Novelist, poet and playwright. She also has printed her own art books. Founder and former co-owner of dinner theater El Hijo del Cuervo. Distinguished visiting professor at San Diego State University (1990). Visiting Professor at Georgetown University (1998). Holder of the Alfonso Reyes Chair, La Sorbonne University, Paris, 2001. Co-founder of the Mexico City House ‘Citlaltépetl’ for persecuted writers. Fellow, Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library (2001-2002). Holder of Andrés Bello Chair at NYU (2002-2003). Visiting Professor at Columbia University (2003-2004). Distinguished Lecturer al CUNY, City College (2004-2007). She has lectured at: Brown University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Heidelberg University, Freie Univertät Berlin, Irvine University, UCLA, Yale University, La Sorbonne, UNAM, among other universities and academic institutions, as well as at bookstores, book fairs and festivals of Germany, France, Italy, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Holland, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Holland, Colombia, Germany, Austria, Spain, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Argentina and Chile.
Prof. Boullosa studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana and the UNAM at Mexico City.
Playwright of the Year, 1985, for Los Totoles. Premio Xavier Villaurrutia, 1989, for Antes, La salvaja, and Papeles irresponsables. Guggenheim Fellowship, 1992. Liberatur Prize, Frankfurt, 1996, awarded to the German translation of La Milagrosa- Die Wundertäterin (Surhamp Verlag, Frankfurt, 1995). Anna Seghers Prize, Berlin, 1997 (Arts Academie of Berlin, for all her work). La milagrosa and Son vacas, somos puercos were at the Süddeutsche Zeitung DIE BESTENLISTE when appeared in German translation (listed as number 6 and number 7) and Antes also but with no specifical number, as the “Persönliche Empfehlung” of Jörg Drews. Her book Salto de mantarraya (y otros dos) was named the best book of poems of year 2004 by the newspaper Reforma, as her novel La otra mano de Lepanto, in 2005, and La novela perfecta, in 2006, at the top of their favorites of each of those years. El velazquez de París was selected by the literary supplement Confabulario at their list of the best five novels –2007-, and her short stories book, El fantasma y el poeta, by El Reforma as the 2nd best book of its kind of 2007.
On September 18, 2008, Carmen Boullosa was awarded the Café Gijón Prize, one of Spain's most distinguished literary awards, for her forthcoming novel El Complot De Los Románticos (tentative English title: Dante Hits the Road), to be published in 2009 by Siruela of Madrid. The prize, given for not-yet-published novels, is one of Spain's oldest. It was created in 1949, to compete with the Nadal Prize of Barcelona, by Fernando Fernán Gómez (the era's most famous film actor), along with the poet Gerardo Diego and author Enrique Jardiel Poncela, among others. It was named in honor of the Café Gijón, Madrid's historic literary café founded in 1888, where artists and writers long gathered to hold "tertulias" (conversational parties). The prize was originally administered by the Café Gijón itself, and paid out of Fernán Gómeźs pocket. Since 1989 it has been managed by the municipality of Gijón, in Asturias, Spain. Among former awardees are Ana María Matute (who also won the Nadal Prize, National Literature Prize, and Critics' Prize), Carmen Martín Gaite (who won the Nadal and the Prince of Asturias Prize), Leonardo Padura, and Eduardo Mendicutti, among many others. For the 2008 contest, 596 manuscripts were submitted to the jury, roughly half from authors in Spain, the rest from novelists in 23 different countries. Carmen is the first Mexican ever to receive the prize. The jury in 2008 was headed by Rosa Regás (winner of the Nadal Prize, former director of the Casa de América, former director of the National Library of Spain), and included: Antonio Colinas (one of the Spain's most eminent poets), Mercedes Monmanny (a leading literary critic), José María Guelbenzu (novelist and critic) and Marcos Giralt Torrente (winner of the Herralde Prize). In their decision, the jurors said: "The jury wants to emphasize the daringness of the winning work's gambit, its brilliant use of literary culture, as well as the way it shatters customary narrative molds. At the same time that it constructs a hilarious meta-literary game around the figure of the author, the novel also provides a subtext that critiques the literary Parnassus and contemporary (especially Mexican) society." The prize carries with it an award of 18,000 Euros. Boullosa's book will be brought out in January 2009 by Spain's distinguished Ediciones Siruela, the house that publishes Amos Oz, George Steiner, Italo Calvino, Clarice Lispector, Diane Wei Liang, Junichirô Tanizaki, Peter Matthiessen, Marguerite Duras, Robert Walser, Herta Müller, Gerald Bosch, among others. For a report on the award ceremony, see El País of September 18, 2008: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/mexicana/Carmen/Boullosa/Premio/Cafe/Gijon/elpepucul/20080918elpepucul_9/Tes. For more on the author see: www.carmenboullosa.net
