Roberto Ampuero

Roberto Ampuero
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Chilean
Notable works	Nuestros años Verde Olivo; Los amantes de Estocolmo; The Cayatano Brulé detective series

Roberto Ampuero (1953) is a prolific award-winning and best-selling Chilean novelist, columnist and professor. He is the author of the popular detective series featuring Cayetano Brulé, a Cuban private detective who lives in Chile. However, this mulitfaceted writer has penned diverse works such as the semi-autobiographical novel of his years in Cuba, Nuestros años Verde Olivo, the metafictional mystery, Los amantes de Estocolmo, and the scholarly, La historia como conjetura. La narrativa de Jorge Edwards.

His novels are known for their international flare. The settings include Cuba, The United States, Sweden, Greece, Germany, and, of course, Chile from the northern desert of Atacama to the picturesque streets of Valpariso to the southern wilds of Patagonia.

In addition to his novels, he produces a steady stream of social commentary in newspaper columns published by the Chilean newspaper, La Tercera, and the New York Times Syndicate.

When not writing, he teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa.

Biography

Born and raised in Valparaiso, Ampuero studied in Deutsche Schule of Valpariso until 1971. He left to study anthropology and literature at the University of Chile in Santiago. However, after the military coup by Pinochet in 1973, he left Chile. Ampuero first lived in Cuba and studied at the University of Havana (1974-1979), then moved to East Germany (1980-1982), before eventually immigrating to West Germany in 1983. Since then, he has lived in Chile, Sweden, and the United States.

Ampuero attended the prestigious International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 1996 and returned to the University of Iowa to study Spanish literature where he obtained his masters and doctoral degrees. Currently, he resides in Iowa City, Iowa where he teaches creative writing in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa, writes novels and newspaper columns for the Chilean newspaper, La Tercera and the New York Times syndicate.

His books have been translated into Portuguese, French, German, Croatian, Greek, Italian, and Chinese and have been published in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. In Chile alone, they have sold more than 200,000 copies.

Literature

Ampuero published his first novel in 1985, a young-adult allegory La guerra de los duraznos (The War of the Peaches) while living in West Germany.

Then, in 1993 he published the first novel in the series featuring the detective, Cayetano Brulé, Quien mato a Cristian Kustermann? (Who Killed Cristian Kustermann?). Subsequently, Brulé has appeared in five more detective novels: Boleros En La Habana (Boleros in Havana) ,1994; El Aleman de Atacama (The German of Atacama) ,1996; Cita En El Azul Profundo (Appointment at the Azul Profundo), 2002; Halcones de la Noche (Nighthawks), 2004; and El Caso Neruda (The Neruda Case,), 2008.

Other Ampuero novels include the semi-autobiographical novel, Nuestros Años Verde Olivo, (Our Olive Green Years, 1999), which narrates the experience and disillusionment of a revolutionary political exile in Cuba. Also, a postmodernist metafictional murder mystery, Los Amantes de Estocolmo, (The Stockholm Lovers, 2004) and Pasiones Grieges, (Greek Passions, 2007).

Ampuero has also published a collection of short stories, El Hombre Golondrina: y otros cuentros, (The Swallow Man: and other stories) (1997) and the literary analysis, La historia como conjetura. La narrativa de Jorge Edwards, (The Story as Conjecture. The narrative of Jorge Edwards, 2006).

Works

• (1993), ¿Quién mató a Cristián Kustermann? (novela policial), Editorial Planeta. Who Killed Cristián Kusterman?
• (1994), Boleros en La Habana (novela policial), Editorial Planeta. Boleros in Havana
• (1996), El alemán de Atacama (novela policial), Editorial Planeta. The German of Atacama
• (1997), El hombre golondrina (cuentos), Editorial Planeta. The Swallow Man: and other stories
• (1999), Nuestros años verde olivo, Editorial Planeta. Our Olive Green Years
• (2001), La guerra de los duraznos (novela juvenil), Editorial Andrés Bello. The War of the Peaches
• (2003), Los amantes de Estocolmo, Editorial Planeta. The Stockholm Lovers
• (2004), Cita en el Azul Profundo (novela policial), Editorial Planeta. Appointment at the Azul Profundo
• (2005), Halcones de la noche, Editorial Planeta. Nighthawks
• (2006), La Historia como conjetura. La narrativa de Jorge Edwards (ensayo), Editorial Andrés Bello. The Story as Conjecture. The narrative of Jorge Edwards,
• (2006), Pasiones griegas, Editorial Planeta, 260 págs, ISBN 9562474089. Greek Passions

Major Awards

•Pasiones Griegas, selected Best Spanish-language novels published in 2006 by The People's Publishing House of China, Beijing.

•Designated an “Illustrious son” by the city of Valparaiso, 2006.

•Los Amantes de Estocolmo, selected as “Book of the Year 2003” by Review of Books, Santiago, Chile.

•¿Quién mato a Cristian Kustermann?, selected by El Mercurio Book Review in 1993.

Sources

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• [2]