Juan Villoro
Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz (born 24 September 1956, in Mexico City) is a Mexican writer and journalist and the son of philosopher Luis Villoro. He has been well known among intellectual circles in Mexico, Latin America and Spain for years, but his success among a wider readership has grown since receiving the Herralde Prize for his novel El testigo.
Juan Villoro

Mayra Guarneros · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Juan Villoro
- Birth Name
- Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz
- Born
- 24 September 1956
- Birthplace
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Education
- Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
- Occupation
- Writer and journalist
- Full name
- Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz.
- Nationality
- Mexico.
- Fields
- crônica, theatre and essay.
- Honours
- Premio Herralde, Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award, Premio Iberoamericano de Letras José Donoso, Xavier Villaurrutia Award and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán Award for Sports Journalism.
- Languages
- Spanish.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz (born 24 September 1956, in Mexico City) is a Mexican writer and journalist and the son of philosopher Luis Villoro. He has been well known among intellectual circles in Mexico, Latin America and Spain for years, but his success among a wider readership has grown since receiving the Herralde Prize for his novel El testigo.
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Note VALÉORINE
Juan Villoro (born 1956) is a children's writer, journalist and novelist, among other activities, of Mexican nationality. The children's writer was born Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz in Mexico City.
Juan Villoro was educated at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. The children's writer worked for National Autonomous University of Mexico and is a member of Colegio Nacional.
The work spans crônica, essay and theatre. Languages used include Spanish. Works are held at Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Honours include Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán Award for Sports Journalism and Premio Herralde, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q1442249 · wikipedia · Juan Villoro
In this article
Biography
Biography
Juan Villoro studied at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. The recorded working language is Spanish. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are crônica, theatre and essay. Employment is recorded with National Autonomous University of Mexico. Work by Juan Villoro is recorded in the collections of Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Distinctions recorded are Premio Herralde, Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award, Premio Iberoamericano de Letras José Donoso and Xavier Villaurrutia Award.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Juan Villoro • Birth Name — Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz • Born — 24 September 1956 • Birthplace — Mexico City, Mexico • Education — Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana • Occupation — Writer and journalist
Biography
Biography
Juan Villoro received his bachelor's degree in Sociology from the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Iztapalapa campus. He was also part of a short story workshop conducted by Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso. As a rock music fan, he was the DJ for the radio program "El lado oscuro de la luna" (the Spanish translation of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd) from 1977 until 1981. He was then made the cultural attaché to Berlin in the then German Democratic Republic. For three decades, Villoro has produced a steady output of articles for various Mexican periodicals, concentrating in such areas as sports, rock, cinema, literature and travel. Palmeras de la brisa rapida: un viaje a Yucatán ("Palm Trees of the Rapid Breeze: A Journey to Yucatan") 1989 is an account of his travels in a part of Mexico known for its Mayan culture. His first novel was El disparo de argón ("The Shot of Argon"), published in 1991. Los once de la tribu ("The Eleven of the Tribe"), published in 1995, collects many of his best short, non-fiction essays and interviews. The title refers to the number of people on an international football team. He covers a wide range of topics, including Andy Warhol, the Rolling Stones, the television series Dallas, the absurdities of publishing children's literature in the United States and an interview with Jane Fonda. In 2011, Villoro appeared in the film production Guerrero 12, a feature-length documentary examining football fandom passion. The film is directed by Miguel A. Reina, who was also responsible for the Sundance film Un aliado en el tiempo. In 2018 he received Chile's Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award.
Interests
Interests
Since he was a child, Villoro has been fond of football. He is a fan of Barcelona, influenced by the fact that his father is from the region. Villoro played in the lower divisions Pumas of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, but left the team when he was 16. When he began writing about football, he described himself as being a fan of being a fan. He has consistently written chronicles, a genre that he defines as the platypus of prose, due to the large number of varying influences that chronicles can require. He began writing theater when he was 50 years old. As a rock music fan, Villoro collaborated with Mexican band Café Tacuba on the songs "Sashimi (Corte fino)" and "Laberinto" for the film Vivir mata, directed by Nicolás Echevarría. Villoro is also a professor at the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Iberoamerican Journalism and was a member of the dean's council for the Gabriel García Márquez Prize for Journalism, which meets annually in Medellín.
