- Federico Andahazi
Federico Andahazi (born
June 6 ,1963 ) is an Argentinewriter .Brief
Federico Andahazi was born in Buenos Aires,
Argentina , at Congreso, a very central neighborhood of the city.He is one of the Argentine authors who have been translated to more languages across the World.His books were published by the most prestigious publishers companies. In the
United States , he has been published byDoubleday , inEngland byTransworld , inFrance byLaffont , inItaly byFrassinelli , inChina byChina Times , inJapan byKadokawa , inGermany byKrüger and dozens of publishing houses from various countries.He gave lectures in very prestigious places like the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the
University of Moscow ,Russia , and the University of Santos Ossa of Antofagasta,Chile . He also gave talks inStockholm ,London ,Paris ,Istanbul , and other cities ofEurope ,Latin America and TheUnited States .He had participated in literary congresses in
France ,Finland , and several cities in Spain among others.He was invited to numerous book fairs such asGuadalajara ,Moscow ,Pula ,Istanbul ,Madrid ,Barcelona and, of courseBuenos Aires and almost all ofArgentina .He has collaborated with most of major newspapers and magazines in his country:
Clarín ,La Nación ,Perfil ,Noticias ,Veintitrés ,Lamujerdemivida ,Brando ,V de Vian , etc. And in several publications from Latin America, The United States and Europe, such as Loft from USA,O independente fromPortugal ,El Gatopardo and Soho fromColombia , etc.His work has the recognition of the critical all over the world. His books are the subject of many reviews and studies.
The beginnings
Federico Andahazi is the son of Bela Andahazi, Hungarian poet and psychoanalyst, and Juana Merlín.During his adolescence, he began to read the classical argentine and universal authors. He used to escape from school, that reflected the oppressive military dictatorship ruler, to meet with friends in bookstores and bars on Corrientes Avenue, emblematic place of Buenos Aires culture. It was at this time when he began writing his first stories.He obtained a bachelor’s degree in
Psychology (Universidad de Buenos Aires ); he practiced the psychoanalysis a few years, while he was working on his short stories. In 1989, he finished his first novel "El oficio de los santos", which is still unpublished by decision of the author.Literary awards
In 1996, he won the First Prize of the Segunda Bienal de Arte Joven de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires with his short story "Almas misericordiosas".
The same year he received the First Prize of the Concurso Anual desde la Gente with his short story "El sueño de los justos".Towards the end of 1996, he awarded the CAMED Prize with the short story "Por encargo".
The scandal Fortabat Awards
In 1996, while he was the finalist of Planeta Awards, his novel "The Anatomist" won the First Prize of the
Fundación Fortabat . However, the mentor of the contest,Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat , announced her disagreement with the decision of the jury, through a [http://www.andahazi.com/solicitada.html request published] in all the newspapers of Buenos Aires, in where she said that the novel “does not contribute to exalt the most high values of the human spirit”.The jury, composed by important writers likeMaría Angélica Bosco ,Raúl Castagnino ,José María Castiñeira de Dios ,María Granata yEduardo Gudiño Kieffer , was disqualified by the authoritarian attitude of Mrs Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat.Alter the scandal that the attitude produced, the literary competitions organized by the Fundación Fortabat don’t have ever been done again.This unfortunate episode showed that the diffusion of art and culture may not be the true objective of the Foundation.Finally, "The Anatomist" was published byEditorial Planeta in 1997, and was translated into over thirty different languages and has sold millions of copies worldwide.Works and other prizes
His second novel, "The Merciful Women", was published in 1998. Located in summer of
1816 atVilla Diodati , this book displays a modern and ironic vision of Gothic genre, discovers unsuspected regions of sexuality and immerses the reader in a troubling enigma.In 1998 the Publishing House Temas published a small volume with some of the short stories awarded titled "El árbol de las tentaciones". There are three short stories that begin in the same way and they are located in similar settings (the last century Argentina), the stories flow with a strong and elegant prose.
Then, in 2000, he published "El príncipe". It is a novel inspired in the tradition of magical realism. Andahazi knew how to create an apocalyptic atmosphere to talk about the excesses of power and manipulation of people’s wills.In 2002, he published "El secreto de los flamencos", a masterful novel set at the beginning of the Renaissance. It is about the war by the perfect technical of the painting. The story revolves around the mathematical secret of perspective and the mystery of colors.
The confrontation between the Flemish and Florentine schools, makes a thriller agile, plenty of fascinating riddles.
"Errante en la sombra" was published in 2004. It is an original musical novel unfolds as a spectacle in front of the reader who can 'see' and 'listen' to this story that takes place in the Buenos Aires that once was reality and now is a legend. Andahazi wrote more than forty tangos to give life to this original story in which Carlos Gardel takes part.
During the summer of 2005 Andahazi and his readers worked in an interesting and original experience, in fact, the first of this kind in the world: the collective writing of a newspaper serial called "Mapas del fin del mundo" published by the newspaper
Diario Clarín .The author wrote the beginning of a text, giving the place to the readers to continue the story, creating characters, proposing plots, solving riddles, to be sent by e-mail. Therefore, in an unprecedented work, reading and answering thousands of e-mails per week, Andahazi built the story with the various inputs and points of view. Every Saturday a new chapter was added to the novel, increasing the participation and the expectation of readers converted into co-authors.
The same year, in 2005, was published "La ciudad de los herejes", a novel set in medieval France, which revolves around the origin of the
Shroud of Turin . In this scenario, the author describes the dark mechanisms that generated the Church and the feudal power to establish sordid methods of control and oppression, building a new idolatry that Church said it fought.In 2006, Federico Andahazi won the Planeta Prize with his novel "El conquistador". The jury unanimously decided the verdict. "El conquistador" is the story of Quetza, the most brilliant son of Tenochtitlan, ahead of Christopher Columbus he discovered a new continent: Europe.
He participated in numerous anthologies, among which are: "Las palabras pueden: Los escritores y la infancia" (2007, to
UNICEF andWorld Food Program ) with authors likeJosé Saramago ,Carlos Fuentes ,Ernesto Sábato ,Juan Gelman ,Mario Benedetti andMario Vargas Llosa ."Líneas aéreas" (1999, published by Lengua de trapo,
Spain ) with writers such asJorge Volpi ,Santiago Gamboa andEdmundo Paz Soldán . "A Whistler in the nightworld", short fiction from the Latin Americas (2002, published byPlume , USA)Laura Restrepo andÁngeles Mastretta among others. "La Selección Argentina" (2000, published byTusquets )."El libro de los nuevos pecados capitales" (2001,
Norma Publishing Group ). He also participated in the book "Homage toDiego Maradona " (2001,SAF ) in the prestigious company ofRoberto Fontanarrosa andPacho O'Donnell .Pecar como Dios manda
In 2008, Andahazi published his first book of nonfiction, "Pecar como Dios manda", Sexual History of Argentines. The essay runs in an hypothesis through all his work: you cannot understand the history of a country if you don’t know the history of sex that gestured it.
With a prose that does not forget the novelist, the author conducted this first volume in an exhaustive investigation that starts from the original cultures and reaches the May Revolution.
Federico Andahazi currently is working on the following volumes of the sexual history of the Argentines and in various fiction projects.
Works
*"El anatomista" (The Anatomist)
*"Las piadosas" (The Merciful Women)
*"El árbol de las tentaciones"
*"El príncipe"
*"El secreto de los flamencos"
*"Errante en la sombra"
*"La ciudad de los herejes"
*"El Conquistador"
*"Pecar como Dios manda. Historia sexual de los argentinos"Links
*"Federico Andahazi Website: " http://www.andahazi.com
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