Cristina Rivera Garza (born October 1, 1964)
is a
Mexican author and professor best known for her fictional work, with various novels such as ''Nadie me verá llorar'' (''No One Will See Me Cry'') winning a number of Mexico’s highest literary awards as well as awards abroad. The author was born in the state of
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...
, near the
U.S.-Mexico border, and has developed her career in teaching and writing in both the United States and Mexico. She has taught history and creative writing at various universities and institutions, including the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM),
Tec de Monterrey, Campus Toluca, and
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
, but currently holds a position at the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
. Rivera Garza is the recipient of the 2020 MacArthur Fellowship. Some of her most recent accolades include the Juan Vicente Melo National Short Story Award,
the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize (Garza is the only author to win this award twice), and the Anna Seghers International Prize.
Life
Rivera Garza was born in
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and the municipal seat of the homonymous municipality. It is on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from ...
, in the northeast of Mexico near the border with the United States.
She is fluent in English and Spanish and has had a desire to write since her teenage years.
She did her undergraduate studies at ENEP-Acatlán (part of UNAM) in sociology, then went on to study her master’s in Latin American history at UNAM.
[ She holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Houston (1995). Her doctoral thesis was on the subjection of the human body to state power in mental asylums in early 20th century Mexico.][
She has lived in various places in Mexico as well as in the United States, developing her teaching career on both sides of the border, living in ]Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
, Toluca
Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico. The city f ...
, Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
and San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
. Rivera Garza spent some of her “decisive years” studying in Mexico City, which she says has given her a personal and intimate relationship with Mexico’s capital, featured in her novel “Nadie me verá llorar.” However, she never permanently moved to the capital, which is Mexico’s literary center, making her feel outside of the country’s literary scene. She has also stated that she does not like the concentration of Mexico’s culture in the capital.[
While she declines to use words to describe herself, she does state that “I am me and my keyboard.” She states that her personality is not fixed, and such would be limiting.] Rivera Garza maintains interests in narrative, history, and the nature of human language/communication.[ She believes that writing can be a question of life or death, and that writers should misbehave in real life as well as in the imagination to be connected to the world and better able to tell stories.]
Teaching career
She has always had a full-time job in teaching, which limits her time for creative writing, for which she is better known.[ Her first professorship was with San Diego State University from 1997 to 2004, teaching Mexican history.] In 2001 CECUT/Centro Cultural de Tijuana invited her to teach a class in creative writing, which she says changed her “personal dynamics, a lot of my relationships with Mexico” being in a Spanish dominant academic environment again.[
In 2004, she returned to Mexico as a professor of humanities at Tec de Monterrey, Campus Toluca, where she was co-director.][ In 2008, she returned to San Diego as a professor of creative writing at the literature department of the University of California, San Diego.][
Garza has also taught at UNAM, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM), ]DePauw University
DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...
,[ and has done research into popular conceptions of insanity and the history of psychiatry in Mexico. Her research work has appeared in journals such as Hispanic American Historical Review, the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, as well as journals in England and Argentina.][
Currently, Garza is a M.D. Anderson Distinguished Professor in Hispanic Studies and the director and founder of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. The Creative Writing Program is the first Ph. D. program in Creative Writing in Spanish in the United States.]
Writing career
Rivera Garza is one of the most prolific Mexican writers in her generation,[ receiving grants from CME (1984), ]FONCA The National Endowment for Culture and Arts (''Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes,'' FONCA) is a public agency of the Mexican federal government, attached to the National Council for Culture and the Arts (Conaculta). Funding for FONCA com ...
(1994, 1999), and the Centro de Estudios México-Estados Unidos (1998).[ In addition to writing books, she has collaborated with publications such as El Cuento, El Sol de Toluca, ]Excélsior
''Excélsior'' is a daily newspaper in Mexico City. It is the second oldest paper in the city after '' El Universal'', printing its first issue on March 18, 1917.
History
''Excélsior'' was founded by Rafael Alducin and first published in Mexic ...
