An award-winning writer who delves into the institutional violence of Mexico;
a storyteller considered among the best of her generation;
a young writer who exorcises the demons that eat away at his country, Guatemala;
an author who delves into a futuristic narrative about the dilemma of colonizing the Moon;
and true sales successes that conquer the youngest readers.
The Guadalajara International Book Fair is a showcase that presents the literary innovations that set the pace in the Latin American publishing world.
These are some of the proposals of this year's edition of the FIL.
Vicente Alfonso: journalism and literature to tell about a violated Mexico
When Vicente Alfonso (Torreón, Mexico, 45 years old) was a child, he was fascinated by reading the court files that his mother, a judge, brought home.
He immersed himself in those stories that made his imagination fly, but also question the way in which justice was delivered.
He would ask his mother if she was sure that a person was guilty and she would reply that she can never be completely certain.
"That made me understand from a young age that justice is fallible, made by humans," says Alfonso.
But from those files, which for him had the structure of a detective novel, the thorn of writing was stuck and now Alfonso is making his way into the Mexican literary world as one of his new and valuable storytellers.
He has already published four novels and a book of chronicles, including
The Unknown Blood.
(Alfaguara), Élmer Mendoza National Novel Award, which is one of the recommendations of Penguin Random House in the FIL of Guadalajara.
The novel begins with the commotion generated in a small American town by the disappearance of the heiress of a multimillion-dollar emporium, a fact that links a Mexican woman named Rosario Navarro.
The narration is also an excuse to talk about a very current problem in Mexico: institutional violence.
“I like to tell stories that have one foot in reality and the other in fiction.
The journalistic profession forces you to think about how one approaches reality to make round and attractive stories”, says the author.
Aura García-Junco: exploration of a society fossilized by selfishness
Portrait of Aura García-Junco, during FIL 2022. Roberto Antillón
The enigma of the disappearance of a person can unleash a thousand ghosts.
This is what happens to Sofía, a skeptical teacher wounded by the memories of the disappearance of a dear friend, which also make her a vagabond in a world where those who are no longer there become stone statues, numbers in the official statistics. .
Those memories that paralyze her begin to transform when she establishes a relationship with a woman the same age as her friend, and then she understands that things must change.
Devastated to see how the society in which she lives is satisfied with having a statue that honors those who have disappeared, she decides to search and understand what is happening.
Sofia is the protagonist of
Mar de piedra
(Seix Barral), the new novel by Aura García-Junco (Mexico City, 34 years old), which she has presented at the FIL in Guadalajara.
García-Junco was chosen by the British magazine
Granta
as one of the best narrators under 35 in Spanish.
“What I try the most is for the characters to be deep, to be complex, to act on their own, to make mistakes.
It's a long process of creating characters, grinding them down until I feel like they stand on their own and have their own adventures.
Which then seems silly, but no, the truth is that it is quite difficult to reach the point where you feel that they have a life of their own and that these wounds, which are the triggers for these stories, also become the triggers for a whole” , says García-Junco.
Rodrigo Fuentes: Memory to exorcise a country
Guatemalan writer Rodrigo Fuentes at FIL.
Nayeli Cruz
Rodrigo Fuentes (Guatemala, 39 years old) tells a very personal story in
Map of other worlds
(Sophos), but at the same time it is the chronicle of a country adrift.
The Central American Short Story Cover Award (2014) narrates the story of his family, a narrative populated by ghosts, with his grandfather murdered at the head, to understand a Guatemala mired in corruption, impunity, where the powerful rule hand in hand with the military and where justice is unfair and combative judges await ostracism, exile.
The young narrator, one of the promises of Central American literature, does not leave the reader apathetic: from the beginning of the novel he sows the anguishing need to continue the story, especially when the reader comes across this phrase: "They arrested dad." .
Fuentes, who presented his novel at FIL in Guadalajara, is part of a new generation of Central American writers who,
Fernando Viveros: And if we colonized the Moon?
Stella is ready to launch into space and reach the Moon, that satellite that in the near future begins to be colonized by humans.
This is how it begins
. We are
(Caligrama), the novel by the Mexican Fernando Viveros (Mexico City, 62 years old), a reflection on the impact of technological advances, space exploration and the dictatorship of the algorithm.
Although the work takes place in the not so distant future, it is also a nod to the present, with entrepreneurs determined to break the limits, such as the space businessman Elton Trust, who sounds like an alter ego of Elon Musk, who is so much to talk about. in the media.
“It is a story that deals with the dilemmas of colonization.
It is a novel about topics that bring the future closer to the present, such as genetic programming, how to insert technology into a body to improve it, the discussion of freedom through algorithms on social networks and the Internet”, explains the author.
“These are topics that they like a lot,
Alberto Villareal: the inspiration of poetry
Alberto Villarreal. Roberto Antillón
Alberto Villarreal has made his way, at just 28 years old, among the Mexican publishing world for his fresh commitment to a narrative that attracts young readers.
Born in Monterrey, in northern Mexico, the booktuber is also a phenomenon on social networks and his followers show a loyalty that sometimes, he says, makes him nervous.
In the FIL of Guadalajara he presented his collection of poems
From him Here there is no thirst
(Planet), small verses full of images.
"What I want is to talk about feelings, emotions, to speak directly to the heart," says Villareal.
The young writer affirms that some readers have approached him to tell him that thanks to his poems they have searched for other poets and that fills him with satisfaction.
“They feel curious and begin to jump between poets, between genres, between writers”, he says.
Sue Zurita: the phenomenon of self-application turned into a cult book
The Penguin Random House pavilion at the FIL in Guadalajara became an attraction for young readers.
Dozens of them went expectantly to the shelves to look for their favorite authors, young writers who were born as part of a mass phenomenon, self-publishing, and who, thanks to their success, were signed by the big publishers.
One of them is Sue Zurita (Villahermosa, Mexico, 37 years old), who achieved great success with
The Journey of the Hummingbirds.
(Grijalbo), a novel about flight, the search for the meaning of life, love and openness to the unexpected.
Zurita presented a new edition of his successful text at FIL, which includes an unpublished chapter, to continue attracting dozens of young readers to her journey who are captivated by her character, the endearing Romina.
“These works introduce young people to books and make their way into the world of reading,” says a Random House editor.
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