Fernanda Melchor

Fernanda Melchor
Melchor in 2019
Melchor in 2019
Born (1982-01-01) January 1, 1982 (age 42)
Veracruz, Mexico
OccupationNovelist
Alma materUniversidad Veracruzana
GenreLiterary fiction
Notable worksHurricane Season, Paradais
Notable awards

Fernanda Melchor (born 1982, Veracruz, Mexico) is a Mexican writer best known for her novel Hurricane Season[1][2] for which she won the 2019 Anna Seghers Prize[3] and a place on the shortlist for the 2020 International Booker Prize.[4]

Life and career

[edit]

Melchor graduated with a degree in Journalism from the Universidad Veracruzana[5] where she was Coordinator of Communication of the Veracruz-Del Río campus.

Melchor has published fiction and nonfiction in The Paris Review, La Palabra y el Hombre, Letras Libres, Excélsior, Replicante, Milenio semanal, Le Monde diplomatique, Vice Latinoamérica, GQ Latinoamérica and Vanity Fair Latinoamerica. She began her writing career in 2013 with the publication of Aquí no es Miami (2013), a collection of literary journalism, and Falsa Liebre (2013), her first novel.

Hurricane Season[6] a novel based on the murder of a witch in a small town in Melchor's home state, Veracruz—was featured as one of the best novels in Mexico in 2017[7][8][9] The book has been translated into German by Angelica Ammar and into English by Sophie Hughes. It won the 2020 International Literature Award of the Haus der Kulturen in Germany,[10] and was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize.

In 2015, Melchor was included in a Conaculta's anthology as one of the featured Mexican authors under 40 years old.[11]

In 2018, Melchor won the PEN Mexico Award for Literary and Journalistic Excellence[12]

In 2019, Melchor was awarded the International Literature Award as well as the Anna Seghers-Preis along with the German writer Joshua Gross.[13]

Melchor's 2021 book, Paradais, translated by Sophie Hughes, was shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize.[14]

In September 2023 the English translation of Aquí no es Miami (This is Not Miami) was longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature.[15]

In 2024, she received the Ryszard Kapuściński Award, an international literary prize in the genre of literary reportage, for her book Aquí no es Miami (This is Not Miami).[16]

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Aquí no es Miami (2013). This Is Not Miami, trans. Sophie Hughes (2023)
  • Falsa liebre (2013)
  • Temporada de huracanes (2017). Hurricane Season, trans. Sophie Hughes (2020)
  • Páradais (2021). Paradais, trans. Sophie Hughes (2022)

Awards and honors

[edit]
  • Winner of Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for " This is not Miami" 2024
  • Winner of the First Essay Contest on by the CNDH, 2002
  • Winner of the Literary Virtuality Casa de Letras, National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2007
  • Winner of the Journalism Award of the Journalism Foundation Rubén Pabello Acosta, 2009
  • Winner of the Chronicle National Award Dolores Guerrero, 2011
  • Winner of the Pen Club Prize for Journalistic and Literary Excellence, 2018
  • Winner of the International Literature Award, 2019
  • Winner of the Anna Seghers-Preis, 2019 for Hurricane Season
  • Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020 for Hurricane Season[17]
  • Shortlisted for the Dublin International Literary Awards 2021 for Hurricane Season[18]
  • Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022 for Paradais

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor review – intense and inventive". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "A Mexican Novel Conjures a Violent World Tinged With Beauty". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "anna-seghers.de – Anna-Seghers-Stiftung". www.anna-seghers.de. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  4. ^ "Women Dominate Booker International Prize Shortlist". The New York Times.
  5. ^ UV, Departamento de Prensa. "En mis obras hablo del Veracruz que no se ve: Fernanda Melchor – Universo – Sistema de noticias de la UV" (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  6. ^ Ferri, Pablo (2017-06-17). ""¿De qué sirve el amor cuando te estás ahogando?"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  7. ^ Quezada, José (2018-04-17). "El frenesí de la escritura: una entrevista a Fernanda Melchor". Chilango (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  8. ^ Ortuño, Antonio. "Por fin". Letras Libres (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  9. ^ Carrión, Jorge (2017-12-17). "Los libros de ficción de 2017: una selección iberoamericana". The New York Times (in Mexican Spanish). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  10. ^ "Nightmarish realism: Fernanda Melchor on the haunting voices of 'Hurricane Season'". DW.COM. Deutsche Welle. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  11. ^ Mazón, Selene (2017-06-26). "Temporada de huracanes, la nueva novela de Fernanda Melchor". Gatopardo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  12. ^ "Dan premio de excelencia periodística a Adriana Malvido, columnista de EL UNIVERSAL". El Universal (in Spanish). 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  13. ^ "Anna-Seghers-Preis für Fernanda Melchor und Joshua Groß". berlin.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  14. ^ "Los Angeles Times Book Prizes winners announced". Los Angeles Times. 2023-04-22. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  15. ^ "The 2023 National Book Awards Longlist: Translated Literature". The New Yorker. September 13, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  16. ^ "Fernanda Melchor laureatką Nagrody im. Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego". onet.pl (in Polish). 27 May 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Hurricane Season | The Booker Prizes". thebookerprizes.com. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  18. ^ "Hurricane Season – DUBLIN Literary Award". Retrieved 2021-06-02.