James Cañón

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James Cañón (1968 - ) is a Colombian-American novelist.

Born and raised in Ibagué, Colombia, Cañón moved to New York in the mid 1990s to study English. His first novel, Tales from the Town of Widows (ISBN 0061140384), was originally written in English, Cañón's second language, and published in New York by Harper Collins in January of 2007. The novel tells the story of Mariquita, a Colombian village that's forever altered the day a band of guerrillas takes out all but three of its men. Left to fend for themselves with an ethically challenged priest, a transvestite and a shy gay man, the abandoned women slowly emerge from their supporting roles as wives and daughters to become unwitting founders of a radically socialist society, a metamorphosis Kirkus Reviews has described as "slyly pushing the envelope Aristophanes opened with Lysistrata." Cañón's debut novel has been published in thirteen countries. His short stories have been anthologized in Bésame Mucho, (NY: Painted Leaf Press, 1999), and Virgins, Guerrillas & Locas, (SF: Cleis Press, 2000). Cañón holds an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. He lives in New York.