Lina Meruane Boza (born 1970) is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an writer and professor. Her work, written in Spanish, has been translated into English, Italian, Portuguese, German, and French. In 2011 she won the

Anna Seghers-Preis Anna Seghers-Preis is a literary prize of Germany. The prize goes back to the German writer Anna Seghers (1900–1983), who stated in her testament that the revenues from her work should be used to encourage promising young writers. The award is ...

for the quality of her work, and in 2012 the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize for her novel ''Sangre en el ojo''.

Biography

Born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, Chile, Lina Meruane is of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent. She is the niece of actress

Nelly Meruane Nelly Lucinda Consuelo Meruane Solano (20 December 1927 – 20 June 2018) was a distinguished Chilean actress and teacher whose career spanned 65 years. For 20 years she was a member of the stable cast of the of the Pontifical Catholic Universit ...

and comedian . She started writing as a storyteller and cultural journalist. In 1997 she received a writing grant from the (FONDART) to finish her first book of stories. The following year she published ''Las infantas'', a book that received a very positive critique from Chilean reviewers, as well as writer

Roberto Bolaño Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (; 28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003) was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel ''Los detectives salvajes'' (''The Savage Detectives' ...

: Meruane published two novels before leaving for New York to do her doctorate studies in Spanish-American literature at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. In the United States she received a

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

from the Guggenheim Foundation in 2004 (for the novel ''Fruta Podrida''), and another in 2010 from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

(for ''Sangre en el ojo''). In 2011 she received the Anna Seghers-Preis, and the following year she won the 20th Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award for ''Sangre en el ojo'', during the

Guadalajara International Book Fair The Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known as the FIL (from its Spanish name: Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara) is the largest book fair in the Americas, and second-largest book fair in the world after Frankfurt's. It is als ...

, with a jury made up of the writers

Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro (born October 29, 1970) is a Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican novelist, short story writer and essayist. Biography Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro was born on 29 October 1970 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and was raised by her grandparents, P ...

Antonio Ortuño Antonio Ortuño (Guadalajara, 1976) is a Mexican novelist and short story writer. Ortuño is the author of the novels ''El buscador de cabezas'' (2006) and ''Recursos humanos'' (2007), finalist of the Herralde Prize. He also published the short st ...

, and

Cristina Rivera Garza 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 a ...

. She currently teaches Latin American literature and cultures at New York University. She was the founder and director of the independent label Brutas Editoras, which published books from Santiago and Manhattan.

Works

Short stories

* ''Las infantas'', Planeta, Santiago, Chile, 1998 (Eterna Cadencia, Argentina, 2010),

Novels translated into English

*''Seeing Red'' translated by Megan McDowell, Deep Vellum, USA (Atlantic Books, UK, 2016), ; original edition ''Sangre en el ojo'' *''Nervous System'' translated by Megan McDowell, forthcoming, Graywolf, USA, 2021 (Atlantic Books, UK, 2021); original edition ''Sistema Nervioso''

Novels in original Spanish

* ''Póstuma'', Planeta, Santiago, 2000 (Oficina Do Livro, Portugal, 2001) * ''Cercada'', Cuarto Propio, Santiago, 2000 (Cuneta Editores, Santiago, 2014 with prologue by Lorena Amaro) * ''Fruta podrida'', Fondo de Cultura Económica, Santiago, 2007 (Eterna Cadencia, 2015), * ''Sangre en el ojo'', Caballo de Troya, Spain, 2012 (Penguin Random House, 2015) * ''Sistema Nervioso'', Penguin Random House, Chile & Spain, 2019

Drama

* ''Un lugar donde caerse muerta / Not a leg to stand on'', dramatic adaptation of the novel ''Fruta podrida'' by the author and the Chilean theater director Martín Balmaceda; bilingual edition with prologue by Guillermo Calderón and English translation by Sarah Thomas, Diaz Grey Editores, 2012 (Trópico Sur, Uruguay, 2013) Meruane, Lina -Puertodeideas 2016 fRF07

Nonfiction

* ''Viral Voyages. Tracing AIDS in Latin America'', translated by Andrea Rosenberg, Palgrave MacMillan, 2014, ; original edition ''Viajes virales: la crisis del contagio global en la escritura del sida'', essay, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Santiago 2012, * ''Volverse palestina'', chronicle, Literal Publishing, USA / Conaculta, Mexico, 2013, * ''Volverse palestina/Volvernos otros'', chronicle/personal essay; Literatura Random House, Santiago, 2014 * ''Contra los hijos'', essay-diatribe, Tumbona, Mexico, 2014, and Penguin Random House, 2018

Visual essays

* ''Cinco personas en busca de su personaje'', ongoing project, first part directed by Luciano Piazza

In English language journals

''Two Lines'' (California), ''

Bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

'' (New York), ''

The Literary Review ''The Literary Review'' is an American literary magazine founded in 1957. The biannual magazine is published internationally by Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey. In addition to the publication of short stories, poems, an ...

'' (New York), ''Brick'' (Canada), ''N+1'' (New York), ''Words without Borders'' (New York), ''Drunken Boat'' (US), ''The White Review'' (UK), ''Litro Magazine'' (UK), ''Brown Book'' (Arab Emirates), ''Asymptote'' (US), among others in several languages.

Grants and awards

* 1997: Grant. National Council for the Arts, FONDART, Chile, for ''Las Infantas'' (

National Council of Culture and the Arts The National Council of Culture and the Arts (CNCA) was the Chilean government agency responsible for arts and cultural policy. The council was founded in 2003 and amalgamated arts and cultural policy under a single agency. It was a cabinet-level ...

) * 2004: Grant. John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Latin American and Caribbean Fellowship for ''Fruta podrida'' * 2006: Award. Best Unpublished Novel, for ''Fruta podrida'' (

) * 2010: Grant. National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, for ''Seeing Red''. * 2011: Award.

, por her literary work * 2012: Award. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, for ''Sangre en el ojo'' * 2015: Award. Institute of Chilean-Arab Culture Award, for ''Volverse Palestina'' * 2015: Award. Cálamo Another Look, for ''Fruta podrida'' (

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

) * 2017: Grant. Artists-in-Berlin Program, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service; for ''Sistema Nervioso''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meruane, Lina 1970 births 20th-century Chilean women writers 21st-century Chilean women writers Chilean educators Chilean women educators 21st-century Chilean novelists Chilean people of Italian descent Chilean people of Palestinian descent 20th-century Chilean short story writers Chilean women short story writers Living people New York University alumni New York University faculty National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Writers from Santiago Chilean expatriates in the United States Chilean women novelists