Article
The youngest of five brothers, Homero Aridjis was born in 1940, in the village of Contepec, Michoacán, Mexico, to a Mexican mother and a Greek father. He began writing at the age of 11, after surviving an accident which nearly cost him his life. At age of 19 he won a fellowship from the Mexican Writers’ centre, and in 1964 was the youngest-ever recipient of the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize for best book of the year, for ‘Mirándola dormir’, a classic of Mexican erotic poetry.
After two years in Europe on a Guggenheim Fellowship, he taught at American universities until entering the Mexican diplomatic service and serving as Ambassador to both Switzerland and then The Netherlands while still in his thirties. Back in Mexico, in 1985 Aridjis and 99 other renowned artists and intellectuals founded the legendary ‘Grupo de los Cien’, an activist organization based in Mexico which addresses national and international environmental and ethical issues. From 1997 through 2003 he served two terms as president of International PEN, where he strove to make PEN less Eurocentric.
In addition to fourteen volumes of poetry and eleven novels, Aridjis has written children’s books, essays and plays, and for the past ten years has been an editorial page columnist for the Mexican newspaper Reforma. His work has been translated into a dozen languages and recognized with literary prizes such as the Grinzane Cavour in Italy, for ‘1492 Vida y tiempos de Juan Cabezón de Castilla’ (1985). In 1997 he received the Prix Roger Caillois in France, and most recently, the Smederevo Golden Key poetry prize. ‘Eyes to See Otherwise: Selected Poems of Homero Aridjis’, a wide-ranging bilingual anthology of his poetry, was published in England (2001) and the United States (2002). Kenneth Rexroth called Aridjis a “visionary poet of lyrical bliss, crystalline concentrations and infinite spaces.”
A champion of grey whales, monarch butterflies, sea turtles and rain forests, Aridjis has been termed the ‘green conscience’ of his country, and for his passionate defence of the Earth has received numerous international awards, including the UNEP Global 500 Award, the Orion Society’s John Hay Award, and the International Environmental Leadership Award given by Mikhail Gorbachev and Global Green.
Aridjis and his wife Betty live in Mexico City, too far from their daughters, the writer Chloe Aridjis in Berlin, and the filmmaker Eva Aridjis in New York.
In addition to fourteen volumes of poetry and eleven novels, Aridjis has written children’s books, essays and plays, and for the past ten years has been an editorial page columnist for the Mexican newspaper Reforma. His work has been translated into a dozen languages and recognized with literary prizes such as the Grinzane Cavour in Italy, for ‘1492 Vida y tiempos de Juan Cabezón de Castilla’ (1985). In 1997 he received the Prix Roger Caillois in France, and most recently, the Smederevo Golden Key poetry prize. ‘Eyes to See Otherwise: Selected Poems of Homero Aridjis’, a wide-ranging bilingual anthology of his poetry, was published in England (2001) and the United States (2002). Kenneth Rexroth called Aridjis a “visionary poet of lyrical bliss, crystalline concentrations and infinite spaces.”
A champion of grey whales, monarch butterflies, sea turtles and rain forests, Aridjis has been termed the ‘green conscience’ of his country, and for his passionate defence of the Earth has received numerous international awards, including the UNEP Global 500 Award, the Orion Society’s John Hay Award, and the International Environmental Leadership Award given by Mikhail Gorbachev and Global Green.
Aridjis and his wife Betty live in Mexico City, too far from their daughters, the writer Chloe Aridjis in Berlin, and the filmmaker Eva Aridjis in New York.
Author: International Festival of Literature Berlin (ilb)
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Solar Poems
Published Written,
2010
City Lights Publishers
Antologia Poetica
Published Written,
2009
Sicarios / Hit Men
Published Written,
2007
Spanish. Alfaguara
A odisea contada aos nenos
Published Written,
2007
A Coruña: Rodeira
Los Poemas Solares
Published Written,
2005
Spanish. San Diego: Fondo de Cultura Económica
El Hombre Que Amaba El Sol/The Man Who Loved the Sun
Published Written,
2005
Spanish. Alfaguara
La zona del silencio
Published Written,
2002
Spanish. Alfaguara
Eyes to see otherwise
Published Written,
2001
Ed. by Betty Ferber, George McWhirter. Carcanet 2001/New Directions 2002
La montaña de las mariposas
Published Written,
2001
Spanish. Madrid: Punto de Lectura
El ojo de la ballena: poemas 1999-2001
Published Written,
2001
Fondo de Cultura Economica
Obra poética 1960 - 2001
Published Written,
2001
Sanish. Fondo de Cultura Económica: Mexiko
Eyes to See Otherwise. Ojos de otro mirar
Published Written,
2001
New Directions: New York
Tiempo de ángeles
Published Written,
1997
Fondo de Cultura Económica: Mexiko
The Lord of the last days : Visions of the Year 1000
Published Written,
1995
El gran teatro del fin del mundo
Published Written,
1994
Spanish. Fondo de Cultura Economica
El señor de los últimos días, visiones del año mil
Published Written,
1994
Alfaguara: Mexiko
La leyenda de los soles (Tierra Firme)
Published Written,
1993
Fondo de Cultura Economica
1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezón of Castile
Published Written,
1991
Mil uatrocientos noventa y dos: Vida y Tiempos de Juan Cabezon
Published Written,
1990
Spanish. Barcelona: Edhasa
Persephone
Published Written,
1986
Vintage
Construír la muerte
Published Written,
1982
Joaquín Mortiz: Mexiko
Exaltation of Light
Published Written,
1981
BOA Editions
Blue Spaces
Published Written,
1974
Los espacios azules
Published Written,
1969
Joaquín Mortiz: Mexiko
