Laia Jufresa
Laia Jufresa (born 1983) is a Mexican writer. She was born in Mexico City and grew up in Veracruz and Paris. She studied at the Sorbonne, graduating with a BA in Arts. She also lived in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madison, Wisconsin and Cologne, Germany. She is best known for her debut novel Umami, which has been translated into multiple languages. In 2017, she was named as one of the Bogota39, a list of the most promising young writers in Latin America.[1]
When she was only six, she moved to a very rural area in Mexico where she began to read avidly, especially English books that her grandfather would send her.
Later in her life she lived in France, Spain, Argentina, and now Germany. This interaction with different cultures and languages has helped her shape her literary point of view as well as her character formation making her a better writer.
She is currently pursuing a master's degree in illustration. In Mexico, she studied at Mario Bellatin's Escuela Dinámica de Escritores (Dynamic School of Writers) and was awarded the two most important grants for young writers from the Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas (The Foundation for Mexican Literature) and the FONCA (The Mexican National Fund for Culture and the Arts). Her work has been featured in anthologies such as Un nuevo modo, Antología de narrativa mexicana actual (A new way, Anthology of Mexican current narrative, UNAM, 2013), Muestra de literatura joven de México (Sample of young literature of Mexico, FLM, 2008) and Los mejores Poemas Mexicanos 2006 (The Best Mexican Poems 2006). Her book El esquinista (The cornerist) was awarded an honorable mention in the National Prize for Short Story San Luis Potosí 2012.
Literary works
Umami This novel a thoughtful, eccentric, and heart-wrenching interwoven story told from the perspective of neighbors living in a mews of five houses in Mexico City. The five houses are named after tastes: Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Sour, and Umami. Umami tells the stories of characters who are dealing with mortality, abandonment, and loss. Umami is insightful, and ultimately tells the stories of humans coping with living next to one another in order to feel less isolated and alone.[2]
El esquinista (The Cornerist) was translated from Spanish by Sophine Hughes. This is a recollection of stories written from 2004 and 2010, with the help of grants from FONCA and the Foundation for Mexican Literature. It includes “El esquinista”, “Mama contra la Tierra”, “Moud”, “Eusebio Moneda” y “Los enganos”.