, La Guillotina, La Palabra y El Hombre, Macrópolis, Nacional, Punto de Partida, Revista de la UAEM and San Quintin.[
Rivera Garza has also explored the digital realm as a venue for the publication of creative works. This began with blogging, starting with a now defunct site called ''Blogsívela'', a novel/blog written with the participation of readers.][ She has blogged since the late nineties with her current blog dating from 2004. However, instead of using her blog solely for promotional purposes like most other writers, Rivera Garza uses the resource to publish material that is more experimental and unconstrained by the requirements of traditional publishing.][ She has also experimented with Twitter (@criveragarza), with her tweets described as developing meta commentaries both on tweeting and on literature, stating “Look at it this way: an article is three or four tweets surrounded by text.” She coined the term “tweetnovel” (tuitnovela in Spanish) as a timeline written by the characters. Various people participate in the creative but there is someone responsible for the timeline.]
Philosophy and style
Rivera Garza’s works have been described as a “disturbing pleasure.” As a writer, she aims to darken things and make readers suspicious, believing that “there is too much light and clarity in the world” as well as too much communication and messaging. She does not write to create stories, nor to express herself or convince her readers to her point of view. Instead, she believes she is producing a kind of reality, agreeing with poet Caridad Ascensio that books provide travel through a state of mind.[ She does not believe the purpose of fiction is to inform, as there are other ways to do this, but rather she views writing as a physical manifestation of thinking. Rivera Garza believes that literature is one of the few ways people can explore the limits of human experience through language, stating that the books that have impacted her the most are those that made her think.][
Most of her creative work is a hybrid of styles, genres, and elements. She mixes styles such as narrative, poetry, short story, and novel.][ She blends elements from her imagination, along with those of reality including historical documents and even included herself in one of her novels.][ Her work has often focused on those marginalized, such as insane people and prostitutes and challenges the idea that concepts such as sex, nation or narrative identity are stable.][ Several of her works are influenced by her experience on both sides of the border, primarily writing in Spanish but has written in English as well.][
]
Recognition
Rivera Garza is one of Mexico’s best-known writers,[ having won six of Mexico’s highest literary awards.][ ]Jorge Volpi
Jorge Volpi (full name Jorge Volpi Escalante, born July 10, 1968) is a Mexican novelist and essayist, best known for his novels such as ''In Search of Klingsor ( En busca de Klingsor)''. Trained as a lawyer, he gained notice in the 1990s wi ...
has named her his favorite writer.[ Her work, especially “Nadie me verá llorar”, has been praised by critics, such as ]Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), ''Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christopher ...
, who stated that it has not received the attention that it deserves.
Her work has earned her various forms of recognition starting in the 1980s with the Punto de Partida Poetry Competition in 1984 for ''Apuntes'' and the San Luis Potosí National Short Story Prize in 1987 for ''La guerra no importa''.[ In the 1990s her first novel, “Desconocer” was a finalist at the 1994 Juan Rulfo Prize .][
In 2001 she won the Juan Vicente Melo National Short Story Award and was chosen as a member of the SNCA from 2003 to 2005.][
Her first international award was the Anna Seghers International Prize, awarded in Berlin in 2005.][
Her most recognized work is ''Nadie me verá llorar'' which received the 2000 IMPAC/CONARTE/ITESM National Award for Best Published Novel in Mexico, the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize in 2001 along with 1997 José Rubén Romero National Literary Award for Best Novel][ and was a finalist at the IMPAC Dublin International Prize.][ Carlos Fuentes called it “one of the most perturbing and beautiful novels ever written in Mexico.”][
She won the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize again in 2009 for ''La muerte me da'' the only author to win this award twice.]
In 2012, Rivera Garza received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
.
The author is also the recipient of the Roger Caillois Award for Latin American Literature (Paris, 2013).
Publications
Rivera Garza’s work has been translated into English, Portuguese, German, Italian and Korean.[
]
Novels
* ''Nadie me verá llorar'' (Mexico/Barcelona: Tusquets, 1999). José Rubén Romero National Book Award, 1997; IMPAC-CONARTE-ITESM Award, 1999; International Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
, 2001. (''No One Will See me Cry'', translated by Andrew Hurley, ed. NU Press, 2003)
* '' La cresta de Ilión'' (Mexico/Barcelona: Tusquets, 2002). Rómulo Gallegos Iberoamerican Award (2003) runner-up. (''Il segreto'', translated by R. Schenardi, ed. Voland, 2010)
The Iliac Crest
translated by Sarah Booker, ed. Feminist press, 2017; And Other Stories
And Other Stories is an independent British book publisher founded in 2009, notable for being the first UK publisher of literary fiction to make direct, advance subscriptions a major part of its business model as well as for its use of foreign l ...
