Author profiles, interviews, and more from Críticas en-us http://www.criticasmagazine.com/community/Authors/48432.html?nid=4112 2009 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6606946.html?nid=4112 Joe Hayes comes from a storytelling home; his father told him stories, and he, in turn, did the same for his own children. It was not long before he ventured out to share his stories with others, and the rest of it, as they say, is history. Nearly three decades after publishing his first book, The Day It Snowed Tortillas (Mariposa Publishing, 1982), the Southwest’s “premier storyte... Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6606942.html?nid=4112 When Junot Díaz arrived in the United States from Santo Domingo at age seven, he landed in New Jersey, that not-so-picturesque East Coast state famous for having nonetheless inspired other internationally celebrated native writers, such as Phillip Roth and Paul Auster. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6596309.html?nid=4112 Following the tremendous success of her fantasy trilogy Memoria de Idhún (“The Idhún Chronicles,” SM, 2004-2006), Laura Gallego García was almost immediately dubbed“the Spanish J.K. Rowling.” And it’s no wonder; the books broke all previous sales records for original young adult novels in her native Spain, and spawned legions of devoted fans. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6578297.html?nid=4112 Antonio Orlando Rodríguez, the Cuban novelist who won this year’s Premio Alfaguara de Novela, has been traveling nonstop. His book tour brought him to New York City this past May, where he met with reporters eager to interview him on his latest accomplishment. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6560431.html?nid=4112 After making fans wait seven painstaking years, Ruiz Zafón returns with El juego del ángel, a prequel to his global best seller La sombra del viento. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6534275.html?nid=4112 Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli has been given the 2008 Biblioteca Breve Award for El infinito en la palma de la mano (Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand), her allegory about Adam and Eve in paradise. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6528829.html?nid=4112 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Nominees Include Vila-Matas, Pauls, and Restrepo. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6523884.html?nid=4112 The 2008 Premio Nadal, awarded by Ediciones Destino (Grupo Planeta), was presented on Sunday, January 6 to Spanish author and journalist Francisco Casavella (b. 1963) for Lo que sé de vampiros (“What I Know of Vampires”), which takes place during the 18th century when the Jesuits were expelled from Spain. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6523756.html?nid=4112 The Pura Belpré Awards, one of the most prestigious distinctions for Latino/Latina authors and illustrators of children’s books, were presented on January 14 at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6523906.html?nid=4112 Argentine Ariel Magnus won two international literary awards last year: the third Premio La Otra Orilla de Novela for Un chino en bicicleta (Norma, 2007), and later, the Premio Iberoamericano de Novela Breve Juan de Castellanos for Muñecas. He spoke to Críticas about Chinese people, literary prizes, and what it means to be young. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6523292.html?nid=4112 Something magnificent happened in 2007 in the children’s publishing industry. Many Spanish-language translations of American best-sellers were pretty good. Some even outstanding: their texts flow; they are a pleasure to read and a delight to hear. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6513606.html?nid=4112 The author of several works, Wilmer Urrelo Zárate (b. La Paz, 1975) won his first literary prize, the Premio Nacional de Primera Novela (National Prize for First Novel), at the tender age of 25, for his detective novel Mundo negro (“Black World”). Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6495923.html?nid=4112 At the beginning of 2007, when the British magazine Granta selected Daniel Alarcón as one of the most prominent young American writers, more than one person asked, “American? But Alarcón is Peruvian!” Indeed he is, but he has spent most of his life in the United States: he grew up in Alabama, studied in New York, and currently lives in California. Alarcón is a lot like his work: from here, but also from there. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6493260.html?nid=4112 When you first meet Raúl Figueroa, you’re struck by the intensity emanating from his brown eyes. He is a serious man on a serious quest—to play a key role in making Guatemalans more literate by publishing books that will help them comprehend what is going on in their country. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6479857.html?nid=4112 People from all over the world arrive to the United States with the hopes of achieving the American Dream and are often confronted with a harsh reality. Nicaraguan Hada María Morales’s story started off the same way but quickly took many turns. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6475336.html?nid=4112 An old hand at Argentina's literary scene, Juan Pablo de Santis recently embarked on a long Latin American book tour after winning the first Premio Iberoamericano Planeta-Casa de América de Narrativa, the new literary prize created by Spain’s publishing giant Grupo Planeta and the Spanish association Casa de América. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6468873.html?nid=4112 Mexican author and journalist Elena Poniatowska was awarded the prestigious Premio Internacional de Novela Rómulo Gallegos (Rómulo Gallegos International Literary Prize) for her novel El tren pasa primero ("The Train Passes First"; Alfaguara, 2006) August 2 in Caracas, Venezuela. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6468271.html?nid=4112 Good poetry can slant the sunlight in such a way that you see the spider web between branches, spotlighting what was otherwise invisible. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6460538.html?nid=4112 Every once in a while, a novel comes along that so perfectly captures the human story behind the headlines that it stands alone as the real story. Evelio Rosero’s Los Ejércitos is such a novel, a page-turner that submerges readers in the ordinary life of a fictional, small Colombian town slowly but surely devastated when competing armed forces terrorize its citizens. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6441160.html?nid=4112 When has one truly clinched a spot in America’s popular imagination? A Wikipedia entry, YouTube video clips, and a MySpace profile are all healthy starts. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:10:25 PST