Juan Camilo Rincón presents an approach to the dialogue between Colombia and Mexico

The Colombian writer and journalist, Juan Camilo Rincón, known for works such as Being Colombian is an act of faith. Stories of Jorge Luis Borges and Colombia (2014) and Journey to the Heart of Cortázar (2015), returns to Colombian bookstores after several years with a book about the relations between the literatures of Mexico and Colombia. In this new work, the author recreates a map that allows us to navigate the affective geography of both countries, in cultural matters.

The title of the book is Colombia and Mexico: Between Blood and Word and it has been published by the publishing house Palabra Libre. The author explains that it is the product of research that took him nearly ten years, during which time he went aboard various essays, chronicles, press releases, letters, interviews, books and other documents that give rise to this journey through the bonds that the two countries have forged, especially during the 20th century.

“If there is an essayist on this planet who knows how to squeeze the topics he encounters along the way, if there is a researcher who manages to become what he is researching and a writer who does not rest until all his findings are recorded, that is Juan Camilo Rincón,” says the writer Ricardo Silva Romero, about this book, who was attended by writers such as Guillermo Arriaga, Elena Poniatowska, Juan Villoro, Jorge Volpi, Margo Glantz, Daniel Salinas Basave, Piedad Bonnett, Santiago Mutis, Jorge Franco, Mario Mendoza, Santiago Gamboa, John Jairo Junieles, and others.

Rincón is one of the most widely read voices of cultural journalism in our country. He has interviewed authors from all over the world and his reviews tend to set trends in the reading of the people of Bogota. He holds a Master's Degree in Literary Studies from the National University of Colombia and, in addition to those already mentioned, he has published the books Manuals, Methods and Returns (2007) and Our Memory is Forever (2017). He has won the District Award of Chronica Idartes 2018 and was awarded at the IV Seminar on Cultural Journalism in Medellín 2020. He has been invited to book fairs in Bogotá, Cali, Guayaquil, Havana and Pachuca. His work has been reviewed by different media in Colombia and Latin America, and he has won scholarships from Idartes, MinCultura, the National Library of Colombia, Fonca and the Argentine Government. He is a workshop leader and teacher at BibloRed, National Library of Colombia, Banco de la República, Idartes and MinCultura (Relata).

Mónica Lavín, a Mexican writer and intellectual, points out that the author, in this book, “(...) traces the textual geography of the exchange of views, exiles, complicities, amazements and works between Colombia and Mexico. Communicating vessels between Macondo and Comala that derive in the DNA of a Latin American identity legacy to look at us better”. It is a work that gives an account of the artistic and, particularly, literary relationship between the two countries, which is like a blood tree and focuses on the stories of the creators, their great works and the very rich reciprocal influence between two nations that owe much more than a couple of anecdotes and some reposados.

The cover is an internal design of Palabra Libre based on one of the works of Cali artist Melissa Ángel, who tries to evoke that abstract concept of art that has brought both nations together during the 20th century. The book also contains an insert with photographs of signed works, vital for its development, as recognized by the writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez, which he refers to as a rigorous and enjoyable radiography, of academic precision but full of real life, on the most fertile relationship of Latin American culture.

The book has been circulating in bookstores in the country since last February. Its official presentation will take place next Wednesday, at the Mexico bookstore of the Economic Culture Fund. The event will be moderated by writer Vanessa Londoño, author of The Animal Siege (Almadía, 2021), one of the most interesting novels in Colombian literature in recent months, and will be attended by the Embassy of Mexico, among other guests.

For admission, attendees must have their complete vaccination schedule. The capacity will be controlled, so it is recommended to arrive early. It is scheduled to start at 6:00pm (COL) and promises to be the first in a series of meetings that the author and his publisher would have prepared for the promotion of the book.

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