Alberto Ruy Sánchez

Alberto Ruy-Sánchez is a fiction and nonfiction writer, poet, and essayist from Mexico City. He received his PhD in 1980 from the University of Paris, under the directorship of Roland Barthes. His novels offer an exploration of the many facets of desire, and nearly all his works of fiction take place in Mogador, the ancient name for the Arabic city of Essaouira on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, a walled labyrinth of winding streets, marketplaces, bathhouses, and hidden gardens. His novels include: Los nombres del aire, Los demonios de la lengua, En los labios del agua, Los jardines secretos de Mogador: Voces de tierra, and La mano del fuego. Other recent publications include: Limulus. Visiones del fósil viviente/Visions of the Living Fossil (2004, an album coauthored with the artist Brian Nissen and translated by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan) and Nueve veces el asombro (2005, English translation by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan, forthcoming by White Pine Press). (Photo credit: TE el diario de la Tercera Edad)