NOVELS: Mejor desaparece, Océano, Mexico City, 1987. Antes, Vuelta, Mexico City, 1989. German version: Verfolgt, trans. Susanne Lange, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, 1996. Chinese: ed. 1999. French: Avant, Les Allusifs, trans. Sabine Coudassot-Ramírez, Quebec, Canadá, 2002. Son vacas, somos puercos: filibusteros del mar Caribe, Ediciones ERA, Mexico City, 1991, English version: They're Cows, We're Pigs, Grove Press, New York, 1997, trans. Lee Chambers. German: Sir sind Kühe, wir sind Schweine, edition Surhkamp, trans. Erna Pfeiffer, 1991; French: Eux les vaches, nous les porcs, Le serpent a plumes, Paris, 2002, trans. Claude Fell. El Médico de los piratas: bucaneros y filibusteros en el Caribe, Editorial Siruela Madrid, 1992. Llanto: novelas imposibles, Ediciones ERA, 1992. La milagrosa, Ediciones ERA, 1993. English version: The Miracle Worker, Jonathan Cape, London, 1994, trans. Amanda Hopkinson. German: Die Wundertäterin, edition Surhkamp, 1993, trans. Susanne Lange. Italian: La Miracolosa, Vallecchi Editore, 1996, and La Milagrosa, Feltrinelli, 2001, trans. Pino Cacucci. Duerme, Alfaguara, Madrid, 1994. German: Der fremde Tod, edition Suhrkamp, 1994, trans. Susanne Lange. French: Duerme, L’eau des lacs du temps jadis, L’atalante, 1997, and Le serpent a plumes 1999, trans. by Claude Fell. Italian: Dorme, Ed. Le Lettere, 2000, trans. Antonella Ciabatti. Dutch: De Schone Slaapster, Arena, Amsterdam, 1995, trans. Aline Glastra von Loon. Quizá, Monte Avila Editores, Caracas, 1995. Cielos de la tierra, Alfaguara, 1997. Treinta años, Alfaguara, 1999. English version: Leaving Tabasco, Grove Press, New York, 2001, trans. Geoff Hargraves. De un salto descabalga la reina, Editorial Debate, Madrid, 2002. English version: Cleopatra Dismounts, Grove Press, 2003, trans. Geoff Hargreaves). Will soon appear in Russian. La otra mano de Lepanto, Editorial Siruela, Madrid, 2005. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 2005. A Outra Mâo de Lepanto (novel), translated to the Portuguese by Paulo César Thomaz, Editora Palindromo, Sao Paolo, Brasil, September, 2006. La novela perfecta, Editorial Alfaguara, México, 2006. El velázquez de París, Editorial Siruela, Madrid, 2007. La virgen y el violín, Editorial Siruela, Madrid, 2008.
SHORT STORIES: El fantasma del poeta, Ediciones Sexto Piso, México, 2007.
PLAYS: Cocinar hombres: obra de teatro intimo, Ediciones La Flor, Mexico City, 1985. Teatro Herético: Propusieron a Maria: diálogo imposible en un acto, Cocinar Hombres, Aura y las once mil vírgenes. Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico, 1987. Mi versión de los hechos, Arte y Cultura ediciones, México, 1997. Los Totoles, Editorial Alfaguara, México, 2000. Pesca de piratas: audiolibro, Producción de Radio Educación, México, 1993.
POEMS: El hilo olvida, La Máquina de Escribir, Mexico City, 1979. Lealtad, illust. Magali Lara, Taller Martin Pescador, Mexico City, 1981. Abierta, Delegación Venustiano Carranza (Mexico), 1983. Ingobernable, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, 1979. La salvaja, Taller Martín Pescador, México, 1988. La delirios, Fondo de Cultura Economica, México, 1998. Soledumbre, colección Margen de Poesía, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Mexico City), 1992. Envenenada: antología personal, Fondo Editorial Pequeña Venecia, Venezuela, 1993. Agua, con dibujos de Juan Soriano, Taller Martín Pescador, México, 2000. Jardín Elíseo, Elyssian Garden, trad. Psiche Hugues, litografías de Phillip Hughes, Monterrey, México, 1999. Niebla, Taller Martín Pescador, México, 1997. La Delirios, poems, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City, 1998. La bebida, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, 2002. Salto de mantarraya, illustr. Phillip Hugues, trans. Psiche Hugues, The Old School Press, England, 2002. Salto de mantarraya (y otros dos), Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 2004.
