José Baroja

Interview in Guadalajara International Book Fair

As the eldest son of three brothers, he was born in the Regional Hospital of Valdivia, Chile, in 1983.[2]

In 2009, he graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with a bachelor's degree in Letters, with a mention in Linguistics and Hispanic Literature, and a master's degree in Letters and a mention in Literature, both obtained with the highest academic distinction. Since 2007, as a specialist in the works of the Spanish Golden Age and in the Spanish language, he began to give lectures and workshops on both subjects in several universities and institutes in Chile, mainly in Santiago and Talca,[3] in addition to adding several articles in academic journals, At the same time, it participates in seminars and congresses in the area.[4]

In 2015, he premiered his literary recognition with the first prize in the Gonzalo Rojas Pizarro Literary contest.[5] This was followed by other awards in Argentina and Chile, as well as the publication of his first book, El hombre del terrón de azúcar y otros cuentos. In 2018, Baroja is invited to Mexico for the first time, first for the XI Encuentro Internacional de Investigadores de Lengua y Literatura, organized by Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas in Tuxtla Gutiérrez,[6] and, later, for the Guadalajara International Book Fair.[7] In October of that same year, he published several articles and stories about the social outburst in Chile, calling for a structural transformation of the country through an institutional solution to the conflict.[8]

In 2019, after a fleeting visit to Mexico City, Toronto, Barcelona and Buenos Aires,[9] the latter places where El curioso caso de la sombre que murió como un recuerdo y otros cuentos and Cuentos Reunidos-Antología Breve are born, he decided to migrate to Guadalajara, Mexico.[10] Later that year, he co-founded in Lebu, Chile, the arts and letters magazine Sudras y Parias, together with Chilean writers Jaime Magnan and Alfredo Ojeda Torres.

During his stay in Mexico, Baroja became a member of the Poets of the World Movement, in addition to becoming the co-founder, project director and editor-in-chief of Audacia Editorial,[11] in Zapopan, Jalisco.[12]

In 2022, he married Mexican writer Leyda Mariscal Arciniega.[13]

Baroja's narrative is characterized by a simple and well-kept language, although with a background that requires a certain cultural background; in contrast, his poetry tends towards the visceral and little content.[14] Among his narrative influences, Jorge Luis Borges, María Luisa Bombal, Manuel Rojas and Oscar Wilde stand out, authors from whom he takes satire, irony and care for the language.[15]

José Baroja at Pablo Neruda Foundation

• El hombre del terrón de azúcar y otros cuentos (Impresos Lebu: Lebu, 2015)
• Un hijo de perra y otros cuentos (Ediciones Escaparate: Concepción, 2017)
• En memoria del alma de Don Trementino Marabunta y otros cuentos (Ediciones Escaparate: Concepción, 2018)
• El curioso caso de la sombra que murió como un recuerdo y otros cuentos (Ediciones Oblicuas: Barcelona, 2018)
• Historia de dos hombres que se extraviaron en el olvido y otros relatos (Claudàtor: Barcelona, 2018)
• Mi último invierno (Editorial Equinoxio: Mendoza, 2018)
• Cuentos Reunidos–Antología Breve (Editorial Equinoxio: Mendoza, 2019)
• Cuentos de un escritor chileno en México (Minilibros de Sonora: San Luis Río Colorado, 2019)
• Cuentos de un escritor trasnochado, en formato braille (Punto Táctil: Neuquén, 2020)
• Sobre la extraordinaria memoria de Ernesto Faundez Sanhueza (Minilibros de Sonora: San Luis Río Colorado, 2020)
• El lado oscuro de la sombra y otros ladridos (Ediquid: Lima, 2020)
• No fue un catorce de febrero y otros cuentos (TerraIgnota Ediciones: Barcelona, 2021)
• De las sombras que escondió Gustavo Guarnieri en el espejo (Editorial Equinoxio: Mendoza, 2022)

Baroja has won several awards during his career. These include the Gonzalo Rojas Pizarro International Contest, in Chile, Tierras Poéticas y Exilio, in Argentina; a country where it has also been recognized for its contribution to the world of literature, obtaining, during 2022, the benefit of a fund from the Fundación del Centro Western Argentina for the publication of the novel De las sombras que escondió Gustavo Guarnieri en el espejo.

Likewise, his participation in numerous anthologies, both in English and Spanish, stands out, among which we can name Alien Minds, a publication in English by La Rama Dorada, Argentina, Nueva Poesía y Narrativa Hispanoamericana del Siglo XXI, by Ediciones Lord Byron, in Madrid, Spain, The 100 most outstanding writers of Ibero-America, from Ediciones Hispana, in the United States, versions 2018–2019 and 2020–2021, Escritor Libre Internacional, from Tahiel Ediciones, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Homenaje a escritores de Jalisco, from Maya Cartonera publishing house, in Chiapas, Mexico. Finally, he has appeared in different literary magazines, such as Revista Verbo (Des)nudo,[16] in Chile, Revista Interpretextos,[17] in Mexico, Revista Guardarraya,[18] in Spain, and Revista Cultural Calle B,14 in Cuba,[19] among others.

• Official site of the Chilean writer José Baroja
• Heritage Project
• Wikisource