Luis Madrigal is a writer and scholar of contemporary Mexico. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and a PhD in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies from the University of Chicago. His current book project explores the intersection of politics and aesthetics during Mexico City’s transition to democracy, and the transformation of the capital’s contemporary image within and beyond Mexico. His research and teaching focuses on 20th and 21st century Mexican literature, photography, and film, but his interests include Latin American and Spanish cultural production, literary sociology, urban studies, spatial criticism, and aesthetic theory. He has received the George Watt Prize (ALBA, 2022), the Young Writers’ Essay Award (Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2016), and has been shortlisted for the Latin American Literature Today Literary Essay Award (2023), and the Nuevas Plumas Prize (2017) in narrative non-fiction.
Selected Publications
- “Erratic Behavior: Juan Rulfo’s Icelandic Connection.” Latin American Literature Today, Issue 29, March 2024. https://latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/2024/03/finalist-essay-erratic-behavior-juan-rulfos-icelandic-connection/
- “‘Al servicio de una idea’: otra réplica al crítico de Oppenheimer.” Nexos, August 11, 2023. https://cultura.nexos.com.mx/al-servicio-de-una-idea-otra-replica-al-critico-de-oppenheimer/
- “En el lugar del homicida: una esquina de Nueva Orleans.” Revista de la Universidad de México, no. 883 (April 2022): 129-132.
- “Sangre, cebiche y bacterias.” Revista de la Universidad de México, no. 876 (September 2021): 128-130.
- “Páradais de Fernanda Melchor.” Latin American Literature Today 1, no. 19 (August 2021): https://latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/es/reseas/paradais-fernanda-melchor-2/
- “Nuevo orden: alegoría de un secuestro.” Nexos, October 22, 2020. https://cultura.nexos.com.mx/nuevo-orden-alegoria-de-un-secuestro/
- “El escultor que fue Pípila: Juan Olaguíbel”; “El escultor, el arquitecto y dos servilletas”; “El arquitecto que (re)construía: Vicente Mendiola” & “La Diana de carne y hueso.” In La Diana Cazadora: historia de un símbolo, ed. Alberto Tavira, 27-74. Mexico City: Grupo F6-11, 2019.
- “El bulto” & “Arresto domiciliario.” In Los retos de Retes, edited by David Guerrero Placencia, 46-49; 66-69. Mexico City: Cineteca Nacional, 2018.
- “Pere Portabella: entre el sonido y el sentido.” Correspondencias. Cine y pensamiento, Especial FICUNAM 9 (February 2019): 46-55. http://correspondenciascine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Correspondencias_FICUNAM9_FINAS.pdf
Recent Courses in RLL
- SPAN 10200 Beginning Elementary Spanish II (Winter 2021)
- SPAN 20300 Language, History, and Culture III (Autumn 2020)
- SPAN 22822 Mexico City in Literature, Photography, and Film (Autumn 2022)
- SPAN 25025 Mexican Cinema (Autumn 2024)