Alejandra Costamagna
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Alejandra Costamagna Crivelli (born 23 March 1970) is a Chilean writer and journalist.


Biography

Costamagna's parents arrived in Chile from Argentina in 1967. Alejandra Costamagna recalls that her first approach to writing was through journal entries that she began to make irregularly from age 10. It was in her adolescence when she began to take writing more seriously, after entering Francisco Miranda school when she moved to La Reina. There, Professor Guillermo Peréz "recommended her to read
Neruda Neruda may refer to: People * Neruda (surname), a list of people with the surname ** Jan Neruda (1834—1891), Czech journalist, writer, and poet ** Johann Baptist Georg Neruda (—), classical Czech composer ** Pablo Neruda (1904—1973), Chilean ...
, Mistral, Shakespeare, Chekhov, and '' Crime and Punishment'' by Dostoyevsky, a book which still marks her writing today." In addition, an interview was arranged and she went to the house of her neighbor Nicanor Parra, with whom she spoke about poetry and insomnia, which both shared.


Academic formation

Alejandra studied journalism at
Universidad Diego Portales Diego Portales University ( es, Universidad Diego Portales, UDP) is one of the first private universities founded in Chile and is named after the Chilean statesman Diego Portales. UDP has campuses in the Barrio Universitario de SantiagoA litera ...
and frequented the workshops of Guillermo Blanco, Pía Barros, Carlos Cerda, and Antonio Skármeta. Later, she studied for a master's degree in Literature at the University of Chile. She has collaborated in the magazines '' Gatopardo'', '' Rolling Stone'', and ''
El Malpensante ''El Malpensante'' ( es, The Misthinker) is a Colombian literary magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, short stories, graphic art and poetry founded in 1996. Its founders were Andrés Hoyos Restrepo and Mario Ju ...
''. In 1994, she obtained a FONDART grant to write her first novel. She also received a scholarship from the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa, 2003. Costamagna maintained in 2011 that she likes silence ("I like this silence half contaminated by the noise of cars, from the city that gets into the distance. It's like being alone, but accompanied. And if I need to talk, I have Pascual."), that she does not want to have children ("The idea of the family composed of mother, father, children, nannies and pets seems to me to be super-enclosed, poor and conservative. Aside from my personal choice not to be a mother, I think having children is super nice."), that she was not worried about having a massive success ("I like that my life is still normal, that writing and publishing is my happiness. I do not want my work to become a race for success, to have to respond to an editorial expectation. I do not see myself like this."), and lamented stereotypes about women ("That women are crying the most and writing with more sentimentality is a stereotype that is very bad for gender equality. And that happens with questions of the duty of women to marry, to have children and to form a happy family.").


Previous jobs

She was editor of the Culture and Entertainment section of the newspaper '' La Nación''. She worked on Rock & Pop radio station, on ''Gente de mente'' and ''Parque Forestal'' programs, in which she was the radio speaker. In 1996, she published her first novel called ''En voz baja''. In 2000, her book ''Malas noches'' was published and in 2013 she published ''Había una vez un pájaro''. Costamagna has taught literary workshops. Also, she has been a theater commentator for national newspapers and magazines, and has worked as a
columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
and chronicler for various magazines.


Writing career

Costamagna published her first novel, ''En voz baja'', in 1996, and followed it two years later with ''Ciudadano en retiro''. Both works received very positive reviews from the writer Roberto Bolaño: In 2000 her first book of short stories appeared, ''Malas noches''. Although she has continued to write novels, Costamagna has specially developed the ', so much so that she even reconverted her first novel into one, "Había una vez un pájaro", which appeared in a 2013 book of the same title, accompanied by two other texts. In '' El Mercurio'', Rodrigo Pinto compared this "calling to purify and clean her texts" with that of
José Santos González Vera José Santos González Vera (2 November 1897 – 27 February 1970) was a Chilean anarchist writer. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1950. Biography González Vera was born on 2 November 1897 in San Francisco del Monte, a sm ...
, who used to republish his works with the warning "corrected and diminished edition", but stressed that in Costamagna it acquired a different and even more radical expression. Her works have been translated into several languages (Italian, French, Danish, Korean) and have been honored with several awards, including the
Altazor ''Altazor o el viaje en paracaídas'', or simply ''Altazor'', is the magnum opus of Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro, published in Madrid in 1931. This poem in the shape of a book can be classified as an example of the Avant-garde literature movem ...
(2006) and the Anna Seghers-Preis (2008) for the best Latin American author of the year.


Current occupation

Nowadays, Alejandra Costamagna is still a writer and one of her last works is called ''El sistema del tacto'', published in 2018.


