Mexican writer wins Han Nefkens Foundation Creative Writing Grant
Mexican writer Eduardo Ruiz Sosa wins the first Han Nefkens Foundation Creative Writing Grant
A novel in the form of an anatomical treatise in which a series of characters attempt to re-examine their past through imposture. With this project, the writer Eduardo Ruiz Sosa (Culiacán, Mexico, 1983) has won the 1st Han Nefkens Creative Writing Grant, awarded in collaboration with the Masters in Creative Writing at the IDEC institute of continuing education, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), and Ediciones Alfabia. This initiative also consolidates the Barcelona-based Han Nefkens Foundation’s commitment to contemporary artistic expressions and extends its scope beyond the field of the visual arts, which had been its focus up to now.
A total of 202 candidatures were received from all Spanish-speaking countries in response to the call for entries. The winner was chosen unanimously on 9 July by a jury made up of the writers Juan Villoro, Ignacio Vidal-Folch and Lourdes Iglesias. Eduardo Ruiz Sosa will study the IDEC Masters programme during the 2012-2013 academic year, and his novel will be published by Alfabia in early 2014. The 2nd Han Nefkens Foundation Creative Writing Grant will be announced in September 2012, and the jury will name a winner in March 2013.
In the context of the current economic crisis, this grant awarded by the Han Nefkens Foundation is also a significant contribution to the field of artistic creation. The grant is aimed at Spanish-language authors born after 1 September 1978. The objective is for the winner to complete the one-year Masters programme at UPF, and to produce a novel or a book of short stories during that time, which will then be published and distributed by Ediciones Alfabia. The grant includes a monthly stipend of 1,300 euros for the one-year period, as well as tuition fees for the Masters and the cost of subsequently publishing the book.
Eduardo Ruiz Sosa has written the book of short stories La voluntad de marcharse (Fondo Editorial Tierra Adentro, 2008) and is currently a PhD candidate in History of Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), with a thesis on the role of imaginary experiments in the development of quantum physics. He was the recipient of a scholarship from the Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Sinaloa (Mexico) in 2006-2007. He is also a regular contributor to several Latin American magazines.
The working title of his project for the Han Nefkens Foundation is Anatomia epistolar de la memoria, a novel in the form of an anatomical treatise in which a series of characters try to recall and reproduce a version of their past through imposture and masquerade. His project has been endorsed by two letters of recommendation signed by Mexican writers Elmer Mendoza and David Toscana, respectively.