Jesus Gardea

Jesús Gardea was a Mexican writer of fiction and short fiction. He was born in Delicias, Chihuahua, in 1939 and studied dentistry at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara. He settled in Ciudad Juárez, where he practiced his profession and taught at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez. He was discovered as a writer by poet Jaime Labastida, who encouraged him to publish his first book, Los viernes de Lautaro, in 1979. He won the Xavier Villaurrutia Award in 1980 for his book of short stories, Septiembre y los otros días. He also won the José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature in 1985, but he rejected it. He wrote several novels and collections of stories, mostly set in the arid and harsh landscape of northern Mexico. His style was characterized by a minimalist and poetic language, a subtle humor, and a profound exploration of human loneliness and violence. He died of cancer in Ciudad Juárez in 2000.