Biography

Sergio Altesor Licandro (Uruguay, 1951) was published at a young age in the magazines Los huevos del Plata, El lagrimal trifurca, and Nocolombus. Imprisoned in 1971 for his political activities, he wrote his first collection of poetry―Río testigo (Ediciones de la Banda Oriental, 1973)―in the Punta Carretas prison and the military prison in Punta de Rieles. In 1976 he was deported to Europe and settled in Sweden, where he studied at University College of Art, Craft and Design. He taught experimental drawing and engraving at the Konstskolan art school and was very active as a visual artist. There he published Trenes en la noche (Nordan, 1982, illustrated with the author’s woodcuts) and Archipiélago (Siesta, 1984). His novella Det stora svarta (Malmöboken, ABF, 2006) as well as Telegrambyrå (Poesía con C, 2008) were published in Swedish in that country. In Uruguay he published the poetry collections Diario de los últimos días del archipiélago (Vintén Editor, 1995), Serpiente (Vintén Editor, 1999; Municipal Prize for Poetry and National Prize for Literature), and El sur y el norte (Yaugurú, 2012; National Prize for Literature). His novel Río Escondido (Fin de Siglo, 2000; Premio Posdata 2000) was followed by the novels TAXI (Estuario, 2016; finalist for the Bartolomé Hidalgo prize) and El café del griego: Un estudio de la luz (Estuario, 2018). Cuadernos de dibujo (1978-1993) was published by Yaugurú in 2020.

Translation: Mary Hawley