Laia Jufresa (born 1983) is a Mexican writer. She 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 ...
and grew up in
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. She studied at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
, graduating with a BA in Arts. She also lived in Mexico City,
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
and
Cologne, Germany
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...
. She is best known for her debut novel ''Umami'', which has been translated into multiple languages. In 2017, she was named as one of the
Bogota39, a list of the most promising young writers in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
.
When she was only six, she moved to a very rural area in Mexico where she began to read avidly, especially English books that her grandfather would send her.
Later she lived in France, Spain, Argentina, and Germany.
She took a master's degree in illustration. In Mexico, she studied at Mario Bellatin's Escuela Dinámica de Escritores (Dynamic School of Writers) and was awarded the two grants for young writers from th
Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas(The Foundation for Mexican Literature) and the
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 comes ...
(The Mexican National Fund for Culture and the Arts). Her work has been in anthologies such as ''Un nuevo modo, Antología de narrativa mexicana actual'' (A new way, Anthology of Mexican current narrative, UNAM, 2013), ''Muestra de literatura joven de México'' (Sample of young literature of Mexico, FLM, 2008) and ''Los mejores Poemas Mexicanos 2006'' (The Best Mexican Poems 2006). Her book ''El esquinista'' (The cornerist) was awarded an honorable mention in the National Prize for Short Story San Luis Potosí 2012.
Literary works
Umami This novel a thoughtful, eccentric, and heart-wrenching interwoven story told from the perspective of neighbors living in a mews of five houses in Mexico City. The five houses are named after tastes: Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Sour, and Umami. Umami tells the stories of characters who are dealing with mortality, abandonment, and loss. Umami is insightful, and ultimately tells the stories of humans coping with living next to one another in order to feel less isolated and alone.
El esquinista (The Cornerist) was translated from Spanish by Sophine Hughes. This is a recollection of stories written from 2004 and 2010, with the help of grants from FONCA and the Foundation for Mexican Literature. It includes “El esquinista”, “Mama contra la Tierra”, “Moud”, “Eusebio Moneda” y “Los enganos”.
External links
Interview with BOMB MagazineWomen Are Humans: A Q&A with Laia Jufresa and Sophie HughesUmami author, Laia Jufresa, in conversation with translator, Sophie Hughes
References
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Mexican writers