Eduardo Halfon (born 1971) is a

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

n writer.

Career

Eduardo Halfon was born in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

, moved to the United States at the age of ten, went to school in

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

, studied

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

, and then returned to Guatemala to teach literature for eight years at

Universidad Francisco Marroquín Francisco Marroquín University ( Spanish: ''Universidad Francisco Marroquín''), also known by the abbreviation UFM, is a private, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It describes its mission as "to teach and disseminate the ethical, ...

. Named one of the best young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival of Bogotá, he is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Roger Caillois Prize, José María de Pereda Prize for the Short Novel, and Guatemalan National Prize in Literature. He is the author of fourteen books published in Spanish and three novels published in English: ''Mourning'', winner of the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and the International Latino Book Award, finalist for the

Kirkus Prize The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine ''Kirkus Reviews''. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, ...

and Balcones Fiction Prize, and long listed for the

PEN Translation Prize The PEN Translation Prize (formerly known as the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize through 2008) is an annual award given by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to outstanding translations into the English language. It has been pr ...

; ''Monastery'', long-listed for the Best Translated Book Award; ''The Polish Boxer'', a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and finalist for the International Latino Book Award; and ''Canción'', longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. In 2019, Halfon lived in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and held a fellowship from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He moved to Berlin in 2021, as a fellow at the

Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin The Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin () is an interdisciplinary institute founded in 1981 in Grunewald, Berlin, Germany, dedicated to research projects in the natural and social sciences. It is modeled after the original IAS in Princeto ...

Published works

*''Esto no es una pipa, Saturno'' (Alfaguara 2003, Punto de Lectura 2007) *''De cabo roto'' (Littera Books 2003) *''El ángel literario'' ( Anagrama 2004, Semifinalist of the Herralde Prize for Novel) *''Siete minutos de desasosiego'' (Panamericana Editorial 2007) *''Clases de hebreo'' (AMG 2008) *''Clases de dibujo'' (AMG 2009, XV Café Bretón y Bodegas Olarra Literary Prize) *''El boxeador polaco'' (Pre-Textos 2008) *''La pirueta'' (Pre-Textos 2010, XIV José María de Pereda Prize for Short Novel) *''Mañana nunca lo hablamos'' (Pre-Textos 2011) *''Elocuencias de un tartamudo'' (Pre-Textos 2012) *''Monasterio'' (Libros del Asteroide 2012) *''Signor Hoffman'' (Libros del Asteroide 2015) *''Duelo'' (Libros del Asteroide 2017) *''Biblioteca bizarra'' (Jekyll & Jill 2018) *''Canción'' (Libros del Asteroide 2021) *''Un hijo cualquiera'' (Libros del Asteroide 2022) *''Tarántula'' (Libros del Asteroide 2024)

Works Translated into English

*''The Polish Boxer'' (Bellevue Literary Press, Pushkin Press, 2012) *''Monastery'' (Bellevue Literary Press, 2014) *''Mourning'' (Bellevue Literary Press, 2018) *''Canción'' (Bellevue Literary Press, 2022)

Awards

* 2007: Named one of the 39 best young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival of Bogotá * 2010: José María de Pereda Prize for the Short Novel, for ''The Pirouette'' (Spain) * 2011:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

* 2015: Prix Roger Caillois (France) * 2018: National Prize in Literature (Guatemala) * 2018:

Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger The Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book Prize) is a French literary prize created in 1948. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Novel and Essay for books translated into French. Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Novel *2022 ...

, for ''Mourning'' (France) * 2018: Premio de las Librerías de Navarra, for ''Mourning'' (Spain) * 2019: Edward Lewis Wallant Award, for ''Mourning'' (U.S.) * 2019: International Latino Book Award, for ''Mourning'' (U.S.) * 2021: Premio Cálamo, for ''Canción'' (Spain) * 2024: Berman Literature Prize, for ''Canción'' (Sweden) * 2024: Prix Médicis étranger, for ''Tarantula'' (France) * 2025: Premio de la Crítica, for ''Tarantula'' (Spain)

Career

Published works

Works Translated into English

Awards

References

External links