, UK, 2018).
* ''Lo anterior'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2004).
* ''La muerte me da'' (Mexico/Barcelona: Tusquets, 2007), International Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
, 2009.
* ''Verde Shanghai'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2011).
* ''El mal de la taiga'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2012); English edition: ''The Taiga Syndrome'', translated by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana (Dorothy, US, 2018; And Other Stories
And Other Stories is an independent British book publisher founded in 2009, notable for being the first UK publisher of literary fiction to make direct, advance subscriptions a major part of its business model as well as for its use of foreign l ...
, UK, 2019). Shirley Jackson Award
The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic are presented a ...
* ''Nadie me verá llorar'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2014).
* Autobiographía del algodón (2020)
Short Story Collections
* ''La guerra no importa'' (Mexico: Mortiz, 1991). San Luis Potosí National Book Award, 1987.
* ''Ningún reloj cuenta esto'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2002). Juan Vicente Melo National Book Award, 2001.
* ''La frontera más distante'' (Mexico/Barcelona: Tusquets, 2008).
* ''Allí te comerán las turicatas'' (Mexico: La Caja de Cerillos Ediciones/DGP, 2013).
Opera
* ''Viaje'' - in collaboration with Javier Torres Maldonado, work commissioned by the Festival Internacional Cervantino
The Festival Internacional Cervantino (FIC), popularly known as ''El Cervantino'', is a festival which takes place each fall in the city of Guanajuato, located in central Mexico. The festival originates from the mid 20th century, when short play ...
.
Poetry
* ''La más mía'' (Mexico: Tierra Adentro, 1998).
* ''Los textos del yo'' (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2005).
* ''La muerte me da'' (Toluca: ITESM-Bonobos, 2007).
* ''El disco de Newton, diez ensayos sobre el color'' (Mexico: Dirección de Literatura, UNAM, Bonobos, 2011).
* ''Viriditas'' (Guadalajara: Mantis/UANL, 2011).
Non Fiction
* ''La Castañeda. Narrativas dolientes desde el Manicomio General, 1910-1930'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2010).
* ''Dolerse. Textos desde un país herido'' (Mexico: Sur+, 2011).
* ''Los muertos indóciles. Necroescrituras y desapropiación'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2013).
As editor
* ''Romper el hielo: Novísimas escrituras al pie de un volcán'' (Toluca: ITESM-Bonobos, 2006).
* ''La novela según los novelistas'' (México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007).
* ''Romper el hielo: Novísimas escrituras al pie de un volcán. El lugar (re) visitado''(México: Feria del Libro, Secretaría de Cultura, GDF, 2007).
* ''Rigo es amor. Una rocola de dieciséis voces'' (Mexico: Tusquets, 2013).
Rivera-Garza´s Translations
From Spanish into English:
* "Nine Mexican Poets Edited by Cristina Rivera-Garza," in New American Writing #31.
From English into Spanish:
* ''Notas sobre conceptualismos'' (Mexico: Conaculta, 2013).
"Por la niebla del nosotros" translation and introduction of Juliana Sphar, in Nexos.
* Translations of poems by Don Mee Choi, Edwin Torres, Juliana Sphar, Harryette Mullen, among others, included in ''Los muertos indóciles. Necroescrituras y desapropiación''.
Further reading
*
*
References
External links
Cristina Rivera-Garza´s monthly column in Literal Magazine.
Cristina Rivera-Garza at Mexico Moving Forward 2011, US-Mexico Center, University of California, San Diego.
* ttps://www.loc.gov/item/2016686142/ Cristina Rivera Garza reading from her work El Mal de la Taiga. Recorded for the literary archive at the Library of Congress, September 5, 2015.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera Garza, Cristina
1964 births
21st-century Mexican historians
Mexican women novelists
Living people
Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education faculty
University of California, San Diego faculty
San Diego State University faculty
National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni
Prix Roger Caillois recipients
Mexican women historians
Women horror writers
MacArthur Fellows