MEET THE AUTHOR
He is a professor at University of Antioquia in Medellín, currently ascribed to the Department of Literature at the Faculty of Communications, and editor of the publications Colección Palabras Rodantes of the Metro de Medellín and COMFAMA. He was the coordinator of the Red de Lenguaje de Antioquia of the Departmental Education Secretary, Director of the Aula Taller de Lenguaje of the Escuela del Maestro for the Municipal Education Secretary of Medellín. From 1998 to 2004, he was Head of the Publications Department of the University of Antioquia. From 1997 to 1998 he was director of the University of Antioquia magazine. From 1995 to 1997 he was a professor of the Masters in Colombian Literature for the Faculty of Communication at the University of Antioquia. From 1992 to 1994 he was head of the Department of Linguistics and Literature for the Faculty of Communication at the University of Antioquia.
He was a member of the editorial board of the magazine POESÍA, between 1990 and 1995. He was a finalist for the National Short Story Prize of the Ministry of Culture in 2010, with Gambito de rey aceptado. He was a finalist for the International Prize for Short Novel “Álvaro Cepeda Samudio,” in 2003, with Eugenia en la sombra. The winner of the Unpublished works of the Council of Medellin in 1989, with Ganzúa. He was the winner of the first prize in The University of Medellin II Contest in 1982, with El primo y la cometa. He was finalist for the IV National Poetry Award of the University of Antioquia in 1982, with Del barrio las vecinas as well as for the IV ENKA of Children’s Literature in 1983, with Casa de bifloras. He was finalist for the VI ENKA of Children’s Literature in 1987, with La rana sin dientes. Academic degree at the University of Medellin for the work Diario de lectura 1: Manuel Mejía Vallejo.
SELECTION AND EDITION
Carolina Zamudio (Selección, prólogo y edición). Curuzú Cuatiá, Argentina, 1973. Writer and essayist. Master’s degree in Institutional Communication and Public Affairs from at Universidad Argentina de la Empresa and Journalist at Universidad Católica Argentina. Member of the Editorial Board of Literariedad, colombian magazine. She published the poetry books Seguir al viento, Ediciones Último Reino (Argentine); La oscuridad de lo que brilla/The darkness of what shines, bilingual Spanish / English, Artepoética Press (United States), the anthology Doble fondo XII, (Colombia) and Rituales del azar, Spanish / French, Valle-Cisneros (France); The plaquettes Teoría sobre la belleza y otros poemas, Ediciones de la Garza Mora (Argentina) and Las certezas son del sol, Vinciguerra (Argentina).
TRANSLATION
Valentina Macías Isaza, Medellín, Colombia, 1985. Translator English, French, Spanish from the University of Antioquia. She’s studying for a Bachelors degree in Teaching Languages English and Spanish at the Pontifical Bolivarian University. She has translated and published classical poets and dramaturges such as Shakespeare (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Spanish version) and Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet, Spanish version) for the Colección Palabras Rodantes of the Metro de Medellín and COMFAMA. El Vuelo del Pintor and La Fisionomía de las Sombras from the french author Renaud Baillet, through the publishing house Hominis Solaris Ediciones. She currently serves as Foreign Language Teacher (Spanish and French) at Bayside Media Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai, India.
PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR’S WORK
This anthology of Luis Fernando Macías’ poetry begins celebrating women and finishes singing the brevity of existence and the illusion of the universe. The first poems are short, limpid, deep, and could be read as tribute to the women of a specific region. The second set dives in a different type of limpidness and depth where philosophy and mysticism transpire in each verse. The transition from this feminine humanity to the vastness of a form of understanding the cosmos is not abrupt, because here we are in the presence of mature and precise poetry. A poetry that recognizes itself as ocean and water well. A poetry free of ostentation that avoids artificialness. Always based on a tranquil sobriety of expression, Macías’ poetry explores in being, in time, in memory, in oblivion, in God, in infinity, and in nothingness. But beyond this array of shining lights, what predominates in the reader is the certainty of being in the presence of poems that transmit their wisdom recognizing that all the summoned words point towards silence.
Pablo Montoya
Esta antología de Luis Fernando Macías empieza celebrando las mujeres y termina cantándole a la fugacidad de la existencia y a la ilusión del universo. Los primeros son poemas cortos, límpidos, profundos que podrían leerse como un homenaje a las mujeres de una geografía determinada. Los segundos se hunden en otra clase de limpidez y de hondura donde un abrazo de filosofía y misticismo se respira en cada verso. El tránsito de esta humanidad femenina a la vastedad de una forma de comprender el cosmos no es brusco, porque aquí estamos ante una poesía madura y certera. Una poesía que se sabe, al mismo tiempo, océano y pozo. Una poesía despojada del boato y que elude el artificio. Apoyada siempre en una calmada sobriedad de la expresión, Macías va indagando en el ser, en el tiempo, en la memoria, en el olvido, en Dios, en el infinito y en nada. Pero, más allá de este abanico de resplandores, lo que predomina en el lector es la certeza de que está ante poemas que transmiten su sabiduría reconociendo que las palabras convocadas apuntan al silencio.
Pablo Montoya
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