1. Laura Restrepo.
The novel of politics
cover 'Los Divinos', LAURA RESTREPO.
EDITORIAL ALFAGUARA
Among all the Colombian creators, none has been as close to the political reality of Colombia as Laura Restrepo (Bogotá, 1950) was. In 1983 he was part of the Peace, Dialogue and Verification Commission that was to negotiate peace with the guerrilla group M-19. The experience and situation forced him to emigrate from Colombia due to threats against his life, and it was not until six years later that he managed to return. A leftist militant and always interested in opening the channels for dialogue between the guerrillas and the government, as well as a journalist (at one point in his life García Márquez was his tutor), Restrepo has achieved a unique style in Colombian letters. Winner of the VII Alfaguara Prize 2004 with
Delirio
,
has left a series of novels that allow a moral X-ray of the country, as can be seen in
Leopardo al sol
(1993),
Sweet company
(1995),
The dark bride
(1999),
Hot Sur
(2012) and
Los divinos
(2018 ).
2. Tomás González.
Far from everything, close to silence
cover 'The end of the Pacific Ocean', TOMÁS GONZÁLEZ.
EDITORIAL SEIX BARRAL
Until a few years ago it was said that Tomás González (Medellín, 1950) was the best kept secret in Colombian literature, but now it is difficult to find a Colombian reader who does not know him. In 1983 he published what is still his best novel for many,
First was the sea,
and since then he has woven a literary saga that is not only that of his own family, but that of many Antioquen families. Suffice it to write down
For Before Oblivion
(1987) or
Abraham among Bandits
(2010), and novels such as
La Luz Difficult
(2011)
in which he managed to speak in a key of pain to Colombian readers.
The End of the Pacific Ocean
(2020), his latest and for some the best novel, talks about a region as forgotten by the Colombian state as it is poetic: the Pacific.
Contrary to the Latin American narrative tradition, González's prose seeks silences, always under the influence of Buddhism.
3. Mercy Bonnett.
Life or death poetry
cover 'What has no name', PIEDAD BONNETT.
EDITORIAL ALFAGUARA
Mercy Bonnett (Amalfi, 1951)
He has been a benchmark in Colombian poetry since he published his first book of poems in 1989,
De Circles of Ash,
which has been followed by seven others, among which we highlight
Las herencias
(2008) and
Explicaciones no requested
(2011), both published by Visor. She is the author in addition to five other novels,
After all
(2001),
For others is heaven
(2004),
It was always winter
(2007),
The prestige of beauty
(2010) and
Where no one expects me
(2018).
She is also a translator and author of four plays.
But without a doubt his book that generated the most impact among the Colombian public was the memoirs about the death of his son,
What has no name
.
In a country where so many mothers have lost their children, Bonnett's voice rose like a sword of light.
4. Evelio Rosero.
Violence as identity
cover 'House of fury', EVELIO ROSERO.
EDITORIAL ALFAGUARA
Less of a figure than many other Colombian creators, Evelio Rosero (Bogotá, 1958)
it is still one of the narrative voices that has best portrayed the violent past that Colombia has lived through. Author of more than a dozen novels, it was
The Armies
(2006) that allowed him to become known not only for his way of portraying armed violence, but also for being worthy of the Independent Foreign Prize in the United Kingdom (2009) and the ALOA Prize in Denmark (2011). Six years and three novels later, he won the National Novel Prize for
La carroza de Bolívar
(2012). With a clear interest in the ways in which violence has impacted the country, his latest novel is not very different: in
House of Fury.
(2021), Rosero manages through a tragicomic lens to represent all the typical characters from Colombia who have managed to leave the country where it is: in the war for isolation.
5. Héctor Abad Faciolince.
Against oblivion
Héctor Abad Faciolince (Medellín, 1958)
In Colombia, since the publication of his memoir
El Olimpido Que Seremos
(2006) represents the reality of the sons and daughters of those killed by violence. With its film version released no more than a year ago under the direction of Fernando Trueba, the name of Faciolince continues to gain followers for a story that not only portrays the reality of a violent country, but also the sadness of a son who loses his father in violent circumstances. Poet and columnist, Faciolince has published other novels among which we can highlight
Basura
(2000),
The dawn of a husband
(2008) and
The hidden one
(2014). In 2019, he surprised his readers with the publication of
What was present. Diaries (1985-2006)
, where he not only strips naked as a son, writer and reader, but also as a writer who does not wait for his death to publish what he has thought about himself and about others.