ESSAYS AND NARRATIONS: Papeles irresponsables, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, 1989. El fantasma y el poeta, Editorial Sexto Piso, México, 2007.
CHILDREN´S BOOKS: La Midas, CIDCLI, Mexico City, 1986. Sólo para muchachos, Alfaguara, 1997.
INTRODUCTIONS TO BOOKS (among others): Violenta pureza, (with Magali Lara and Eduardo Vázquez Martín), Consejo Nacional de Recursos para la Atención de la Juventud, 1988. Ramos Sucre, Material de Lectura, UNAM, Mexico City, 1997. Lo propio en lo ajeno, Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, 1977
VIDEOTAPES: Cantona, Prod. INAH, México, 2000. Sueños de cristal: mexicanos en Nueva York, prod. Gobierno de la Ciudad de México, México, 2001.
AUDIOTAPES and cds: Ser el esclavo que perdió su cuerpo, Voz Viva de México, UNAM, México, 2000. El pequeño pirata sin rabia, música de Briseño y Hebe Rossell, acetato, Ciudad de México, 1995.
EDITED BOOK: Todos los amores, antología de poesía amorosa, selección y prólogo de Carmen Boullosa, Editorial Alfaguara, México, 2000.
Her work has been included in multiple anthologies of prose and poetry. (Gabriela De Beer,Contemporary Mexican Women Writers, University of Texas Press, 1999. Mark Doty, Open House: Writers Redefine Home, Graywolf Press, 2002. Mónica de la Torre & Michael Wiegers (eds): Reversible Monuments. Contemporary Mexican Poetry. Copper Canyon Press, 2002. Manuel Francisco Reina, Mujeres de carne y verso. Antología poética femenina en lengua española del siglo XX. La esfera de los libros, Madrid, 2002. Cent Ans de Littèrature Mexicaine, par Philippe Ollé-Laprune, Éditions de la Différence, Paris, March, 2007, among others).
She has recently published articles and essays at "The Nation", "Bomb Magazine", Gatopardo Magazine, “Babelia”, the cultural supplement of “El País”, among others.
Some of her playes have been staged (Vacío, dirección de Julio Castillo, con Jesusa y las Sombras Blancas, Foro Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, UNAM, México, 1980. 50 funciones. (Staged at Smith College, by students. Trece señoritas, con Jesusa, música de Liliana, dirección de la autora, Teatro de la Capilla, 1983. 50 funciones. Cocinar hombres. Varias temporadas (1983-1989): El cuervo, Teatro de la Capilla, Polyforum Cultural Siquerios, Teatro de la Conchita, entre otras. 120 funciones. El muerto vivo, El hijo del cuervo, 1989. X-E-Bululú, escrita en colaboración con Alejandro Aura, 500 funciones. Varias temporadas. Los Totoles, varias temporadas (Teatro Xola, Teatro de la Sogem), 300 funciones.). Her novel Antes was adapted for the stage by the Compañía de Teatro de la Universidad de Guadalajara, México. October-November, 2006. Among others).
Boullosa´s artist books have been exhibited at private Galleries, the Museo de Arte Moderno de la Ciudad de México –where they ´ve been part of their collection-, and at the Sala Pablo Ruiz Picasso del Museo de Arte Moderno de Madrid. The New York Public Library owns a full collection.
During 1990 and 1991, she did weekly interviews with writers for Mexican Public Television (on the show "Entre Amigos", transmitted by the then Public Cultural Channel Canal 13). She is now co-hosting the show "Nueva York", in Spanish, for CUNY-T.V., where she has interviewed leading Spanish-speaking figures of literature (Elena Poniatowska, Laura Restrepo, Laura Esquivel, Jorge Volpi, Eduardo Lago), scholarship (Néstor García Canclini), and popular culture (Eugenia León).
Last Updated: 3/2/09
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