Lina Meruane

Lina Meruane Boza (born 1970) is a Chilean writer and professor. Her work, written in Spanish, has been translated into 12 languages --English, Italian, Portuguese, German, French and Arabic, among others. In 2011 she won the Anna Seghers-Preis for the quality of her work, in 2012 the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize for her novel Sangre en el ojo.

Biography Born in Santiago, Chile, Lina Meruane is of Palestinian and Italian descent. She is the niece of actress Nelly Meruane and comedian Ricardo Meruane.

She started writing as a storyteller and cultural journalist. In 1997 she received a writing grant from FONDART to finish her first book of stories.

Meruane published two novels before leaving for New York to do her doctorate studies in Spanish-American literature at New York University. In the United States she received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation in 2004 (for the novel Fruta Podrida), and another in 2010 from the National Endowment for the Arts (for Sangre en el ojo). 2011: Award. Anna Seghers-Preis, por her literary work 2012: Award. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, for Sangre en el ojo 2015: Award. Cálamo Another Look, for Fruta podrida (Zaragoza) 2017: Grant. Artists-in-Berlin Program, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service; for Sistema Nervioso. 2023: Award.

Works Short stories Las infantas, Planeta, Santiago, Chile, 1998 (Eterna Cadencia, Argentina, 2010), Avidez, Paginas de Espuma, Spain, 2024

Novels translated into English Seeing Red translated by Megan McDowell, Deep Vellum, USA (Atlantic Books, UK, 2016), ; original edition Sangre en el ojo Nervous System translated by Megan McDowell, Graywolf, USA, 2021 (Atlantic Books, UK, 2021); original edition Sistema Nervioso

Novels in original Spanish Póstuma, Planeta, Santiago, 2000 (Oficina Do Livro, Portugal, 2001) Cercada, Cuarto Propio, Santiago, 2000 (Cuneta Editores, Santiago, 2014 with prologue by Lorena Amaro) Fruta podrida, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Santiago, 2007 (Eterna Cadencia, 2015), Sangre en el ojo, Caballo de Troya, Spain, 2012 (Penguin Random House, 2015) Sistema Nervioso, Penguin Random House, Chile & Spain, 2019

Drama Un lugar donde caerse muerta / Not a leg to stand on, dramatic adaptation of the novel Fruta podrida by the author and the Chilean theater director Martín Balmaceda; bilingual edition with prologue by Guillermo Calderón and English translation by Sarah Thomas, Diaz Grey Editores, 2012 (Trópico Sur, Uruguay, 2013)

Nonfiction Viral Voyages. Tracing AIDS in Latin America, translated by Andrea Rosenberg, Palgrave MacMillan, 2014, ; original edition Viajes virales: la crisis del contagio global en la escritura del sida, essay, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Santiago 2012, Volverse palestina, chronicle, Literal Publishing, USA / Conaculta, Mexico, 2013, Palestina en Pedazos, chronicle/personal essay; Literatura Random House, Santiago, 2021 Contra los hijos, essay-diatribe, Tumbona, Mexico, 2014, and Penguin Random House, 2018 Zona Ciega, essay, Penguin Random House, 2021 Coloquio de las quiltras, essay, Debate, 2024

Visual essays Cinco personas en busca de su personaje, ongoing project, first part directed by Luciano Piazza

In English language journals Two Lines (California), Bomb (New York), The Literary Review (New York), Brick (Canada), N+1 (New York), Words without Borders (New York), Drunken Boat (US), The White Review (UK), Litro Magazine (UK), Brown Book (Arab Emirates), Asymptote (US), among others in several languages.