José Emilio Pacheco

Poet, novelist, short story writer, and translator José Emilio Pacheco was born in Mexico City in 1939. Pacheco’s collections of poetry include Siglo pasado (Desenlace): poemas 1999–2000 (approximately translated “Century of the Past (Denouement): Poems 1999–2000”; 2000), Ciudad de la memoria: poemas 1986–1989 (approximately translated “City of Memory: Poems 1986–1989”; 1989), Desde entonces: poemas, 1975–1978 (approximately translated “Since Then: Poems 1975–1978”; 1980), , El reposo del fuego (approximately translated “The Fire’s Sleep”;1966), and Los elementos de la noche (approximately translated “The Elements of the Night”; 1963). Pacheco’s fiction includes his famous coming-of-age novella, Las batallas en el desierto (Battles in the Desert; 1981),which was translated by Katherine Silver in 2021.

Of Pacheco’s writing, poet Efraín Huerta describes “an inner, emotional involvement. [His] poetry contains a yearning, an ardour, a search for colour and secrets, a quest for the right word, for the right tone.” 

Pacheco was a well-known translator of Samuel Beckett, Albert Einstein, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Tennessee Williams, and T.S. Eliot, among others. His many honors and awards, including the Mexican National Poetry Prize, the Premio José Asunción Silva Award, and the Cervantes Prize, provide proof of his stature as one of the most important Mexican writers of the 20th century. 

Pacheco studied law and philosophy at the Autonomous National University of Mexico. He worked for many years as a magazine editor. He was also a professor, teaching literature at various institutions in the United States, England, Canada, and Mexico. He lived in Mexico City until his death in 2014.