Luis López Nieves

Luis López Nieves ^{[note 1]} (born January 17, 1950) is one of the most influential and best-selling Puerto Rican authors ever. He has won the National Literature Prize on two occasions: first, in 2000, with his book of historical short stories The True Death of Juan Ponce de León; second, in 2005, with his novel Voltaire's Heart. He published two other books including Seva, and Writing for Rafa. His short stories have been published in Latin American and Spanish anthologies.

Education and career

López Nieves created and is the director of the first Master's Program in Creative Writing of Latin America, at the Sacred Heart University, in San Juan. He also founded and directs Ciudad Seva Digital Library (Ciudad Seva), that has received more than 63 million visitors from all over the world (in March 2013).

López Nieves has a BA in General Studies from the University of Puerto Rico; also an MA in Hispanic Literature and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, both from State University of New York at Stony Brook.

He has collaborated with several newspapers and written two TV miniseries. He has written the scripts for PSA advertisements. He has been visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston and was a Ford Foundation Fellow.

During two year he wrote his column Byzantine Letters (Cartas Bizantinas) in the largest newspaper of Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Día.

Publications

His books The True Death of Juan Ponce de León (2000) and Voltaire's Heart (2005) have won the National Literature Prize. Additional books he has published include Seva, one of Puerto Rico's most renowned and best selling books, and Writing for Rafa. His short stories have been published in major Latin American and Spanish anthologies. In 2009 he published his latest novel, Galileo's Silence (El silencio de Galileo), simultaneously in Spain and in Latin America.

Quotations about the works of López Nieves

"Firmly within the tradition of the weavers of legends, for whom truth is never an obstacle". Dr. Estelle Irizarry, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

“López Nieves shows that he is as good a weaver of short tales as of a full-length novel”. Críticas Magazine, New York

"López Nieves distrusts historical truth to such a degree that he deposits unto fiction the task of its correction". The Miami Herald, Florida

"The great novelist of Puerto Rico". El Universal, Cartagena, Colombia

"He became a legendary controversy because of the truth of his lies". J.J. Armas Marcelo, ABC, Madrid, Spain

"The first novelist of Puerto Rico". Otro Lunes, Spain

"López Nieves has written one of those novels that create readers". Centro Virtual Cervantes, Madrid, Spain

"He has created urban legends that Puerto Ricans assume as historical truths". Roberto Ampuero, La Tercera, Chile

"Prepare yourself for a new way of reading". El Tiempo, Colombia

"A notable exponent of the new Puerto Rican literature". Revista Siete Días, Argentina

"He utilizes the epistolary genre to both trap us and distance us, and to enable us to perceive that all narration is simple fiction". Dr. Rubén Darío Jaimes, Universidad Central de Venezuela

"Luis López Nieves has captured a remarkable place in Hispanic American literature". Informa-Tico, Costa Rica

"A valuable author". La Capital, Rosario, Argentina

"He achieved consecration quickly with an original book that renews the epistolary genre". José Alcántara Almánzar, Santo Domingo Times, Dominican Republic

"One of the most idiosyncratic writers of Latin America". Ibsen Martínez, El Librero, Venezuela

"Luis López Nieves, better known as ‘the master of imposture’”. Listín Diario, Dominican Republic

"Master of intrigue". Primera Hora, Puerto Rico

"Author of ‘Seva’, one of the most renowned literary events of the last century". El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico

"López Nieves, artificer of the epistolary novel". El Vocero, Puerto Rico

Bibliography

Novels

• El corazón de Voltaire, 2005, Grupo Editorial Norma, Colombia. (Voltaire's Heart.)
• El corazón de Voltaire, 2007, Belacqva, Spain. (Voltaire's Heart.)
• El silencio de Galileo, La Otra Orilla (Grupo Editorial Norma), Bogotá, Colombia, junio 2009, pp. 338. (Galileo's Silence)
• El silencio de Galileo, Mosaico (Grupo Editorial Norma), Barcelona, España, julio 2009, pp. 333. (Galileo's Silence)

Short stories

• Seva (one of Puerto Rico's most celebrated short stories), 1984, Grupo Editorial Norma, Colombia.

• Escribir para Rafa, 1987, Grupo Editorial Norma, Colombia. (Writing for Rafa.)

• La verdadera muerte de Juan Ponce de León, 2000, Grupo Editorial Norma, Colombia. (The True Death of Juan Ponce de León.)

Short story anthologies

• El cuento hispanoamericano (Seymour Menton, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, Seventh Edition, 2003).

• El cuento hispanoamericano en el siglo XX (Fernando Burgos, Editorial Castalia, Madrid, 1997).

• El muro y la intemperie: El nuevo cuento latinoamericano (Julio Ortega, Ediciones del Norte, New Hampshire, USA, 1989).

• Cuentos para ahuyentar el turismo (Vitalina Alfonso y Emilio Jorge Rodríguez, Editorial Arte y Literatura, La Habana, Cuba, 1991).

• Writing Between the Lines (Bowen & Weigel, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA, USA, 1997).

• Die Horen (Wilfried Böhringer, Germany, Year 42, 3rd Quarter, Edition 187, 1997).

• Los nuevos caníbales: Antología de la más reciente cuentística del caribe hispano (Bobes, Valdez y Gómez Beras, Editorial Isla Negra -joint publishing with Ediciones Unión/Cuba and Editorial Búho/Dominican Republic-, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2000).

Notes

1. ↑
   This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is López and the second or maternal family name is Nieves.

See also

• List of Puerto Rican writers
• List of Famous Puerto Ricans
• Puerto Rican literature
• Ciudad Seva

External links

• Ciudad Seva
• Seva Vive
• Bibliography about López Nieves IN ENGLISH
• Datos Personales
• Bibliografía sobre la obra de López Nieves