nature Award. The prize, which will be given for the first time this year, will be dedicated to poetry. The winning author, who must write in Spanish and have at least ten unpublished poems or poems published in the last five years that are related to nature, urban sustainability, socio-ecological harmony and environmental conservation, will be given a purse of US $10,000. The award is dedicated to poet José Emilio Pacheco, whose work explores the duality between cities and nature.
Created by the University of Guadalajara, and with the collaboration of the National Institute for Indigenous Languages, the Culture Ministry, the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Cultures and Jalisco’s Department of Education, the American Indigenous Literature Award is granted to enrich, protect and promote the legacy and richness of Mexico’s indigenous peoples through literature in all its forms, and to and acknowledge and further develop the careers and works of indigenous authors. The award, which carries a purse of US $25,000, will be given for the fourth time at the 2016 FIL Guadalajara.
The SM Ibero-American Award for Literature for Children and Young People was implemented in 2005, the year of Ibero-American literature, with the goal of promoting literature for children and young people throughout Ibero-America. The award is given out each year during the Guadalajara International Book Fair to recognize writers of literature for children and young people and carries a purse of US $30,000.
With the goal of creating a network that helps to encourage the work of illustrators of books for children and young people in Ibero-America, the SM Foundation and the FIL Guadalajara invites illustrators to submit their work to be included in the Annual Ibero-American Illustration Catalog. The 45 works selected will be displayed in an exposition at the Guadalajara International Book Fair. In addition, illustrators will have the opportunity to work on an illustrated book with Ediciones SM and the winner will be given US $5,000. You can find more information at: www.iberoamericailustra.com
Program Search
Annual International Storytellers Conference
FIL Literature
Annual International Storytellers Conference
The International Meeting of Storytellers reaches its eighteenth edition, 18 years of short stories that have left a deep mark. It is time to celebrate in this space that has given voice to 145 storytellers who have stood out in the vast and vibrant panorama of contemporary short fiction. At the end of this issue the kind reader will find the list of the storytellers who have participated as an invitation to visit their work.
This meeting has established itself as a space for cultural exchange where writers from various literary traditions discuss the art of storytelling, the trends of contemporary storytelling and the challenges faced by the genre, promoting mutual enrichment.
For this edition we will have Carlos Aletto, from Argentina; Mexico will be represented by three powerful female voices: Elma Correa, Atenea Cruz and Brenda Lozano; Eloy Tizón and Ismael Ramos represent Spain; Luis Miguel Rivas, from Colombia, returns to the FIL while Uruguayan writers Rocío Ravera and Tamara Silva complement this great group of storytellers who will be moderated by Alberto Chimal who, in addition, coordinates this meeting.
Together, these storytellers not only stand out for their individual talent, but also for their ability to expand the boundaries of short narrative in Spanish, showing a rich plurality of themes, styles and sensibilities. All of them invite us to explore narrative universes full of emotion and reflection, with stories that exist between the intimate and the universal, and in a very generous way they share their keys to writing a short story.
Story by story, let's celebrate these 18 years of imagination!
Laura Niembro
Content Director
Participants: Atenea Cruz, Rocío Ravera, Luis Miguel Rivas
Moderator: Alberto Chimal
Atenea Cruz
(Mexico, 1984)
My first contact with short stories was thanks to my mother: I remember her reading to me Oscar Wilde, Francisco Hinojosa, One Thousand and One Nights. I remember her telling me stories from popular folklore, with that ability to create a character just using the tone of her voice. My grandfather was a natural storyteller, maybe that's why narrating seems to me a primordial form of communication, a manifestation of affection.
I grew up with many short stories at hand: cheap editions of the Grimm Brothers, by Andersen; comics of Little Lulu, Archie, Donald Duck. When they were not enough, I moved on to the Public Library. Later I started writing my own stories and went from one literary workshop to another. My desire to continue reading pushed me to leave my city: I studied a Bachelor's degree in Literature in Zacatecas and a Master's Degree in Mexican Literature Studies in Guadalajara, but I always return to my home, Durango, from where I teach online classes, although I prefer face-to-face.
I have published five books of short stories, three of poetry and a novel (I keep to myself, out of shame, my early writings). I have won scholarships, creation residencies and some awards.
