Gonzalo Celorio

Gonzalo Celorio is a Mexican novelist, essayist, and literary critic born in 1948 in Mexico City. He is a professor emeritus of Spanish American literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and a former director of the Fondo de Cultura Económica, one of the most important publishing houses in the Spanish-speaking world. He is a member of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua. Celorio is the author of several novels including Y retiemble en sus centros la tierra (1999), El metal y la escoria (2010), and Tres lindas cubanas (2006). His fiction is deeply rooted in Mexican cultural history and is known for its self-reflexive style, its engagement with the Mexican literary tradition, and its exploration of personal and collective memory. He has also written important literary essays, including México, ciudad de papel (1987), a meditation on literature and urban culture in Mexico City. His work as a critic and cultural promoter has been as significant as his fiction in shaping Mexican literary culture. He received the Premio Cervantes in 2025. Celorio is one of Mexico's most distinguished literary intellectuals, combining the roles of novelist, critic, and cultural institution-builder with rare elegance.