Juan Villoro
Juan Villoro (Mexico City, 24 September 1956) is a Mexican writer and journalist. He has been well known among intellectual circles in Mexico, Latin America and Spain for years, but his success among a wider readership has grown since receiving the Herralde Prize for his novel El testigo.
Biography
Juan Villoro received his bachelor's degree in sociology from the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Iztapalapa campus. As a rock music fan, he was the DJ for the radio program "El lado oscuro de la luna" (the Spanish translation of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd) from 1977 until 1981. He was then made the cultural attaché to Berlin in the then German Democratic Republic.
For three decades, Villoro has produced a steady output of articles for various Mexican periodicals, concentrating in such areas as sports, rock, cinema, literature and travel. Palmeras de la brisa rapida: un viaje a Yucatán ("Palm Trees of the Rapid Breeze: A Journey to Yucatan") 1989 is an account of his travels in a part of Mexico known for its Mayan culture. His first novel was El disparo de argón ("The Shot of Argon"), published in 1991. Los once de la tribu ("The Eleven of the Tribe"), published in 1995, collects many of his best short, non-fiction essays and interviews. The title refers to the number of people on an international football team. He covers a wide range of topics, including Andy Warhol, the Rolling Stones, the television series Dallas, the absurdities of publishing children's literature in the United States and an interview with Jane Fonda.
In 2011, Villoro appeared in film production Guerrero 12, a feature-length documentary examining soccer fandom passion. The film is directed by Miguel A. Reina, who was also responsible for the Sundance film Un aliado en el tiempo.
Works
Novels
- El disparo de argón (1991)
- Materia dispuesta (1997)
- El testigo (2004)
- Llamadas de Ámsterdam (2007)
- Arrecife (2012)
Short stories
- La noche navegable (1980
- La alcoba dormida (1992)
- Albercas (1985)
- La casa pierde (1999)
- Los culpables (2007)
- "Manuel Felguérez Obra Reciente 2002-2005" ("Orden suspendido" tale)(2005)
- "Palmeras de la brisa rápida" (2009)
- Forward: Kioto (2010)
Books for kids
- 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)
Others
- 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)