Literature has given me everything: studies, work, travel, friends, love and even an occasional enemy; in return, I decided to give him my honesty and my life, which are the only things I really own.
Other activities involving the participant:
Literature with eggs and machaca
Rocío Ravera
(Uruguay)
I was born in Uruguay on September 21, 1974. I’m originally from Tala, a small city in this country, but I currently live in Montevideo, the place that adopted me, along with my husband and my three children.
I have always been surrounded by books and I consider myself a voracious reader, but I didn't venture into writing until 2017, when I decided to participate in the creative writing workshop “A cuatro manos”, directed by Fabián Severo and Paula Simonetti.
I have been working as a school librarian for more than twenty years, a profession that I love and that I perform with a lot of passion.
I was part of different literature and writing workshops, and published my works in literary magazines and blogs, such as Pretextos por Escrito (2017), miNatura (2018), Burak (2021), Terminus (2021), Virguliéresis (2022), Sarabatana, Trazos (2024) and Letralia (2024).
I published my first book in 2022, an anthology of short stories titled Cualquiercosario, a work that won the Gold Medal at the International Latino Book Awards in the category best collection of short stories in Spanish. In 2024 it was reissued by the Ecuadorian publishing house Alectrión.
In addition to writing fiction, I also write poetry. My poems are part of the poetic literary anthology Voces en vuelo, from the Colombian collective BBC, and in the book Cajita de poemas, from the Uruguayan publishing house Ocho Ojos.
Luis Miguel Rivas
Nació en Cartago, Valle, Colombia, pero creció en Envigado, Antioquia. Ha publicado los libros de relatos Los amigos míos se viven muriendo, ¿Nos vamos a ir como estamos pasando de bueno? y Malabarista nervioso; la novela Era más grande el muerto, los libros de crónicas Tareas no hechas y Más tareas no hechas (Editorial Planeta- Seix Barral), además de la colección de poemas Hoy no quiero metáforas (Angosta Editorial). En 2023 fue el ganador del Premio Nacional de Literatura otorgado por Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia por su libro de relatos Malabarista nervioso. Ha sido colaborador de las revistas Soho, El Malpensante, de Colombia; Crítica de México, y Suelta de Guatemala; de los periódicos El Espectador, El Colombiano y Universo Centro de Colombia, y de la revista Explorador- Le Monde Diplomatique, edición latinoamericana.
Other activities involving the participant:
National Awards
Alberto Chimal
(Toluca, Mexico, 1970) is a writer and creative writing professor. Among other recognitions, in 2002 he received the Premio Nacional de Cuento and in 2014 the Premio de Narrativa Colima, both granted by Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts, for his short story collections Éstos son los días (2004) and Manda fuego (2013), respectively. In 2013, his novel La torre y el jardín was a finalist for the Premio Internacional de Novela Rómulo Gallegos. In 2016, his book La madre y la muerte / La partida, co-authored with Alberto Laiseca and Nicolás Arispe, was selected for the White Ravens catalog of the Frankfurt Book Fair. In 2019, his children’s book La Distante won the Premio internacional de la Fundación Cuatrogatos, and in 2021, his young adult novel La noche en la zona M won the Premio Internacional del Banco del Libro.
In addition, he has published two other novels, two creative writing manuals, two essay collections, and around twenty short story collections. As a screenwriter, he wrote the feature films 7:19 (2016), directed by Jorge Michel Grau, and Confesiones (2023), directed by Carlos Carrera. He has also written comics, including a collaboration for the graphic novel Batman:El Mundo (2021), published by DC Comics. For many years, he has been a promoter of writing through digital media and a prominent figure in fantasy literature in Mexico and Latin America.
His texts have been translated into a dozen languages and have appeared in international anthologies. He lives in Mexico City with his wife, fellow writer Raquel Castro.
Other activities involving the participant:
Do you dream of electric sheep?
Annual International Storytellers Conference
Annual International Storytellers Conference
Organiza: FIL Guadalajara, with the support of Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y los Saberes de Colombia
Friday December 06
19:30 to 20:50
Salón 3, planta baja, Expo Guadalajara