Mario Mendoza Zambrano (born January 6, 1964) is a Colombian writer, professor, and journalist.
Biography
Mario Mendoza Zambrano was born in 1964 in
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
, Colombia. He studied at Colegio Refous and
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
The Pontifical Xavierian University (in Spanish Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) is a private higher education institution founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest, most traditional, and prestigious Colombian universities, directed by the Societ ...
, or "La Javeriana", in Bogotá, where he earned an MA in Latin American Literature. Later, he became Professor of Literature at La Javeriana. Mendoza has lived in
Toledo
Toledo most commonly refers to:
* Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain
* Province of Toledo, Spain
* Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States
Toledo may also refer to:
Places Belize
* Toledo District
* Toledo Settlement
Bolivia
* Toledo, Orur ...
, where he took courses of Spanish American literature, and also in Israel, where he lived in
Hof Ashkelon. During the fall of 1997, he worked at
James Madison University in Virginia, US.
After graduating in 1980, Mendoza began his literary career, combining writing with teaching and working with various print media, including Journal Bacánika and
El Tiempo Newspaper, Colombia.
Mendoza won the Seix Barral prize
Premio Biblioteca Breve
The Premio Biblioteca Breve is a literary award given annually by the publisher Seix Barral (now part of Grupo Planeta) to an unpublished novel in the Spanish language. Its prize is €30,000 and publication of the winning work. It is delivered in ...
in 2002 for his novel ''Satanás''.
About his work
In his works, Mendoza uses words and imagery to recreate Bogotá.
This is first introduced in ''La Ciudad de los Umbrales'', published in 1992, and developed throughout all of his novels.
In Mendoza's triptych
corpio City (1998), El Relato de un Asesino (2001) and Satanás (2002) the city of Bogotá is a dark muse whose beauty is dark because it condenses the infernal and the sacred, the criminal and the virtuous, the disgusting and the desirable, the painful and the pleasant.
"Through agile and concise prose, Mendoza achieves a milestone in his own narrative universe; a universe in which it is possible to find beauty in the ugly and disgusting, without trying to cover it up with facile catharsis. Since writing proposes a hyper visceral aesthetic, which fears do not travel intricate regions of the human psyche, or skirting the limits of madness."
Mendoza has been a literary advocate for the city of Bogotá for over 20 years, tracing in his novels the neighborhoods, bridges, schools, streets, universities, parks and the changes that the capital of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
has experienced in recent decades. Mendoza's work is now recognized as an important part of Colombian urban literature, especially in regard to the representation of the city of Bogotá in Colombian writings.
[Alvaro A. Bernal. '' Perceptions and images of Bogota: Urban literary expressions.'' Editorial Magisterium, 2010, Cap. 3.]
Works
Novel
* ''La ciudad de los umbrales'' (1994)
* ''Scorpio City'' (1998)
* ''Relato de un asesino'' (2001)
* ''
Satanás
''Satanás'' (Spanish for ''Satan'') is a 2007 Colombian film written and directed by Andi Baiz. It is adapted from the novel of the same title by Mario Mendoza Zambrano which is based on the spree killing committed by Campo Elías Delgado that ...
'' (2002)
* ''El viaje del loco Tafur'' (2003)
* ''Cobro de sangre'' (2004)
* ''Los hombres invisibles'' (2007)
* ''Buda Blues'' (2009)
* ''Apocalipsis'' (2011)
* ''Lady Masacre'' (2013)
* '' La melancolía de los feos'' (2016)
* '' Diario del fin del mundo'' (2018)
* '' Akelarre'' (2019)
Story
* ''La travesía del vidente'' (1997)
* ''Una escalera al cielo'' (2004)
* ''La locura de nuestro tiempo'' (2010)
* ''La importancia de morir a tiempo'' (2012)
Los vagabundos de Dios (2024)
Junior Novel
* ''Mi extraño viaje al mundo de Shambala'' (2013)
* ''La colonia de Altair'' (2013)
* ''Crononautas'' (2013)
* ''Metempsicosis'' (2014)
* ''El hijo del carpintero'' (2014)
Comic and Graphic Novels
* 2018 ''Satanás''
* 2019 ''El Último Día Sobre la Tierra - Volumen 1: Imágenes Premonitorias''
* 2019 ''El Último Día Sobre la Tierra - Volumen 2: Están entre Nosotros''
* 2020 ''El Último Día Sobre la Tierra - Volumen 3: El Astrólogo''
* 2020 ''El Último Día Sobre la Tierra - Volumen 4: Los Híbridos''
Awards
* Premio Nacional de Literatura del Instituto Distrital de Cultura y Turismo de Bogotá (1995)
*
Premio Biblioteca Breve
The Premio Biblioteca Breve is a literary award given annually by the publisher Seix Barral (now part of Grupo Planeta) to an unpublished novel in the Spanish language. Its prize is €30,000 and publication of the winning work. It is delivered in ...
from Seix Barral for the novel ''Satanás'' (2002)
[
* Premio Nacional de Literatura Libros y Letras (2011)
]
References
External links
Entrevista: Mario Mendoza: Historias del Bogotá profundo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza Zambrano, Mario
20th-century Colombian novelists
21st-century Colombian novelists
Colombian male novelists
Colombian male short story writers
Colombian short story writers
1964 births
Living people
20th-century short story writers
21st-century short story writers
20th-century male writers
21st-century male writers