Ruben Varona
Ruben Varona is a Colombian author and literary critic, specialized in crime and historical fiction. Born in Popayán (1980), he teaches in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Miami University. He has a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature from Texas Tech University (2018), and a bilingual M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso (2012). He is the co-founder of the Revista Cultural La Mandrágora in Popayán. His deep interest in crime fiction has gained him recognition, being elected Vice-President for (2008-2016). Rubén Varona’s writing explores social conflicts and the  potential for individual resistance. His literary and academic work reveal structural problems in fictional societies raising awareness of conflicting perspectives of social justice. For example, his coauthored novel "La secta de los asesinos" (2016), approaches today’s terrorism from a historical perspective that humanizes the political and religious tensions between East and West. This work was a finalist for the Premio Planeta-Casa de América award (2012), and the media credited it for anticipating to the foundation of the Islamic State. Varona’s writing style uses the brutality, obscenity and crime to expose the dark skeleton of reality, and to  reveal the ugliness implicit in our canon of beauty. For example, about his novel "La hora del cheesecake" (2015), the critic has highlighted the “intensity of language that forces the reader to place themselves in different planes and levels for the reconfiguration of both time and discourse”, and how it masterfully mixes the high and low culture, as well as the thriller and the corrosive satire without using the Anglo-Saxon models. He has been chosen for several collections and anthologies of short stories: “Hospital psiquiátrico” en "Desierto en escarlata: cuentos criminales de Ciudad Juárez." (Ed. Colectivo Zurdo Medieta, 2018 ), “Meninas Club” en "Short Story anthology: Latein-Amerika" (Ed. Beatrix Kramlovsky and Sylvia Unterrander. Trans. Eva Srna, 2014), “Punto Negro” en "Céfiro: Enlace Hispano Cultural y Literario" (2013), “Der Lackierte Spazierstock” en "Crime fiction anthology: Zurich, Ausfahrt Mord". Switzerland. (Ed. Paul Ott. Trans. Susanna Mende, 2011), “El olor de los jazmines” en "Rio Grande Review" (2010), “Un vuelo de algo con alas de polvo.” "Señales de Ruta. Antología del cuento colombiano." (Ed. Juan Pablo Plata, 2008), “Los restos del patriarca” en "El Fungible. Especial de relatos para España y América Latina." (Ed. Ayuntamiento de Alcobendas 2008), and “Cábala en re  menor” in the anthology "Al filo de las palabras" (Ed. Carlos Muñoz, 2001).