Hundreds of attendees at the FIL Zócalo received rockstar to Mariana Enriquez
The Argentine writer Mariana Enriquez was never interested in writing horror literature outside of reality, without recognizable places, she recognized a large group of readers in search of her work, while at the same time she assumed herself as a person concerned about the social and political. , what is transmitted in a gothic tale about capitalism
.
His presence at the Zócalo Mexico City International Book Fair (FIL) to present his most recent book, A sunny place for gloomy people, generated a phenomenon of rockstar literary with devotion and enthusiasm.
How many times can you see hundreds of young people waiting to hear someone who is dedicated to making books? An hour before Mariana Enriquez’s presentation began, the rows of chairs were completely occupied, heads turning anxiously at the moment of entry, while on one side of the Carrillo Puerto Forum the line to obtain a seat was already rapidly increasing. signs on one of his books. Everything, last Thursday at four in the afternoon.
It’s arrived!
the whispering was heard when the longed-for moment finally occurred.
After about 40 minutes of a talk that went quickly, the line of admirers practically crossed the square of the Zócalo; The straight formation next to the flagpole was to get closer to the Argentine writer, instead of covering herself from the sun, as is usual on days without the tents with book offers.
Her literary vocation and terror come from her grandparents’ stories of ghosts and ghosts in her native Argentina, also when she escaped as a child to see the movie. Nightmare on Elm Street with which he was left Absolutely traumatized, but fascinated
books by Stephing King and the things that happen in Latin America; there I unlocked something
acknowledged his search for how to write this genre from the southern cone of the continent of the Overlook Hotel.
Growing up with the dictatorship is growing up with real fear. Then, equally morbid, because the dictatorship ends and the details of the torture, the death flights, and the clandestine centers begin. And knowing that your child’s body went through that horror was a whole that ended up forming my sensitivity.
he commented during the conversation with editor Ezra Alcázar.
A sunny place for gloomy people, published in 2024 by Anagrama, contains 12 horror stories about the evil that lurks and the monsters that suddenly emerge in the most everyday reality, in large cities or small remote towns
as anticipated on the back cover.
After the success of the novel Our part of the night, means a return to what he called the gender
in Argentina, with great exponents such as Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Silvina Ocampo or the Uruguayan Felisberto Hernández.
Then, with this new set of stories, he declared: I did not consider the situation of having to satisfy the market or the readers or the publisher with whatever they want. I have to write what I can, what I feel like and what is best for me.
.
In his opinion, it happened a very strange thing
with this novel. He won an award in 2019, the Herralde. In 2020 we were all locked in the pandemic and that’s when it started to grow. I wasn’t even aware. When I left my house in 2021, I saw that everything was different
there were many readers of all kinds.
Going down is the worst, the first book he published at the age of 21, has many cult fans
. It was published in 1995, “when there were very few women who were releasing that type of text, which was very youthful. Sex, drugs, rock and roll, horror, vampires, world queer… “Things that were happening, but that were not written about as much.” It was a work that he did at the age of 17, so he considered that more than success it attracted attention; It was quite confrontational. It was a highly visible experience; I was a strange insect that they studied and wondered how I could write a book
.
Since the 50-year-old author crossed the white canvas at the side of the stage, it caused a hypnotic effect. Just by the presenter saying his name, screams of excitement were generated. The conversation provoked rapt listening, with pleased and smiling attendees, most of them young, with women standing out. colored hair, piercings, black lipstick, Nick Cave or Sinéad O’Connor t-shirts… that was the readers’ folklore.
From the Rolling Stones, Juan Rulfo, his training in cultural journalism or the recent death of the star of the music group One Direction, were part of his entertaining presence.
“No ma’, Mariana Enriquez is a rockstar! “The commotion it causes is crazy,” wrote one of the many who fell under the influence of Mariana Enriquez’s fantastic reality on social networks.