Mempo Giardinelli (born August 2, 1947) is an Argentine novelist and academic, author of numerous books, including novels, essay collections, and short story collections.

Biography

Giardinelli was born in

Resistencia, Chaco Resistencia () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Argentina, province of Chaco Province, Chaco in north-eastern Argentina. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city proper was 291,720 inhabitants. It is the anchor o ...

Province. He enrolled at the

National University of the Northeast The National University of the Northeast (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad Nacional del Nordeste'', UNNE) is an Argentina, Argentine national university. It is located in the cities of Corrientes and Resistencia, Chaco, Resistencia, capita ...

, in neighboring

Corrientes Corrientes (; Guaraní: Taragui, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12. It has ...

, in 1964. He enrolled in Law School, but left his law studies in 1969 to pursue writing and journalism. Giardinelli emigrated to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

following the

March 1976 coup March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 m ...

in Argentina; there, he taught

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

at the

Ibero-American University The Ibero-American University (), also referred to by its acronym ''UIA'' but commonly known as ''Ibero'' or ''La Ibero'', is a private, Catholic, Mexican higher education institution, sponsored by the Mexican province of the Society of Jesus (Je ...

from 1978 to 1984, and contributed to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

-based business magazines '' Expansión'' and ''Forum''. He became the first foreign writer to win Mexico's National Novelists' Prize in 1983 for his thriller, '' Luna Caliente''. Following elections in 1983 Giardinelli returned to Argentina. His novel ''Luna Caliente'', a romantic thriller set in subtropical Corrientes during a heat wave, was adapted into film in 1985. He worked as Assistant Director at ''

Playboy Magazine ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefn ...

'' Argentina until 1985, covered the historic

Trial of the Juntas The Trial of the Juntas () was the judicial trial of the members of the ''de facto'' military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the '' Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'' (''el Proceso''), which lasted from 1976 to 1 ...

, and later became a regular contributor to '' Página/12''. Giardinelli founded a

literary review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years b ...

, ''Puro Cuento'' ('Pure Fiction'), in 1986, and edited the review until its closure in 1992. He won the 1993

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 ...

(

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

) for his novel ''Santo Oficio de la Memoria''. Giardinelli taught journalism in a number of universities, including the

National University of La Plata The National University of La Plata (, UNLP) is a national public research university located in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It has over 90,000 regular students, 10,000 teaching staff, 17 departments and 10 ...

(1989-94), the National University of the Northeast, and as visiting professor at among others the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

(from 1988) and the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

(2002-07). He served in the advisory councils of both the Ministry of Education's Reading Promotion Plan (from 2004) and

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...

(2005-08). He was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

at the

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; , ) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest student/inhabitant ratio in France ...

in 2007. Giardinelli relocated to his native Resistencia in 1995, where he established a foundation in his name in 1996 with 10,000 volumes donated from his personal library.

Works

Novels

*''La revolución en bicicleta'' (1980) *''El cielo con las manos'' (1981) *''¿Por qué prohibieron el circo?'' (1983) *''Luna caliente'' (1983) *''Qué solos se quedan los muertos'' (1985) *''Santo Oficio de la Memoria'' (1991) *''Imposible equilibrio'' (1995) *''El décimo infierno'' (1999) *Final de novela en Patagonia (2000) *Cuestiones interiores (2003) *Visitas después de hora (2001)

Essays

*''El Género Negro'' —Ensayo sobre novela policial— (Univ.Autónoma Metropolitana, México, DF, 1984 y 1998; Ediciones Op Oloop, Córdoba. Arg. 1999) *"Así se escribe un cuento" —Ensayos y entrevistas— (Beas 1992, Patria México, 1998 y Punto de Lectura, 2001) *''El país de las maravillas'' Los argentinos en el Fin del Milenio (Planeta, Buenos Aires, 1998) *''Diatriba por la Patria''. Apuntes sobre la disolución de la Argentina (Ediciones B, Buenos Aires, 2002) *''México: el exilio que hemos vivido'' —Memoria del exilio argentino en México durante la dictadura 1976-1983.. En colaboración con Jorge Luis Bernetti. (Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 2003) *''Los argentinos y sus intelectuales''. (Capital Intelectual, Buenos Aires, 2004) *"Volver a leer. Propuestas para ser un país de lectores (Edhasa, Buenos Aires, 2006)

Stories

*''Vidas ejemplares'' (1982) *''Cuentos-Antología Personal'' (1987) *''Carlitos Dancing Bar'' (1992) *''El castigo de Dios'' (1993) *''Cuentos Completos'' (1999) *''Gente rara''. La Plata: Ediciones Al Margen, 2005. 136 p. *''Estación Coghlan y otros cuentos''. Buenos Aires: Ediciones B, 2005. 224 p. *''Luminoso amarillo y otros cuentos'' (La Habana 2005 / Caracas 2007 / Montevideo 2008) *''Soñario'' (2008) *''9 Historias de amor'' (2009) Cuentos para niños *''Luli la viajera'' (1988) *''Luli, una gatita de ciudad'' (2000) *''Cuentos con mi papá'' (2004) *''El Cheruvichá'' (2007) *''Celeste y la dinosauria en el jardín'' (2007) *''Celeste y el girasol'' (2009)

Poetry

* ''Invasión''. Buenos Aires: Noé, 1973. 49 p. *''Concierto de poesía a dos voces''. En colaboración con Fernando Operé. Resistencia: FMG, 2004. 80 p.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giardinelli, Mempo 1947 births Living people People from Resistencia, Chaco Argentine people of Italian descent National University of the Northeast alumni Argentine male novelists Argentine journalists Argentine male journalists Academic staff of the National University of La Plata Academic staff of Universidad Iberoamericana