Richard Gwyn

Popocatépetl

Yesterday I came back into Mexico City from Puebla, the massive form of Popocatépetl (5,426 metres) to my left – caught fuzzily on my phone camera – passing the misty woodlands and broad meadows that gather around its… Read More

Of Dogs and Death

    I wrote once before about Juan Rulfo and his novel Pedro Paramo, which has unparalleled status in Mexican literature and was a major influence on the young Gabriel García Márquez on his arrival in Mexico City… Read More

Masks and Death

  When travelling, how do we begin to learn when someone is wearing a mask, with intent to deceive, given that we all wear masks much of the time? We all know, as Hamlet says, that ‘one may… Read More

Mexican Masks: the ambassadorial posts

Day 1 What is a creative ambassador? According to the blurb from the Arts Council of Wales, ‘The Creative Wales Ambassadors Awards are made by nomination and recognise . . . individual achievement in the arts along with the aim… Read More

Nicanor Parra at ninety-seven

Two weeks ago the Cervantes prize, Spain’s loftiest literary honour, was bestowed on the Chilean poet Nicanor Parra. Parra, at ninety-seven years of age, is without doubt the most influential of living South American poets. His career as… Read More