Triunfo Arciengas: Author–Colombia

Triunfo Arciengas was born in Malaga. He holds a master's degree in Literature (Pontificia Univer-sidad Javeriana) and is a translation specialist (University of Pamplona). He was a member of the Unión Nacional de Escritores and on the editorial board of the magazine Puesto de Combate. Arciengas also directs children's literature workshops as well as La Manzana Azul, a girls theater in Pamplona, Santander.

Humor has served Arciniegas—during twenty years of literary work dedicated to children—to question hypocritical social, political, and cultural conventions of the Hispanic scope and also to announce the utopia of laughter, where everything is disarmed and displaced, and to breathe an air of freedom in the interpretation of the world. His work has been educational. Arciniegas literary pursuits and achievements have been a model of reflection for the budding writers of children's literature in Colombia during the first decade of the twenty-first century. We can consider him a classic, a master of humor.

When reflecting on writing, in general and what he himself wants to achieve, Arciniegas says,

I have set out to tell stories with elegance and beauty, attending to the fundamental truths of man. Their fears and their deepest dreams, celebrating life but not forgetting the constant presence of death, respecting the intelligence and the sensitivity of the reader. Poetry, humor and irreverence have been my working tools. The office of writing is sacred and should be exercised without traps and without risk. That's the only way it's worth it.

Arciniegas won the VII Premio Enka de Literatura Infantil in 1989 with Las batallas de Rosalino, Premio Comfamiliar del Atlántico in 1991 with Caperucita Roja y otras historias perversas, Premio Nacional de Literatura de Colcultura in 1993 with La chica de Transilvania, Premio Nacional de Dramaturgia para la Niñez in 1998 with Torcuato es un león viejo, Premio de Literatura Infantil Parker in 2003 with La negra y el diablo and the Premio Nacional de Cuento Jorge Gaitán Durán in 2007 with Mujeres muertas de amor. Banco del Libro of Venezuela recommended the author. In addition, he he was included in the White Ravens 2014 with El niño gato, the Foundation Four Cats Award 2014, and the 2016 IBBY Honour List with Letras Robadas.