Augusto Monterroso
Writer · 1921–2003
Who is Augusto Monterroso?
Augusto Monterroso was a writer widely celebrated as one of the great masters of the short story and micro-fiction in the Spanish language. Although born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, his family relocated to Guatemala City during his childhood, and he was raised, educated, and began his literary career there, which is why he is overwhelmingly regarded as a Guatemalan writer and identified himself with Guatemala throughout his life. Politically active against the dictatorship of Jorge Ubico, he went into exile in Mexico in 1944, where he lived for the rest of his life while working as a diplomat and writer. His 1959 collection Obras completas (y otros cuentos) contains "El Dinosaurio," a single sentence often cited as the shortest short story ever written in Spanish, which became one of the most famous lines in Latin American literature. His later works, including La oveja negra y demás fábulas (1969) and Movimiento perpetuo (1972), continued his signature blend of irony, brevity, and fable-like wit. In 2000 he received the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras, one of the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honors.
Sources: Augusto Monterroso, Obras completas (y otros cuentos) (1959) · Fundación Princesa de Asturias, Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras 2000, official citation (fpa.es)