Andrés Neuman (born 28 January 1977) is an
Argentine writer, poet, translator, columnist and blogger.
Early life and education
The son of Argentine émigré musicians, he was born in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina, to a mother of French and Spanish descent and a father of Eastern European-Jewish descent. He spent his childhood in Buenos Aires, before going into exile with his family to
Granada,
Spain. The stories of his European ancestors and family migrations, his childhood recollections and the kidnapping of his paternal aunt during the military dictatorship can be read in his novel Una vez Argentina.[1] He has a degree in Spanish Philology from the
University of Granada, where he also taught
Latin American literature. He holds both Argentine and Spanish citizenship.
Career
Through a vote called by the
Hay Festival, Neuman was selected among the most outstanding young Latin American authors, being included on the first
Bogotá39 list.[2] He was also selected by Granta magazine in Spanish and English as one of the 22 Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists.[3][4]
His fourth novel, the award-winning Traveller of the Century, first to be published in English, was selected among the best books of the year by The Guardian,[5] and Financial Times.[6] This novel was also shortlisted for the
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize,[7] achieving a Special Commendation from the jury;[8] as well as shortlisted for the
International Dublin Literary Award,[9] being named one of "the two frontrunners who so sure-footedly outpaced the strong pack", according to an article written by the jury for The Guardian.[10]
His next novel translated into English was Talking to Ourselves, described by The New York Times as "a contemporary family drama and unflinching story of grief" as well as "a literary adventure",[11] was longlisted for the
Best Translated Book Award,[12] shortlisted for the
Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize,[13] and selected as number 1 among the Top 20 books of the year by Typographical Era.[14] His collection of stories The Things We Don't Do[15] was longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award[16] and won the
CLMP Firecracker Award for fiction, given by the
Community of Literary Magazines and Presses with the American Booksellers Association.[17] He is also the author of a travel book about Latin America, How to Travel without Seeing: Dispatches from the New Latin America.[18]
His latest novel, Fracture, "filled with insights into cross-cultural intimacies" according to The New Yorker[19] and "a moving examination of love and human relationships in the face of calamity" according to the Washington Independent Review of Books,[20] was longlisted for the
Premio Gregor von Rezzori in Italy,[21] shortlisted for the Premio Dulce Chacón[22] and the Premio San Clemente in Spain,[23] and selected by El Mundo as one of the five best novels of the year in the Spanish language[24] as well as one of the books of the year through a poll among critics, journalists and booksellers by El País.[25] It was published in English by
Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the US[26] and
Granta in the UK.[27]
His most recent works translated into English are his "gloriously pungent debut novel",[28]Bariloche,[29] named a best book of the year by Southwest Review,[30]World Literature Today[31] and Publishers Weekly.[32] And the selected poems Love Training, spanning two decades of poetry in a single unified collection, the first volume to make his poems available in English,[33] longlisted for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation.[34]
In one of the essays of his book Entre paréntesis (Between Parentheses), the Chilean writer
Roberto Bolaño stated about Neuman: "He has a gift. No good reader will fail to perceive in these pages something that can only be found in great literature, that which is written by true poets. The literature of the twenty-first century will belong to Neuman and to a handful of his blood brothers".[35]
Awards and honours
1998 Antonio Carvajal Young Poetry Prize for his first collection of poems, Métodos de la noche.
1999 Federico García Lorca Poetry Prize for Alfileres de luz.
1999 First Finalist in the
Herralde Prize for his first novel, Bariloche,[36] which was selected as one of the best ten novels of the year by El Cultural,[37] the literary supplement of the national newspaper El Mundo.
2002
Hiperión Prize for his poetry collection, El tobogán (2002)
2003 First Finalist in the
Herralde Prize for his third novel, Una vez Argentina.[38]
2009
Alfaguara Prize for his fourth novel, El viajero del siglo (Traveller of the Century, 2009).[39] This book was selected as one of the five best novels of the year published in Spanish language, in two different votes: one called by the national newspaper El País among 50 critics and journalists [40] and another one called by the national newspaper El Mundo[41]
2018 Premio Dulce Chacón shortlist for his sixth novel, Fractura.[22] This book was also selected as one of the Books of the Year by El País, through a vote by critics, journalists and booksellers.[25]
2019 Premio San Clemente Rosalía-Abanca shortlist for Fractura.[23]
El equilibrista (2005). Barcelona: Editorial Acantilado.
ISBN84-96489-07-8.
Cómo viajar sin ver. Latinoamérica en tránsito (2010) (How to Travel Without Seeing. Latin America in Transit, travel book). Madrid:
Alfaguara.
ISBN978-84-204-0608-4.
^Bolaño, Roberto (2004). Entre paréntesis. Barcelona:
Anagrama. p. 149. Bolaño, Roberto (2011). Between Parentheses. Translated by Natasha Wimmer.
New Directions Publishing.