Eduardo Lalo (born 1960) is a Puerto Rican novelist, best known for his novel ''Simone'', who won the

Rómulo Gallegos Prize The Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize () was created on 6 August 1964 by a presidential decree enacted by Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, c ...

Biography

Although born in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, he identifies himself as Puerto Rican and is involved in the island's affairs. He lives in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

since the age of two. He studied at the

Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola is a private, Catholic, Jesuit, all-male college-preparatory school run by the U.S. Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1952.

, where he graduated in 1977. He then went on to study at

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 ...

and later at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle. Lalo's works are difficult to define generically. His books are hybrids of essay and fiction, as demonstrated in his first book, ''En el Burger King de la calle San Francisco'' (In the San Francisco Street Burger King), published in 1986. Since then he has insisted on mixing art, essay and fiction in his publications. As he has stated: "First of all, I'm a writer. I started to draw late, at age 21, when I had just finished studying in New York and visited museums and galleries. I went to live in Paris and without any training I requested admissions to a school of fine arts." His international recognition came in 2013, when he won the

for his novel ''Simone'', an English-language translation of which was published in 2015 by the University of Chicago Press. Also in 2013, he led the Puerto Rican delegation to the XVIII International Book Fair in Lima, where Puerto Rico was the guest of honor. He is a professor at the Río Piedras campus of the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

, and publishes columns of literary criticism is publications such as ''80 Grados''. He has directed two medium-length films: ''donde'' (Where) and ''La ciudad perdida'' (The Lost City). In addition, he has shown his work as a photographer in more than a dozen exhibits."Eduardo Lalo, ganador del Rómulo Gallegos, escritor de la ciudad de San Juan"
,

Agencia EFE Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major Spanish-language multimedia news agency and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was created in 1939 ...

reprinted in ''

El Diario Vasco ''El Diario Vasco'' ( English: ''The Basque Daily'') is a Spanish morning daily newspaper based in San Sebastián, Basque Country. History and profile ''El Diario Vasco'' was founded in 1934 by the Sociedad Vascongada de Publicaciones, led by ...

'', 06.06.2013; accessed 07.07.2013.

Works

* ''En el Burger King de la calle San Francisco'', with eight drawings by the author; Ediciones Astrolabio,

San Juan (Puerto Rico) San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-most populous city under the ...

, 1986. * ''Libro de textos'', two monologues, fourteen stories and several poems; Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, 1992. * ''Ciudades e islas'', Publicaciones Yuquiyú, San Juan, 1995. * ''La isla silente'', reedition of three earlier books; Isla Negra Editores, San Juan, 2002. * ''Los pies de San Juan'', photographic essay; Centro de Investigación y Política Pública, Fundación Biblioteca Rafael Hernández Colón, 2002. * ''La inutilidad'', novel, Ediciones Callejón, San Juan, 2004. * ''donde'', hybrid book: essay and photography Editorial Tal Cual, San Juan, 2005. * ''San Juan de Puerto Rico'', Institució Alfons el Magnànim, colección Debats 88, Valencia, 2005. * ''Leyendas sobre secretos: La hija del verdugo; La mancha de sangre'', Puerto Rican legends adapted by Lalo and illustrated by Walter Gastaldo; Alfaguara Infantil y Juvenil, Guaynabo, 2005. * ''Los países invisibles'', essay, Editorial Tal Cual, San Juan, 2008. * ''El deseo del lápiz: castigo, urbanismo, escritura'', essay, Editorial Tal Cual, San Juan, 2010. * ''Simone'', novel, Ediciones Corregidor, Buenos Aires, 2012. * ''Simone'', novel in English-language translation, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2015.

References

External links

"Simone"
English-language translation book page at the University of Chicago Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lalo, Eduardo Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola alumni Puerto Rican male novelists 21st-century Puerto Rican novelists Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3 alumni University of Puerto Rico faculty 1960 births Living people