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profile/jose-emilio-pacheco.md
Translated from the Spanish by Cynthia Steele
Published: Thu Oct 15 2020
Eva Lundsager, Were now like (detail), 2021, oil on canvas
AGNI 92 Print Only

José Emilio Pacheco (1939–2014), considered one of the most important Mexican writers of the twentieth century, was a prolific and influential author of poetry, fiction, cultural journalism, and literary translation. Pacheco’s poetry is characterized by its concise, unadorned, and understated quality and by its promotion of empathy and respect for human rights, other species, and the natural environment. (updated 10/2020)

Cynthia Steele’s translations include Inés Arredondo’s Underground Rivers and Other Stories(University of Nebraska Press, 1996), José Emilio Pacheco’s City of Memory and Other Poems (City Lights, 2001), and María Gudín’s Open Sea (Amazon Crossing, 2018). Her translations of Latin American authors have also appeared in Chicago Review, Gulf Coast, AGNI, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. She is professor emerita of comparative literature at the University of Washington, Seattle. (updated 10/2021)
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