Chilean Roberto Bolaño was born on this day in 1953 and died in 2003. His works, with their dark, sometimes twisted themes, have become more popular after his death.
He first won mass recognition for The Savage Detectives, and won the 2008 National Book Critics Award. His 2008 book, 2666, was named one of the best books of that year by Time magazine, which has a great overview of his life.
Here’s The Hispanic Reader’s review of his book, The Third Reich, released last year. The Secret of Evil, a book of short stories, was published earlier this month.
The New Yorker has a guide to reading Bolaño. Newsweek/The Daily Beast has a fantastic article about him, as well as a look at some other prominent Latino writers. And check out this blog devoted to his works (which to quote the blogger is “now a blog dedicated to, uhm, books.”)
The Hispanic Reader 