Liliana Bodoc: Argentina Author

At this stage of my life, fortunately, I cling to very few certainties. Two or three, perhaps, which I treasure and invoke whenever I sit down to write. Among these is one that I hold most dear: the honorable belief that artistic thought, understood as a specific way of delineating and explaining reality, can restore our beleaguered humanity.

Liliana Bodoc

Liliana Bodoc was born in Santa Fe Province, Argentina, in 1958 and grew up in Mendoza Province. She studied Modern Literature at the College of Philosophy and Letters of the National University of Cuyo. Later, Bodoc worked as an instructor in Spanish and Argentine literature at various schools affiliated with the same university. At age forty, she wrote her debut novel, Los días del venado (Days of the Stag), the first part of an epic fantasy trilogy that was published in 2000, selling 70,000 copies in Argentina alone. This novel was awarded the Fundación El Libro Prize for Best Work of Young Adult Literature and First Prize for Narrative Fiction, (Children and Young Adults Fantasy Foundation). Since then Bodoc has published plays, texts for young readers, and novels for children and young adults.

Bodoc's novels are considered by many to be the best books ever written in Spanish in the genre of epic fantasy. It is argued that she captivates her audience and masterfully succeeds in merging universal experiences such as repression and war with the intimate and private lives of her protagonists. She brings attention to their fears and doubts, and she consciously distances herself from the standard model of the fantasy epic, thus making her work a masterpiece in its own unique way.

Liliana Bodoc has received numerous awards for her contributions to literature. Los días de la Sombra (Days of Shadow) was awarded Premio Calidoscopio (2003) by the Banco del Libro de Venezuela. A more recent book, El espejo africano (The African Mirror) won the Destacados de Alija Prize in 2008. Presently she lectures at book fairs and literary festivals, seminars, and conferences in several Argentine provinces as well as in Mexico (Guadalajara Book Fair); Venezuela (Caracas Book Fair); Colombia (Bogotá Book Fair); Chile (Santiago Book Fair); Spain (Conference on Fantastic and Epic Literature); and Germany (Berlin Book Festival).