Yuri Herrera

Born and raised in the town of Actopan, Hidalgo, Yuri Herrera had writerly ambitions from an early age. But, believing the best writers generally studied something else, he moved to nearby Mexico City in 1989 to study Political Science at the prestigious UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). He completed an M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Texas, El Paso.  Herrera cites his frequent journeys back and forth across the border (to study in El Paso and to visit his family in Juárez) as an important influence on his work. In 2009, he completed a Ph.D. in Hispanic Language and Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and he published Signs Proceeding the End of the World in the same year. During graduate school, Herrera also founded and edited the short-lived literary magazine el perro. He had already won literary fame in Latin America with his first novel many years prior, in 2004, which won the previous year’s Frontera de Palabras / Border of Words” Binational Novel Prize for young writers. Although yet to be translated to English, Herrera’s most recent book is a work of nonfiction, El Incendio de la Mina El Bordo (The Fire at El Bordo Mine), which reconstructs an important, local forgotten history in Herrera’s native state of Hidalgo. The political themes that run throughout Herrera’s work point to his background in political science and firm belief that literature inescapably has political consequences. As of 2019, although he continues to write fiction, he also teaches at Tulane University and writes extensively for literary magazines, prominent newspapers, and academic journals alike.