Juan Villoro is a Mexican writer and journalist. He has been well known among intellectual circles in Mexico, Latin America and Spain for years, but his success among the readers grew since receiving the Herralde Prize for his novel El testigo.

Biography

Juan Villoro received his bachelor's degree in sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 from the Metropolitan Autonomous University

Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

The Metropolitan Autonomous University is a public university located in Mexico City, Mexico...

, Iztapalapa

Iztapalapa

Iztapalapa is one of the Federal District of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs, located on the east side of the entity. The borough is named after and centered on the formerly independent municipality of Iztapalapa, which is officially called Iztapalapa de Cuitláhuac for disambiguation purposes...

 campus. As a rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 fan, he was the DJ for the radio program "El lado oscuro de la luna" (the Spanish translation of The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...

 by Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

) from 1977 until 1981. He was then made the cultural attaché to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 in the then German Democratic Republic

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

.

For three decades, Villoro has produced a steady output of articles for various Mexican periodicals, concentrating in such areas as sports, rock, cinema, literature and travel. Palmeras de la brisa rapida: un viaje a Yucatán ("Palm Trees of the Rapid Breeze: A Journey to Yucatan") 1989 is an account of his travels in a part of Mexico known for its Mayan

Maya peoples

The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...

 culture. His first novel was El disparo de argón ("The Shot of Argon"), published in 1991. Los once de la tribu ("The Eleven of the Tribe"), published in 1995, collects many of his best short, non-fiction essays and interviews. The title refers to the number of people on an international football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 team. He covers a wide range of topics, including Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

, the Rolling Stones, the television series Dallas

Dallas (TV series)

Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...

, the absurdities of publishing children's literature in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and an interview with Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...

.

In 2011, Villoro appear in film production Guerrero 12

Guerrero 12

Guerrero 12, also known as 12th Warrior, is a Mexican film documentary that plans to release in theaters in the winter of 2011 in Mexico. The film is directed by Mexican director Miguel A...

, a feature-length documentary examining soccer fandom passion. The film is directed by Miguel A. Reina

Miguel A. Reina

Miguel Alejandro Reina Gómez Maganda is an award-nominated Mexican filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. Some of his works include Un aliado en el tiempo, Mi vida en frenesí, Trazos mágicos de Oaxaca and El hombre que detuvo el tiempo....

, who was also responsible for the Sundance film Un aliado en el tiempo

Un aliado en el tiempo

Un aliado en el tiempo is a short film written and directed by Miguel A. Reina. Released in 2008, it stars Juan Luis Orendain as a death-defying escapologist, It interweaves nine separate yet connected storylines, about the interactions among nineteen people during one day in Mexico...

.

Short stories

• El disparo de argón (1991)
• Materia dispuesta (1997)
• El testigo (2004)
• Llamadas de Ámsterdam (2007)

Tales

• La noche navegable (1980)
• Albercas (1985)
• La casa pierde (1999)
• Los culpables (2007)
• "Manuel Felguérez Obra Reciente 2002-2005" ("Orden suspendido" tale)(2005)
• "Palmeras de la brisa rápida" (2009)
• Forward Kioto (2010)

Books for kids

• Las golosinas secretas (1985)
• El profesor Zíper y la fabulosa guitarra eléctrica (1992)
• Autopista sanguijuela (1998)
• El té de tornillo del profesor Zíper (2000)
• Cazadores de croquetas (2007)
• El libro salvaje (2008)
• El taxi de los peluches (2008)

Others

• Tiempo transcurrido (Crónicas imaginarias) (1986)
• Palmeras de la brisa rápida: Un viaje a Yucatán
  Yucatán
  Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
  
  (chronicle, 1989)
• Los once de la tribu (football chronicles, 1995)
• Efectos personales (essay, 2000)
• Safari accidental (chronicle, 2005)
• Dios es redondo (essays and chronicles on football, 2006)
• Funerales preventivos: Fábulas y retratos (political essays, with drawings by Rogelio Naranjo, 2006)
• De eso se trata (literary essays, 2008)
• La alcoba dormida (tales)
• Manuel Felguérez el límite de una secuencia (1997)
• La máquina desnuda (essay, (2009))
• 8.8: Miedo en el espejo (chronicle, (2010))

External links

• Official site (Spanish)
• Juan Villoro's page at n+1
  N+1
  n+1 is a New York–based American literary magazine that publishes social criticism, political commentary, essays, art, poetry, book reviews, and short fiction. It is published three times each year, and content is published on several times each week...