Novels
Novels
• El disparo de argón (1991) • Materia dispuesta (1997) • El testigo (2004) • Llamadas de Ámsterdam (2007) • Arrecife (2012) • La utilidad del deseo (2017) • La tierra de la gran promesa (2021)
Short stories
Short stories
• La noche navegable (1980) • La alcoba dormida (1992) • Albercas (1985) • La casa pierde (1999) • Los culpables (2007) • "Orden suspendido," in Manuel Felguérez Obra Reciente 2002-2005 (2005) • "Palmeras de la brisa rápida" (2009) • Forward: Kioto (2010) • Espejo Retrovisor (2013)
Essays, Chronicles, and Non-Fiction
Essays, Chronicles, and Non-Fiction
• Tiempo transcurrido (Crónicas imaginarias) (1986) • Palmeras de la brisa rápida: Un viaje a Yucatán (chronicle, 1989) • Los once de la tribu (football chronicles, 1995) • Efectos personales (essay, 2000) • Safari accidental (chronicle, 2005) • Dios es redondo (essays and chronicles on football, 2006) • Funerales preventivos: Fábulas y retratos (political essays, with drawings by Rogelio Naranjo, 2006) • De eso se trata (literary essays, 2008) • Manuel Felguérez el límite de una secuencia (1997) • La máquina desnuda (essay, 2009) • 8.8: Miedo en el espejo (chronicle,2010) • ¿Hay vida en la Tierra? (articles, 2012) • El Ojo en la Nuca (Stavans, ilan / Villoro, Juan, 2014) • El vértigo horizontal (Barcelona: Anagrama, 2019. English translation: Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico, Knopf, 2021)
Identity
Identity
Juan Villoro is recorded as having received Premio Herralde, Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award and Premio Iberoamericano de Letras José Donoso. Recorded at birth as Juan Antonio Villoro Ruiz. Within the Encyclopedia. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1956–1999
The full dated record · 3 entries
1956
Juan Villoro born at Mexico City.
1980
La noche navegable (de Juan Villoro) (1980) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1999
La casa pierde (de Juan Villoro) (1999) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
Children's books
• Las golosinas secretas (1985) • El profesor Zíper y la fabulosa guitarra eléctrica (1992) • Autopista sanguijuela (1998) • El té de tornillo del profesor Zíper (2000) • Cazadores de croquetas (2007) • El libro salvaje (2008) • El taxi de los peluches (2008) • La cuchara del señor Zíper (2015)
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Juan Villoro received Premio Herralde, Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award, Premio Iberoamericano de Letras José Donoso, Xavier Villaurrutia Award and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán Award for Sports Journalism.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Figueroa, Adrian. "La vida tiene sentido gracias a que existen los libros, los discos, el teatro…": Juan Villoro. www.cronica.com.mx. 2017.
- 2.Radio Educación - El lado oscuro de la luna. www.e-radio.edu.mx.
- 3.Villoro viaja en "Palmeras de la brisa rápida" a un Yucatán sentimental Vanguardia. www.vanguardia.com.mx. 2016.
- 4.FLM – CONACULTA. Obra publicada. Enciclopedia de la Literatura en México.
- 5.Maganda, Miguel A. Reina Gómez. Guerrero 12. 2011-06-17.
- 6.García, Javier. Juan Villoro, premio Manuel Rojas: 'Admiro su talante anarquista'. La Tercera. 8 August 2018.
- 7.Dios es redondo. P. 21.
- 8.Yohan Uribe Jiménez. Juan Villoro, considera el futbol reflejo de una sociedad. El Siglo de Torreón, 03.07.2011; acceso 10.12.2013.
- 9.“La crónica es un animal cuyo equilibrio biológico depende de no ser como los siete animales distintos que podría ser”, extracto de Safari Accidental de Juan Villoro (Joaquín Mortiz, 2005), publicado en La Nación, 22.01.2006; acceso 10.12.2013.
- 10.Juan Villoro, "Voy a tener una vejez teatral", Informador, 07.03.2012; acceso 11.12.2013.
- 11."Listo, soundtrack de Vivir mata", El Universal, 29.12.2001; acceso 11.12.2013.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Juan Tomás Ávila LaurelAuthor
- Juan ValeraAuthor
- Juan Van-HalenAuthor
- Juan Vázquez de MellaAuthor
- Juan Zorrilla de San MartínAuthor
- Juana AdcockAuthor
- Juana Belén Gutiérrez de MendozaAuthor
- Juana de IbarbourouAuthor
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