James Cañón is a

Colombian-American Colombian Americans ( or ), are Americans who have Colombian ancestry. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of full or partial Colombian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United States from Colombia. Colombian ...

writer. He's the author of the award-winning '' Tales from the Town of Widows''. Cañón was born and raised in

Ibagué Ibagué () (referred to as San Bonifacio de Ibagué del Valle de las Lanzas during the New Kingdom of Granada, Spanish period) is the capital of Tolima Department, Tolima, one of the 32 departments that make up the Republic of Colombia. The city ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. He writes fiction primarily, though he has also written essays. His short stories and essays have been published in numerous magazines in the U.S., Belgium and France. He holds an MFA in creative writing 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 ...

Works

Books

Cañón's debut novel, '' Tales from the Town of Widows'', () was originally written in English, his second language. It was first published in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in 2007. Praised internationally as "An important contribution to American literature," the novel tells the story of Mariquita, a Colombian village that's forever altered the day a band of communist guerrillas takes out all but three of its men. Left to fend for themselves, the abandoned women slowly emerge from their supporting roles as wives and daughters to become unwitting founders of a radically socialist society, a metamorphosis that

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

has described as "Slyly pushing the envelope that

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

opened with

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

." Cañón's novel has been published in over twenty countries and translated into French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Hebrew, Korean, Turkish, Arabic, Croatian and Polish. The film adaptation of it, called ''Without Men'', was released in 2011. The cast included Eva Longoria and Chris Slater, and was directed by Gabriela Tagliavini. In 2020 an excerpt from a forthcoming book appeared in ''Unpublishable'', an anthology edited by

Chris Molnar Chris Molnar is a writer, editor, filmmaker and publisher. He is the co-founder of The Writer's Block bookstore in Las Vegas, and editorial director of Archway Editions, the literary imprint of powerHouse Books distributed by Simon & Schuster. ...

from Archway Editions/

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

Essays

''Se Perdre (et se trouver) dans la Traduction'', Les Assises Internationales du Roman 2008 : Le roman, quelle invention ! (Titres) ''Andes Féminines'', Libération Périodique 2008 : (Libération) ''True Brothers'', Freud's Blind Spot 2010 : (Simon & Schuster) ''Balls Out'', The Moment 2012 : (Harper Perennial)

Awards and honors

* Prix du Premier Meilleur Roman Étranger, 2008 (Paris) * Prix des Lecteurs Vincennes, 2008 (Vincennes) * Finalist, Prix des Lecteurs du Télégramme, 2009 (Brittany) * Finalist, Edmund White Fiction Award, 2008 (New York) * Finalist, Lambda Award for Best Debut Fiction, 2008 (Los Angeles) * Finalist, One Brown Book, One Nation Program, 2008 (U.S.) * New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction Fellowship, 2008 (New York) * Queens Council on the Arts Award, 2008 (New York) * A School Library Journal's Best Adult Book for High School Students, 2008 (U.S.) * A Kirkus Reviews’ Top Pick for Reading Groups, 2007 (U.S.) * Stanford Calderwood Fiction Fellowship, 2007 (New York) * Urban Artist Initiative Fiction Award, 2006 (New York) * Finalist,

Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative is a philanthropic programme by Swiss watchmaker Rolex that pairs gifted young artists with internationally recognized masters in architecture, dance, film, literature, music, theatre and visual arts ...

, 2002 (Switzerland) * National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Award, 2002 & 2001 (U.S.) * Henfield Foundation Prize for Excellence in Fiction, 2001 (U.S.)

Works

Books

Essays

Awards and honors

References

External links