Israel Centeno

Israel Centeno (Caracas, 1958) has published 14 books, mostly novels, but also short fiction and poetry. He is regarded as one of the most important Venezuelan literary figures of the past fifty years. He has won numerous awards, including the Federico Garcia Lorca Award in Spain and the National Council of Culture Award in Venezuela in 1991. Through his narratives Centeno conveys a sense of the many shortcomings of a society that feeds on grandiose historical myths that lead to poverty and violence. His fictions also accommodate his own experiences as an exile. Since 2011 he has lived in Pittsburgh with his wife and two daughters, as an exiled writer-in-residence at City of Asylum Pittsburgh. (From http://www.sampsoniaway.org/literary-voices/2014/07/20/the-conspiracy-by-israel-centeno/)