Works


Books

* ''En voz baja'', novel, LOM Ediciones, 1996 * ''Ciudadano en retiro'', novel, Planeta, 1998 * ''Malas noches'', short stories, Planeta, 2000. Divided into three sections, containing 15 stories plus an explanatory note about the gestation of the texts: ** "Veintiséis dientes": "Boca abierta", "Micro", "Buenaventura", "Sin voz", and "Veintiséis dientes" ** "Noticias de Japón": "Grasa en la estación", "Violeta azulado", "Donde se congelaba la primavera", "Parcialmente nublado", "Noticias de Japón", and "Grito de Leningrado" ** "En el parque": "Sólo un poco, en la mejilla", "Ellos", "Espejo", and "En el parque" * ''Cansado ya del sol'', novel, Planeta, 2002 * ''Últimos fuegos'', short stories, Ediciones B. 2005. Containing 16 texts: ** "Santa Fe", "Coronas vigilantes", "La invención del silencio", "Cuadrar las cosas", "Violeta azulado", "Bombero en las colinas", "El tono de un noble", "Domingos felices", "La epidemia de Traiguén", "La faena", "Noticias de Japón", "Champaña", "El olor de los claveles", "Chufa", "Cigarrillos, el diario, el pan", and "El último incendio" * ''Dile que no estoy'', novel, Planeta, 2007 * ''Naturalezas muertas'', long story (as defined by the author); Cuneta, 2010 * ''Animales domésticos'', short stories, Mondadori, 2011. Containing 11 stories: ** "Yo, Claudio", "Imposible salir de la Tierra", "A las cuatro, a las cinco, a las seis", "Daisy está contigo", "Hambre", "Patanjali", "Hombrecitos", "Pelos", "La epidemia de Traiguén", "El único orden posible, and "Nadie nunca se acostumbra" * ''Cruce de peatones'', chronicles, interviews, and profiles, selection by Julieta Marchant; , 2012 * ''Había una vez un pájaro'', three short stories, Cuneta, 2013. Contains "Nadie nunca se acostumbra", the micro-tale "Agujas de reloj", the titular story, and a final explanatory note by the author, entitled "En voz baja" * ''Imposible salir de la Tierra'', ten short stories that date back to the years 2005–2015; six published in books and magazines, four unpublished. Almadía (Mexico)/ CL, 2016


Stories in collective publications

* Música ligera (1994, Grijalbo, Chile). * Salidas de madre (1997, Planeta, Chile). * Voces de Eros (1997, Mondadori, Chile). * Cuentos extraviados (1997,
Alfaguara Alfaguara is a Spanish-language publishing house that serves markets in Latin America, Spain and the United States. It was founded by the Spanish writer and Nobel prize winner Camilo José Cela. History and profile Alfaguara was established in ...
, Chile). * Líneas aéreas (1999,
Lengua de Trapo Lengua (Spanish for 'tongue') may refer to: * Beef tongue, a dish * Lengua people, an indigenous group of Paraguay * Lengua, collective name for the Northern Lengua and Southern Lengua languages of Paraguay * Évert Lengua Évert Erickson Wilm ...
, España). * Volver a verla y otros cuentos (2000, Alfaguara, Chile). * Con pasión (2000, Planeta, Chile). * Se habla español (2000, Alfaguara, Chile/Estados Unidos). * Ecos urbanos (2001, Alfaguara, Chile). * Historias de mente (2001, Alfaguara, Chile). * Cuentos chilenos contemporáneos (2001, Lom, Chile). * Uno en quinientos (2004, Alfaguara, Chile). * Young Writing from Young Writers of the Worl (2006, Kang Publishing, Corea). * Alucinaciones TXT (2007, Puerto de Escape, Chile). * Narrativa chilena actual: 28 narradores meridionales (2007, La siega, Argentina). * Dios es Chileno (2007, Planeta, Chile). * Maldito amor (2008, Alfaguara, Chile). * Porotos granados (2008, Catalonia, Chile). * Sube a la alcoba por la ventana (2008, Munhakdongne Publishing, Corea). * Las mujeres cuentan (2010, Simplemente editores, Chile). * Junta de vecinas (2011, Calembé, España). * Los malditos (2011, Ediciones UDP, Chile). * Cl. Textos de fronteras (2012, Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile). * Volver a los 17 (2013, Editorial Planeta, Chile). * Selección chilena (2016, Estruendomudo, Chile y Perú). * Poliamor (2018, Anfibia, Argentina). * El río y la ciudad (2019, Eduner, Argentina).


Awards and distinctions

* Juegos literarios Gabriela Mistral awards for ''En voz baja'' (1996) *Premio Municipal de Literatura for ''En voz baja'' (1997) *Fondart Grant to write her first novel (1994) * Finalist for the 2001
Altazor Award The Altazor Award of the National Arts or simply Altazor, is a Chilean award which is awarded annually. The winners are chosen by the own creators and performers of the arts. They were established in 1958, but were not awarded until 1999. The a ...
with ''Malas noches'' * Finalist for the 2002 Planeta Argentina Award with ''Cansado ya del sol'' * Finalist for the 2003 Altazor Award with ''Cansado ya del sol'' * International Writing Program Scholarship from the University of Iowa (2003) * Altazor Award for ''Últimos fuegos (2006)'' * Art Critics' Circle Award for ''Dile que no estoy (2007)'' * Finalist for the 2008 Altazor Award with ''Dile que no estoy'' * Anna Seghers-Preis - German literary award (2008) * 2009 Best Literary Works Award in the Unpublished Work category from the for ''Animales domésticos'' * Finalist for the 2012 Altazor Award with ''Animales domésticos''


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Costamagna, Alejandra 1970 births 20th-century Chilean women writers 20th-century Chilean novelists 21st-century Chilean women writers 21st-century Chilean novelists Chilean journalists Chilean people of Argentine descent 21st-century Chilean short story writers Chilean women journalists Chilean women short story writers Diego Portales University alumni Living people Writers from Santiago Chilean women novelists