Teacher, writer and editor. He studied film and literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Among other books, he has published Son de cartón (1979), Cuerpos (1988), Piélago (1990), El gesto disperso (1994) and Escritos en un muro de aire (2005); as well as the essays Hacia el otro (1988), Cartografías (1989), El tiempo escrito (1995) and Temor de Borges (2003).
As a journalist, he has worked for a number of Mexican publications. He was Editor in Chief at La Jornada semanal between 1990 and 1995 and founded and directed the supplement Ovaciones en la cultura (1999-2000). He was also director of the magazines, Casa del tiempo and Nitrato de plata. As a consultant for cultural relations, he formed part of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes from 1994 to 2001.
A dissenting voice within contemporary Mexican literature, he is co-ordinator of the editorial department of El Colegio de México and director of Ediciones Sin Nombre. His most recent book is the essay Ramon Xirau, por los jardines del tiempo (2006) and he is currently preparing a retrospective of the work of a group of Mexican writers know as the Contemporáneos.
