José Watanabe (1946 2007) was a
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
vian poet who won a number of literary awards.
Watanabe was born in
Laredo, a large
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
farm in northern Peru. His father Harumi Watanabe was a Japanese immigrant, and his mother Paula Varas was a Peruvian of
Andean
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...
origin. In a very intimate way, Watanabe fused his two deep cultural backgrounds in brief but intense poetic work.
In 1970, Watanabe shared, with
Antonio Cillóniz, first prize in the "Young Poet" contest organized by "Cuadernos trimestrales de Poesía". This award has also been bestowed upon poets such as
Javier Heraud
Javier Heraud Pérez (, ; 1942–1963) was a Peruvian poet and member of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). In his early life he studied at Markham College and later he continued his studies at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
...
and
César Calvo. He won the award ''Young Poet of Peru'' in 1971 with his first book, ''Album de Familia''.
After a silence of almost two decades, he resumed publishing in 1989 with ''El huso de la palabra''. After that came ''Historia Natural'' (1994), ''Cosas del Cuerpo'' (1999) and ''Habitó entre Nosotros'' (2002). In 2000, he published in
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 ...
an anthology entitled ''El Guardián del Hielo'' and in 2004 he published in Spain ''Elogio del Refrenamiento'', a comprehensive anthology that won numerous accolades.
"He is one of the few living Peruvian authors that can be qualified as essential" wrote
Esperanza López Parada
Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and may refer to:
Places Philippines
* Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, a municipality
* Esperanza, Masbate, a municipality
* Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, a municipality
United States
* Esperanza, Mississippi, an ...
in
Babelia, the literary supplement of ''
El País
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
''.
Watanabe was also involved in the film industry as a screenwriter, production designer and art director. He died in April 2007. Several biographies, translations, and literary studies of Watanabe have been published since he died, and an exhibit about him, ''The Eye and its Reasons'', was shown at the
House of Peruvian Literature in 2019.
Books published
* ''El huso de la palabra'' (Lima, 1989).
* ''Cosas del cuerpo'' (Lima, 1999).
* ''Habitó entre nosotros'' (Lima, 2002).
* ''Lo que queda bien abierto'' (Monte Ávila, Caracas, 2005, anthology)
''Banderas detrás de la niebla''(Pre-Textos, Valencia, 2006-Peisa, Lima, 2006)
References
External links
1946 births
2007 deaths
Peruvian people of Japanese descent
20th-century Peruvian poets
Peruvian male poets
20th-century Peruvian male writers
{{Peru-poet-stub