Jorge Volpi

With a degree in Law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a PhD in Hispanic Philology from the University of Salamanca, Jorge Volpi is one of the most prolific and award-winning authors in Mexican literature. His work clearly shows his interest in science and its implications, and also in politics and current thinking. Notable among his novels are Night of the Dark Silence, 2011 (in Spanish A pesar del oscuro silencio, 1992), the “20^th-Century Trilogy”—consisting of In Search of Klingsor, 2009 (En busca de Klingsor, 1999, winner of the Biblioteca Breve Prize), El fin de la locura (2003), and Tiempo de cenizas (2006)—La tejedora de sombras (2012, winner of the Planeta Iberoamerican-Casa de América Fiction Prize), Oscuro bosque oscuro (2010), Memorial del engaño (2014), Las elegidas (2015), Una novela criminal (2018, winner of the Alfaguara Prize), and Partes de guerra (2022). He has also published the essays La imaginación y el poder (1998), La guerra y las palabras (2004), Mentiras contagiosas (2008, winner of the Mazatlán Prize), El insomnio de Bolívar (2009, winner of the Debate-Casa de América Prize), Leer la mente (2011), Examen de mi padre (2016), and La invención de todas las cosas (2024), as well as the play Las agujas dementes (2020), and the short story collection Enrabiados (2023).

In 2009, he received Chile’s José Donoso de Chile for his work as a whole, which has been translated into thirty languages. He is a Chevalier of France’s Order of Arts and Letters, and also a member of the Spanish Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic. He has taught in the universities of Emory, Las Américas de Puebla, Cornell, Católica de Chile, Princeton, and UNAM. In addition to his literary career, he has extensive experience in managing cultural projects and institutions. Hence, he was coordinator for Cultural Dissemination at UNAM, director of the Mexican Institute in Paris, of the Mexican television channel Canal 22, of the International Cervantino Festival, and of the Centre for Mexican Studies in Spain. He has been director of the Condeduque Centre for Contemporary Culture since 2025.