Sergio Ramírez

Sergio Ramírez Mercado (; born 5 August 1942 in Masatepe, Nicaragua) is a Nicaraguan writer and intellectual who was a key figure in 1979 revolution, served in the leftist Government Junta of National Reconstruction and as vice president of the country 1985–1990 under the presidency of Daniel Ortega. He has been described as Nicaragua's "best-known living writer". Since the 1990s, he has been involved in the left-wing opposition to the Nicaraguan government, in particular in the Movimiento de Renovación Sandinista. He was exiled from the country in 2021 and stripped of his nationality by the government in 2023.

Life and career Born in Masatepe in 1942, he published his first book, Cuentos, in 1963. He received his law degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua of León in 1964, where he obtained the Gold Medal for being the best student.

In 1977 Ramírez became head of the "Group of Twelve", a group of prominent intellectuals, priests, businesspeople, and members of civil society who publicly stated their support for the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) in its struggle to topple the Presidency of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. and has received numerous international distinctions, including the Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation, awarded by Mexico in 2014 , and the Cervantes Prize (2017) . During this period, he lived in Managua but traveled extensively. He married his wife, Gertrudis "Tulita" Guerrero Mayorga, in 1964. He has three children: Sergio, María, and Dorel and eight grandchildren.thumb Sergio Ramirez at home in Managua. September 2001In June 2021, he was forced into exile during repression of the opposition in the lead-up to the 2021 Nicaraguan general election; the government issued a warrant for his arrest in September. In February 2023, the Nicaraguan government stripped him, along with 93 other people, of his nationality. The United Nations Refugee Agency called the move "arbitrary" and said "he exercise of fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly or other rights associated with a person’s political views, can never justify the deprivation of nationality."

His home in Masatepe was seized by Nicaraguan authorities on July 1, 2023.

Writings Ramírez began his literary career as a short story writer. His first story, "The student", was published in 1960 in Ventana, a magazine in León. His first book, published three years later, was a collection of stories, but the following, published in 1970, was a full-length novel. Since then, he has alternated these genres with essays and journalism. His international breakthrough came in 1998 when he won the Alfaguara Prize with his novel Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea.

In 1990, he founded La Quincena, a political journal based in Managua that would be published for ten years. He is presently a columnist for La Prensa as well as several newspapers around the world, including El País, La Jornada, El Nacional, El Tiempo and La Opinión. He is also the Director of Carátula, a Central American cultural e-magazine.

In January 2000, he was awarded the first "José María Arguedas Narrative Prize" from the Casa de las Américas. He has taught at the University of Maryland from 1999 to 2000 and again in 2001, and has been visiting professor at various major universities in the United States and Europe. He is also the President of , the most important literary festival in the region.

On 16 November 2017, Ramírez won the Spanish Ministry of Culture's Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world.

In February 2023, Ramírez was stripped of Nicaraguan citizenship by the Nicaraguan authorities.

His 2021 novel, Tongolele no sabía bailar (Tongolele Didn’t Know How to Dance) is a detective novel examining the 2018 protests. Miguel de Cervantes Prize (2017)

Novels and short stories Cuentos (1963) Tiempo de fulgor (1970) De Tropeles y Tropelías (1971) El Pensamiento vivo de Sandino (1975) Charles Atlas también muere (1976) ¿Te dio miedo la sangre? (1978) Castigo Divino (1988) (Divine Punishment, 2015) Clave de Sol (1993) Un baile de máscaras (1995) Cuentos Completos (1998) Margarita, está linda la mar (1998; Premio Alfaguara de Novela) Adiós muchachos (1999) Mentiras Verdaderas (2001) Catalina y Catalina (2001) Sombras nada más (2002) Mil y una muertes (2004) El Reino Animal (2006) Catalina y Catalina, Alfaguara México, 2001. Contiene 11 cuentos: La herencia del bohemio, El pibe Cabriola, La partida de caza, Aparición en la fábrica de ladrillos, Perdón y olvido, Gran Hotel, Un bosque oscuro, Ya todo está en calma, La viuda Carlota, Vallejo y Catalina y Catalina Ómnibus, antología personal, cuentos, Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, 2008 Juego perfecto, Editorial Piedra Santa / Amanuense Editorial, Guatemala, 2008; 11 cuentos El cielo llora por mí, novel, Alfaguara, 2009 (The sky weeps for me, McPherson & Company, 2020) Perdón y olvido, antología de cuentos: 1960 - 2009 (2009) La fugitiva, novel, Alfaguara, 2011 La girafa embarazada, children's short story (2013) Flores oscuras, Alfaguara, 2013. Contiene 12 relatos: Adán y Eva, La puerta falsa, La cueva del trono de la calavera, Ya no estás más a mi lado corazón, Las alas de la gloria, La colina 155, No me vayan a haber dejado solo, Ángela, el petimetre y el diablo, El mudo de Truro, Iowa, El autobús amarillo, Abbott y Costello y Flores oscuras Lo que sabe el paladar. Diccionario de los alimentos de Nicaragua, compendio en comidas y recetas, 2014 Juan de Juanes, relatos, Alfaguara México, 2014 Sara: sus páginas beben del mito bíblico de Abraham y Sara 6 A la mesa con Rubén Darío, short stoaries, 2016 Ya nadie llora por mí, crime novel, Alfaguara, 2017 Tongolele no sabía bailar, Alfaguara, 2021 El caballo dorado, Alfaguara, 2024 Ramírez participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007.

Essays and testimonies

Mis días con el rector, Ediciones Ventana, León, Nicaragua, 1965; artículos publicados en el diario La Noticia a raíz del fallecimiento del rector de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, Mariano Fiallos Gil Hombre del Caribe, Editorial EDUCA, Costa Rica, 1977 (biografía de Abelardo Cuadra) El muchacho de Niquinohomo, ensayo biográfico sobre Sandino, Unidad Editorial "Juan de Dios Muñoz", Departamento de Propaganda y Educación Política del FSLN, 1981 (reeditado en 1988 por la editorial Vanguardia, Managua) Pensamiento vivo de Sandino, 2 tomos, Editorial Nueva Nicaragua, Managua, 1981 Balcanes y volcanes, Editorial Nueva América, Buenos Aires, 1983 El alba de oro. La historia viva de Nicaragua, Editorial Siglo XXI, México, 1983 Estás en Nicaragua, Munhnik Editores, Barcelona, 1985 Las armas del futuro, Editorial Nueva Nicaragua, Managua, 1987 La marca del Zorro, Editorial Nueva Nicaragua, Managua, 1989; 17 horas de conversación con el comandante guerrillero Francisco Rivera Quintero en septiembre de 1988 Confesión de amor, con prólogo de Ernesto Cardenal; Ediciones Nicarao, Managua, 1991 Oficios compartidos, Editorial Siglo XXI, México, 1994 Biografía Mariano Fiallos, Editorial Universitaria, León, Nicaragua, 1997 Adiós muchachos, Alfaguara 1999; una memoria de la revolución sandinista Mentiras verdaderas, Alfaguara México, 2001 El viejo arte de mentir, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 2004 El señor de los tristes, ensayos literarios, Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, 2006 Tambor olvidado, Aguilar, San José, Costa Rica, 2007 Cuando todos hablamos, Alfaguara, 2008; contiene más de 200 artículos publicados en su blog en el portal literario El Boomeran(g)