6. Pilar Quintana.
The depths of the Pacific
cover 'Los abismos', PILAR QUINTANA.
EDITORIAL ALFAGUARA
Winner of the XXIV Alfaguara Novel Prize with the novel
Los abismos
(2021), Pilar Quintana (Cali, 1972)
has become one of the most important female voices in contemporary Colombian literature.
She was chosen in 2007 by the Hay Festival as one of the 39 most important authors under 39 years of age, and the selection did not fail: her novel
La Perra
(2017) received the IV Colombian Narrative Library Prize in 2018. Additionally, she has published the novels
Tickling on the tongue
(2003),
Collectors of rare dust
(2010),
Iguana conspiracy
(2009) and the collection of stories
Little
Red
Riding Hood eats the wolf
(2012).
Pilar Quintana's narrative and style represents current affairs in Latin American literature written by women.
7. Juan Gabriel Vásquez.
History and fiction
cover 'Back the view', JUAN GABRIEL VÁSQUEZ.
EDITORIAL ALFAGUARA
Of all the Colombian writers, it is possibly Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Bogotá, 1973)
the only one who has proposed to develop a work that seeks to establish the way in which literature allows us to understand the violent past and present of Colombia: that is, its history. His first novels reflect on the memory of a country and the personal past of its inhabitants:
Los informantes
(2004) visit the implications of the Nazis in Colombia during the Second World War,
Secret History of Costaguana
(2007) visit in
Conradian
code
the loss of the Panama Canal and in
The noise of things when falling
(2011), which won him the XIV Alfaguara Novel Prize 2011, he visits the birth of the war on drugs. In
The Shape of Ruins
(2015) and in
Back to the Back View
(2020), delves into the imperceptible limits between fiction, national life and reality.
8. Ricardo Silva Romero.
Sensible voice
cover'Río Muerto ', RICARDO SILVA ROMERO.
EDITORIAL ALFAGUARA
Over the last few years the voice of the novelist and columnist (among others, from EL PAÍS) Ricardo Silva Romero (Bogotá, 1975)
He has spoken to Colombians in many ways. His weekly column
Marcha fúnebre
, in the newspaper
El Tiempo
, has allowed him to become, in some way, for many Colombian readers the voice of good sense. Although since his novel
Autogol
(2009) he had delved into the most sensitive issues in Colombian history when visiting the assassination of defender Andrés Escobar after his own goal during the 1994 Soccer World Cup, his last three novels have been
Official History of the Love
(2016),
How to Lose Everything
(2018) and
Dead River
(2020), the latter one of the most stark stories about what the struggle between life and death is, in which Silva has shown how much he knows Colombians, and how much he recognizes the way they feel.
9. Melba Escobar.
A look at the upper class
cover 'When we were happy but we didn't know it', MELBA ESCOBAR.
EDITORIAL SEIX BARRAL
Columnist, journalist and novelist, Melba Escobar (Bogotá, 1976)
In the last five years, he has managed to produce a work that has allowed him to be recognized both for his novelistic fluency and for his perspective on the social and political reality of the country. Planeta published his first novel,
Duermevela
(2010) and his children's book
Johnny y el mar
(2014) was part of the 2015 White Ravens catalog. But it was not until he published the thriller
La casa de la Belleza
(2015) that he demonstrated her capacity for observation on the Colombian upper class, and in
La mujer que habba sola
(2019), her capacity for psychological introspection when portraying a woman who survived an attack at a shopping center. His latest book,
When We Were Happy and We Didn't Know It
(2020), writes about the situation in Venezuela after visiting it on four recent occasions.
10. Margarita García Robayo.
Raw truth
cover 'First Person', MARGARITA GARCÍA ROBAYO.
TRANSIT EDITORIAL
Margarita García Robayo (Cartagena de Indias, 1980)
It is undoubtedly the one who has best developed a narrative style that represents the power of the gaze converted into diction, narration and description. His novels
Until a Hurricane Passes
(2012) and
What I Didn't Learn
(2013), included in
Time Dead
(2017), attest to this, as well as his collection of short stories
First Person
(2017) and
Worse Things
(2014), among others, they have positioned her as an author who moves on both shores. Finalist for the Colombian Narrative Library Award in 2015 with the novel
What I did not learn,
and then winner of the 2014 Casa de las Américas Award for the book of stories
Peores,
García Robayo is an author destined to be one of the most powerful and authentic voices in Colombian literature, with a literary style that few readers will forget.
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