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.

www.albertochimal.com

Other activities involving the participant:

Do you dream of electric sheep?
Annual International Storytellers Conference
Annual International Storytellers Conference