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Yuri Herrera

Yuri Herrera is a Mexican writer, political scientist, and editor, and he is best known for his speculative and politically charged novels. His works, including Signs Preceding the End of the World (2009) and the historical novel Season of the Swamp (2024), have won him awards such as the Best Translated Book Award (2016) and the Anna Seghers Prize (2016). He currently teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Yuri Herrera was born in Actopan, Mexico, and studied political science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He later completed an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas, El Paso, and a PhD in Hispanic Language and Literature at the University of California, Berkeley (2009). His academic background, combined with his editorial work for the literary magazine El perro, helped to establish his career as a writer who combines culture, politics and myth.

His debut novel Trabajos del reino (2004) won the Premio Binacional de Novela Joven and the Premio Otras Voces, Otros Ámbitos when published in Spain (2008). Elena Poniatowska described his prose as "breathtaking", while critics praised his ability to combine high culture with colloquial expression. His second novel, Signs Preceding the End of the World (2009), translated by Lisa Dillman in 2015, cemented his reputation as one of the leading voices in contemporary Mexican literature.

The novel explores physical, cultural and existential border crossings through a sparse, lyrical narrative. Herrera has said of his style: "Style isn't superficiality; style is a form of knowledge.

Season of the Swamp (2024), his most recent work, represents a significant evolution in Herrera's craft. Set in 1853, it follows Benito Juárez during his exile in New Orleans, a period often glossed over in historical accounts. The novel imagines Juárez walking the city streets, engaging in revolutionary plots and encountering its stark contrasts — violence and creativity, despair and resilience.

Herrera blends meticulous research, including archival newspaper accounts, with speculative elements to fill the gaps in Juárez's life. "It's not just about Juárez or New Orleans," Herrera said in an interview, "it's also about me and the ghosts of this city.

Herrera's work often explores marginalised voices, mythological frameworks and the intersection of history and imagination. In Season of the Swamp, New Orleans becomes both a symbol of reinvention and a character in its own right, embodying hope amidst oppression.

The book's evocative portrayal of the city, from its chaotic criminal underbelly to its vibrant cultural resilience, has been hailed as a poignant meditation on survival and transformation.

Herrera divides his time between New Orleans and Mexico, often returning to his native country.
years of life: 1970 present

Citati

finalfadeoutje citiralaprije 24 dana
He leaned in toward her, and as he gave her a hug said Give Cora a kiss from me. He said it the same way he gave her the hug, like it wasn’t his sister he was hugging, like it wasn’t his mother he was sending a kiss to, but just a polite platitude. Like he was ripping out her heart, like he was cleanly extracting it and placing it in a plastic bag and storing it in the fridge to eat later.
finalfadeoutje citiralaprije 24 dana
We are to blame for this destruction, we who don’t speak your tongue and don’t know how to keep quiet either. We who didn’t come by boat, who dirty up your doorsteps with our dust, who break your barbed wire. We who came to take your jobs, who dream of wiping your shit, who long to work all hours. We who fill your shiny clean streets with the smell of food, who brought you violence you’d never known, who deliver your dope, who deserve to be chained by neck and feet. We who are happy to die for you, what else could we do? We, the ones who are waiting for who knows what. We, the dark, the short, the greasy, the shifty, the fat, the anemic. We the barbarians.
finalfadeoutje citiralaprije 24 dana
Things are tough all over, but here I’m all mixed up, I just don’t understand this place.
Don’t let it get you down. They don’t understand it either, they live in fear of the lights going out, as if every day wasn’t already made of lightning and blackouts. They need us. They want to live forever but still can’t see that for that to work they need to change color and number. But it’s already happening.
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