{{Short description|Mexican writer, essayist, poet, playwright and actor}} '''Alejandro Aura''' (Mexico City, Mexico; March 2, 1944 – Madrid, Spain; July 30, 2008) was a Mexican writer, essayist, poet, playwright and actor, as well as a culture promoter and television host.
==Biography== Alejandro Aura was born on March 2, 1944, to a family from the San Rafael borough of Mexico City. His father Olimpo Aura Pineda was a mathematician, and his mother Ema Palacios Ordorica, whose grandfather Manuel Ordorica worked at the National Palace of Mexico with President Porfirio Díaz, was descendant of an aristocratic family. From a young age, Alejandro developed a passion for literature writing poetry, plays, essays, short fiction and fiction. He was also characterized by his political activism by participating actively in the student movement of 1968.<ref name="La Jornada 2008-07-30">{{cite web|title=Falleció el escritor Alejandro Aura en Madrid |publisher=La Jornada |date=2008-07-30 |url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2008/07/30/fallecio-el-poeta-alejandro-aura-en-madrid |accessdate=2008-09-27 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908031644/http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2008/07/30/fallecio-el-poeta-alejandro-aura-en-madrid |archivedate=8 September 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Besides his literary activities, he was director of the Theater and Dance department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.<ref name="UGR">{{cite web|title=El poeta mexicano Alejandro Aura presenta su nuevo libro "Poemas y otros poemas" en la UGR |publisher=Notas de Prensa de la Universidad de Granada |date=2004-04-29 |url=http://prensa.ugr.es/prensa/campus/prensa.php?nota=1291 |accessdate=2008-09-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503225028/http://prensa.ugr.es/prensa/campus/prensa.php?nota=1291 |archivedate=2008-05-03 }}</ref> In March, 1995, Aura created the national reading club "Aureolas" in his cultural bar "El hijo del cuervo'" in Coyoacán, where he presented several artistic, cultural and social activities between 1984 and 1999.<ref name = "UGR" /> In 1998, he created and directed the Institute of Culture of Mexico City (nowadays, Secretary of Culture) during Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas' term as Head of Government, until 2001.<ref name = "La Jornada 2008-07-30" /> During his term, Aura promoted the use of public spaces for cultural activities and created reading clubs.<ref name = "La Jornada 2008-07-30" /> He was director of the Institute of Culture of Mexico in Madrid, Spain from July, 2001, to December, 2003.<ref name = "UGR" />
He got first married to Elsa Cross, with whom he had a daughter, Cecilia Aura Cross (1968-2007), then to Emma Ruiz and to actress Verónica Langer, with whom he had a son, Pablo Aura.<ref>{{cite web|last=Boullosa |first=Carmen |title=Una ciudad llamada Alejandro Aura |publisher=Canal 22 |date=2008-08-01 |url=http://www.noticias.canal22.org.mx/noticia.html?n=16830 |accessdate=2008-09-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722225942/http://www.noticias.canal22.org.mx/noticia.html?n=16830 |archivedate=2011-07-22 }}</ref> He later married Carmen Boullosa, with whom he had two children: María and Juan Aura.<ref name = "La Jornada 2008-07-30" /> In Madrid, he met his last wife, Milagros Revenega, with whom he spent his last days. Alejandro Aura died on July 30, 2008, in Madrid.
He was awarded the Latin-American Award for Short Fiction in 1969 for ''Los baños de Celeste'' (''Celeste's Baths''), and the National Award for Poetry Aguascalientes in 1973 for ''Volver a casa'' (''Coming Home'').<ref>{{cite web|title=Fallece en Madrid el poeta y dramaturgo mexicano Alejandro Aura |publisher=El mundo |date=2008-08-25 |url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/07/31/obituarios/1217495221.html |accessdate=2008-09-27 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922062742/http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/07/31/obituarios/1217495221.html |archivedate=22 September 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Works ==
=== Short fiction === *''Los baños de Celeste'' (1969) *''La historia de Nápoles'' (1988) *''La hora íntima de Agustín Lara'' (1993) *''El otro lado'' (1993)
=== Poetry === *''Cinco veces la flor'', in ''Poesía Joven de México'' (1967) *''Alianza para vivir'' (1969) *''Varios desnudos y dos docenas de naturalezas muertas'' (1971) *''Volver a casa'' (1974) *''Tambor interno'' (1975) *''Hemisferio sur'' (1982) *''La patria vieja'' (1986) *''Cinco veces'' (1989) *''Poeta en la mañana'' (1991)
=== Drama === *''Los exaltados'' (1974) *''Las visitas'' (1979) *''Salón calavera'' (1982) *''Xe bubulú'' (1984), in collaboration with Carmen Boullosa. *''Salón calavera'', ''Las visitas'' and ''Bang'' (1987)
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.alejandroaura.net/wordpress Official blog of Alejandro Aura]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aura, Alejandro}} Category:1944 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Mexican male poets Category:Mexican dramatists and playwrights Category:Poets from Mexico City Category:20th-century Mexican poets Category:20th-century Mexican dramatists and playwrights Category:Mexican male dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Mexican male writers