Profile of Homero Aridjis

Homero Aridjis was born in 1940, in the village of Contepec, Michoacán, Mexico, to a Mexican mother and a Greek father. He began writing at the age of 11, after surviving an accident which nearly cost him his life. At age 19 he won a fellowship from the Mexican Writers’ centre, and in 1964 was the youngest-ever recipient of the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize for best book of the year, for Mirándola dormir, a classic of Mexican erotic poetry.

After two years in Europe on a Guggenheim Fellowship, he taught at American universities until entering the Mexican diplomatic service and serving as Ambassador to both Switzerland and then The Netherlands while still in his thirties. Back in Mexico, in 1985 Aridjis and 99 other renowned artists and intellectuals founded the legendary Grupo de los Cien, an activist organization based in Mexico which addresses national and international environmental and ethical issues. From 1997 through 2003 he served two terms as president of International PEN, where he strove to make PEN less Eurocentric.

In addition to fourteen volumes of poetry and eleven novels, Aridjis has written children’s books, essays and plays, and for the past twelve years has been an editorial page columnist for the Mexican newspaper Reforma. His work has been translated into a dozen languages and recognized with literary prizes such as the Grinzane Cavour in Italy, for 1492 Vida y tiempos de Juan Cabezón de Castilla (1985). In 1997 he received the Prix Roger Caillois in France, and more recently, the Smederevo Golden Key poetry prize. In 2005 he was awarded the first Erendira State Prize for the Arts.

Eyes to See Otherwise: Selected Poems of Homero Aridjis, a wide-ranging bilingual anthology of his poetry, was published in England (2001) and the United States (2002). Kenneth Rexroth called Aridjis a “visionary poet of lyrical bliss, crystalline concentrations and infinite spaces”.

Aridjis has been termed the “green conscience“ of his country, and for his passionate defence of the Earth has received numerous international awards, including the UNEP Global 500 Award, the Orion Society’s John Hay Award, and the International Environmental Leadership Award given by Mikhail Gorbachev and Global Green.

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