Federico Andahazi

Federico Andahazi
Born Federico Andahazi
June 6, 1963
Buenos Aires
Occupation Fiction writer
Nationality Argentina
Period 1989–present
Notable works The Anatomist (1996)

Federico Andahazi (born June 6, 1963) is an Argentine writer.[1]

Brief

Federico Andahazi was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at Congreso, a very central neighborhood of the city. His books have been translated to many languages. In the United States, he has been published by Doubleday, in England by Transworld, in France by Laffont, in Italy by Frassinelli, in China by China Times, in Japan by Kadokawa, in Germany by Krüger, and by publishing houses in other countries.

He gave lectures in 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 in Stockholm, London, Paris, Istanbul and other cities of Europe, Latin America, and The United States.

He had participated in literary congresses in France, Finland, and several cities in Spain among others. He was invited to book fairs in Guadalajara, Moscow, Pula, Istanbul, Madrid, Barcelona, and Buenos Aires and most cities of Argentina.

He has written articles published by Clarín, La Nación, Perfil, Noticias, Veintitrés, Lamujerdemivida, Brando, V de Vian, and others in Argentina, and Loft from USA, O Independente from Portugal, El Gatopardo and Soho from Colombia, etc.

The beginnings

Federico Andahazi is the son of Bela Andahazi, Hungarian poet and psychoanalyst, and Juana Merlín.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Psychology (University of Buenos Aires); he practiced psychoanalysis a few years, while he was working on his short stories.

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 was awarded the CAMED Prize for the short story Por Encargo.

The Fortabat Awards scandal

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 request published in all the newspapers of Buenos Aires, in which she said that the novel "does not contribute to exalt the most high values of the human spirit". The jury, which included María Angélica Bosco, Raúl Castagnino, José María Castiñeira de Dios, María Granata and Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer, was disqualified by Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat. After this scandal the literary competitions organized by the Fundación Fortabat have not been held again.

The Anatomist was published by Editorial Planeta in 1997, translated into over thirty languages, and has sold millions of copies worldwide.

Works and other prizes

His second novel, The Merciful Women, was published in 1998.

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 (nineteenth-century Argentina).

In 2000 he published El príncipe and in 2002 El secreto de los flamencos.

Errante en la sombra was published in 2004; Andahazi wrote more than forty tangos for this story, in which singer Carlos Gardel takes part.

During the summer of 2005, Andahazi and his readers collectively wrote 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 novel La ciudad de los herejes was also published in 2005.

In 2006, Federico Andahazi won the Planeta Prize with his novel El conquistador.

He participated in numerous anthologies, among which are: Las palabras pueden: Los escritores y la infancia (2007, to UNICEF and World Food Program) with authors like José Saramago, Carlos Fuentes, Ernesto Sábato, Juan Gelman, Mario Benedetti and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Líneas aéreas (1999, published by Lengua de trapo, Spain) with writers such as Jorge Volpi, Santiago Gamboa and Edmundo Paz Soldán. A Whistler in the nightworld, short fiction from the Latin Americas (2002, published by Plume, USA) Laura Restrepo and Ángeles Mastretta among others. La Selección Argentina (2000, published by Tusquets).

El libro de los nuevos pecados capitales (2001, Norma Publishing Group). He also participated in the book Homage to Diego Maradona (2001, SAF) in the company of Roberto Fontanarrosa and Pacho O'Donnell.

Pecar como Dios manda

In 2008, Andahazi published his first book of nonfiction, Pecar como Dios manda, Sexual History of Argentines.

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Reinoso, Susana (18 December 2006). "Federico Andahazi: "Creo que la guerra por la Conquista todavía no terminó"". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 May 2012.

External links