Jorge Marchant Lazcano (born March 9, 1950, 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, whos ...

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 ...

) is a Chilean writer, playwright, screenwriter, novelist and journalist.Jorge Marchant Lazcano
goodreads.com He is the son of Jorge Marchant Montalva and María Ester Lazcano Cuevas. He had a religious, conservative and very formal education of which Jorge partially united, when he began to study journalism at the Universidad de Chile in 1969.

Start in the literature

His first literary contributions were published by Editorial Quimantú, a former publishing house of

. Very soon he discovered a new form of literature that helped him to write ''La Beatriz Ovalle'', his first novel, published in

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 ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 1977. That book became later one of the biggest successes of Chilean publications, although the coup d'état of General

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

was a hard misfortune for the culture and literature of this country.

A writer with strength

His first job as a journalist was for ''Revista Paula'', a magazine dedicated to the women's world. Simultaneously he wrote literary reviews for the evening newspaper ''La Segunda'', but his vocation as a journalist did not consolidate and in the 1980s Televisión Nacional de Chile, a TV channel from

, hired him as a screenwriter. In the meantime he published two new titles, ''La noche que nunca ha gestado el día'', a short novel (1982), and ''Matar a la dama de las camelias'', a short fiction book (1986). He also released two new theater plays during those years: ''Gabriela'' (1981), about the life of

Gabriela Mistral Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (; 7 April 1889 – 10 January 1957), known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral (), was a Chilean poet-diplomat, educator and humanist. In 1945 she became the first Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in Li ...

, the first

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and ''Última Edición'' (1983), an ironic portrait of his journalistic participation in the ''Revista Paula'' magazine. Many of his tales were included in Chilean and international anthologies. One of his most important achievements was his inclusion in the book ''My Deep Dark Pain Is Love'', an anthology of gay narrative, published by Gay Sunshine Press in San Francisco, where he appears along with authors such as

Manuel Puig Juan Manuel Puig Delledonne (December 28, 1932 – July 22, 1990), commonly called Manuel Puig, was an Argentine author. Among his best-known novels are '' La traición de Rita Hayworth'' (''Betrayed by Rita Hayworth'', 1968), ''Boquitas pint ...

Reinaldo Arenas Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright known as a vocal critic of Fidel Castro, the Cuban Revolution, and the Cuban government. His memoir of the Cuban dissident movement and of being a ...

and Luis Zapata.

Screenwriter of television series

Being a television series writer was not widely admired or highly regarded during those years and Jorge Marchant was strongly criticized for working in this field. In spite of this, his work opened the door for other writers willing to start in the budding industry of television. His most relevant creation during that stage was ''Volver a empezar'' (1990). During the 1990s Jorge Marchant wrote many television series that are considered classics in the genre. He also built the foundations for a television playwright of wide repercussions in

Successful return to the world of literature

In 1999 he released a new drama named ''No me pidas la luna'' and in 2002 Marchant published the historical novel ''Me parece que no somos felices'', followed by ''La joven de blanco'' (2004). This was followed by ''Sangre como la mía'' (2006), for which he received the Altazor National Arts award in Chile. His most recent creation is the novel ''El amante sin rostro''. Although Jorge Marchant officially lives in

, the capital city of

, he spends more or less half of the year in New York, with a complete dedication to the job of writing.

Works

Published books *''La Beatriz Ovalle'' *''La noche que nunca ha gestado el día'' *''Matar a la dama de las Camelias'' *''Me parece que no somos felices'' *''La joven de blanco'' *''Sangre como la mía'' *''El amante sin rostro'' Participation in anthologies *''My Deep Dark Pain Is Love'' Playwright *''Gabriela'' *''Última Edición'' *''No me pidas la luna'' Awards *''Premio Altazor de Novela – Versión 2007''

References

External links

(in Spanish), La Web Oficial de Jorge Lazcano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant Lazcano, Jorge 1950 births Living people Writers from Santiago 20th-century Chilean novelists 20th-century Chilean male writers Chilean journalists Male journalists Chilean male dramatists and playwrights Chilean gay writers Chilean LGBT novelists Chilean LGBT dramatists and playwrights Gay novelists Gay dramatists and playwrights Chilean male novelists 21st-century Chilean novelists 21st-century Chilean male writers