Gustavo Sainz (13 July 1940 – 26 June 2015) was a

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

author from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Biography

Sainz was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. As the son of journalist José Luis Sainz, Gustavo Sainz learned how to read at the age of three from his paternal grandmother, and started publishing his work in the city newspapers at the age of ten. When he was in primary school, Sainz founded several school magazines, which he continued to do until college. At the age of eighteen, Sainz left home to work as a journalist in the magazine ''Visión''. In 1960, he entered the

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

, where he began studying law, but ultimately changed to study literature. Sainz's first novel, ''Gazapo'', was published when he was twenty-five and has been translated into fourteen languages. This novel marked the beginning of the literary movement "

la Onda ''La Onda'' (The Wave) was a multidisciplinary artistic movement created in Mexico by artists and intellectuals as part of the worldwide waves of the counterculture of the 1960s and the avant-garde. Pejoratively called as ''Literatura de la Onda'' ...

", of which other Mexican writers, such as

José Agustín José Agustín Ramírez Gómez (born 19 August 1944) is a Mexican novelist, short story writer, essayist and screenwriter. He is considered as one of the most influential and prolific Mexican writers of the second half of the 20th century. Career ...

and Parmenides García Saldaña, formed part. In 1968, Sainz travelled to the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

to participate in the International Writing Program, where he started and completed his second novel, ''Obsesivos días circulares''. Sainz's longest novel, ''A la salud de la serpiente'', relates his adventures of this period in Iowa. Upon his return to Mexico, he wrote ''La princesa del Palacio de Hierro'', which won the

Xavier Villaurrutia Award The Xavier Villaurrutia Award (Premio Xavier Villaurrutia) is a prestigious literary prize given in Mexico, to a Latin American writer published in Mexico. Founded in 1955, it was named in memory of Xavier Villaurrutia. Multiple awards have been gi ...

in 1974. It was translated into English by Andrew Hurley and published as ''The Princess of the Iron Palace'' by

Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...

in 1987. In 2003, he published ''A troche y moche'', which won the prize for the best novel of the year written in Mexico, and its translation into French won the award for best novel in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. His work includes eighteen published novels, countless articles, and various children's books. Sainz was the editor of the magazine ''Transgresiones''. He lived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with his two sons, Claudio and Marcio Sainz, and was a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He died there of complications from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

in 2015.

Works

* ''Gazapo'', 1965 * ''Obsesivos días circulares'' * ''La princesa del Palacio de Hierro'', 1974 * ''Compadre Lobo'', 1977 * ''Fantasmas aztecas'', 1982 * ''Paseo en trapecio'' * ''Muchacho en llamas'', 1988 * ''Retablo de heresiarcas e inmoderaciones'' * ''A la salud de la serpiente'' * ''A troche y moche'', 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sainz, Gustavo Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni 1940 births 2015 deaths Writers from Mexico City Mexican male novelists 20th-century Mexican male writers 20th-century Mexican novelists 21st-century Mexican novelists Indiana University faculty International Writing Program alumni 21st-century Mexican male writers Mexican expatriates in the United States