Rodrigo Fresán (born 1963 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina) is an Argentinian fiction writer and journalist. Since 1999, Fresán has lived and worked in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain. His books have been translated into many languages. ''Mantra'', a portrait of

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 ...

ca. 2000, reveals the deep influence of science fiction novels ( Philip K. Dick in particular), movies (

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

) and TV shows ( ''The Twilight Zone''). According to

Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His Debut novel, first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, ...

, "he's a kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room." He was a close friend of the late Chilean writer

Roberto Bolaño Roberto is an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish variation of the male given name Robert. Notable people named Roberto include: * Roberto (footballer, born 1912) * Roberto (footballer, born 1977) * Roberto (footballer, born 1978) * Roberto (footb ...

Works

* ''Historia Argentina'' (1991) * ''Vidas de santos'' (1993) * ''Trabajos Manuales'' (1994) * ''Esperanto'' (1995) * ''La velocidad de las cosas'' (1998) * ''Mantra'' (2001) * ''Jardines de Kensington'' (2003). ''Kensington Gardens'', trans.

Natasha Wimmer Natasha Wimmer (born 1973) is an American translator best known for her translations of Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño's '' 2666'' and '' The Savage Detectives'' from Spanish into English. Biography Natasha Wimmer grew up in Iowa. She learned ...

(Farrar Straus Giroux, 2006) * '' El fondo del cielo'' (2009). ''The Bottom of the Sky'', trans. Will Vanderhyden (Open Letter, 2018). * ''

La parte inventada LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

'' (2014). ''The Invented Part'', trans. Will Vanderhyden (Open Letter, 2017). * '' La parte soñada'' (2017). ''The Dreamed Part'', trans. Will Vanderhyden (Open Letter, 2019). *'' La parte recordada'' (2019). ''The Remembered Part'', trans. Will Vanderhyden (Open Letter, 2022). *''Melvill'' (2022). ''Melvill'', trans. Will Vanderhyden (Open Letter, 2024). *''El estilo de los elementos'' (2024) *''El Pequeño Gatsby: Apuntes para la teoría de una gran novela'' (2025)

Awards and honors

In 2017, Rodrigo Fresán received the prestigious

Prix Roger Caillois The prix Roger Caillois is an annual literary prize established in 1991 in partnership with the PEN Club in France and the as well as the Society of readers and friends of Roger Caillois, awarded to both a Latin American and a French author. Sinc ...

. In 2018, ''The Invented Part'' won the

Best Translated Book Award The Best Translated Book Award was an American literary award that recognized the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and was conferred by Three Percent, the onl ...

. In 2025, ''Melvill'' won the Republic of Consciousness USA & Canada 2024.

External links

Biography

Interview in the literary blog ''Hablando del asunto''
November 2009.
Translators’ Triptych: Around the World (All Worlds) In One Sentence by Rodrigo Fresán from ''Latin American Literature Today''

References

1963 births Living people Writers from Barcelona Journalists from Barcelona Writers from Buenos Aires Argentine male writers International Writing Program alumni {{Argentina-journalist-stub