{{short description|Chilean-Palestinian writer and professor (born 1970)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Lina Meruane | image = Meruane, Lina -Puertodeideas 2016 fRF03.jpg | alt = | caption = 2016 | birth_name = Lina Meruane Boza | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1970}} | birth_place = Santiago, Chile | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | family = Ricardo Meruane <br/><small>(uncle)</small><br/>Nelly Meruane <br/><small>(great-aunt)</small> | occupation = Writer, professor | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = {{Plainlist| * ''Fruta podrida'' (2007) * ''Sangre en el ojo'' (2012) }} | spouse = | children = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Anna Seghers-Preis (2011) * Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize (2012) }} | alma_mater = New York University }} '''Lina Meruane Boza''' (born 1970) is a Chilean writer and professor.<ref name=CQB>{{Cite web |url=http://www.agencialiterariacbq.com/autores/lina-meruane/ |title=Lina Meruane |publisher=Agencia Literaria CBQ |language=Spanish |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423060250/http://www.agencialiterariacbq.com/autores/lina-meruane/ |archive-date=23 April 2015 |access-date=4 February 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her work, written in Spanish, has been translated into 12 languages --English, Italian, Portuguese, German, French and Arabic, among others. In 2011 she won the Anna Seghers-Preis for the quality of her work, in 2012 the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize for her novel ''Sangre en el ojo''.<ref name=Sor>{{Cite web |url=http://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/2012/10/30/chilena-lina-meruane-gana-xx-premio-de-literatura-sor-juana-ines-en-mexico.shtml |title=Chilena Lina Meruane gana XX premio de literatura Sor Juana Inés en México |trans-title=Chilean Lina Meruane Wins 20th Sor Juana Inés Literature Prize in Mexico |publisher=Radio Bío-Bío |agency=AFP |language=Spanish |date=30 October 2012 |access-date=4 February 2018}}</ref>
==Biography== Born in Santiago, Chile, Lina Meruane is of Palestinian and Italian descent. She is the niece of actress Nelly Meruane and comedian Ricardo Meruane.
She started writing as a storyteller and cultural journalist. In 1997 she received a writing grant from FONDART to finish her first book of stories.<ref name=CQB/> The following year she published ''Las infantas'', a book that received a very positive critique from Chilean reviewers, as well as writer Roberto Bolaño: {{Quote|There is a generation of (Chilean) writers who promise to devour it all. At the head, clearly, two stand out. These are Lina Meruane and Alejandra Costamagna, followed by Nona Fernández and five or six other young women armed with all the implements of good literature.|source=Roberto Bolaño, February 1999<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WG1lAAAAMAAJ&q=%22seguidas+por+Nona+Fern%C3%A1ndez+y+por+otras%22 |title=Entre paréntesis: ensayos, artículos y discursos (1998–2003) |trans-title=In Parentheses: Essays, Articles, and Speeches (1998–2003) |chapter=Fragmentos de regreso a un país natal |trans-chapter=Fragments of Return to a Native Country |first=Roberto |last=Bolaño |publisher=Editorial Anagrama |isbn=9788433962102 |page=67 |language=Spanish |year=2004 |access-date=4 February 2018 |via=Google Books}}</ref>}}
Meruane published two novels before leaving for New York to do her doctorate studies in Spanish-American literature at New York University.<ref name=CQB/><ref name=nearts/><ref name="sfischerprof">{{cite web | title=Lina Meruane | website=Samuel Fischer Gastprofessur | date=2023-09-28 | url=https://sfischerprof.de/en/professor/lina-meruane/ | access-date=2026-01-29}}</ref> In the United States she received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation in 2004 (for the novel ''Fruta Podrida''),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/lina-meruane/ |title=Lina Meruane |publisher=Guggenheim Foundation |access-date=4 February 2018}}</ref> and another in 2010 from the National Endowment for the Arts (for ''Sangre en el ojo'').<ref name=nearts/>
In 2011 she received the Anna Seghers-Preis,<ref name="annaseghers"/> and the following year she won the 20th Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize for ''Sangre en el ojo'', during the Guadalajara International Book Fair, with a jury made up of the writers Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Antonio Ortuño, and Cristina Rivera Garza.<ref name=Sor/>
Meruane has lived in New York since 2000.<ref name="sfischerprof"/> As of 2026 she teaches Creative Writing in Spanish and Latin American Cultures, Arts and Cultures at New York University.<ref>{{cite web | title=Lina Meruane | website=NYU Liberal Studies | url=https://liberalstudies.nyu.edu/about/faculty-listing/lina-meruane.html | access-date=2026-01-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Lina Meruane – Creative writing in spanish NYU KJCC | website=Web Publishing | date=2006-09-08 | url=https://wp.nyu.edu/cwskjcc/autores/lina-meruane/ | access-date=2026-01-29}}</ref><ref name=nearts/>
==Grants and awards== * 1997: Grant. National Council for the Arts, FONDART, Chile, for ''Las Infantas'' (National Council of Culture and the Arts) * 2004: Grant. John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Latin American and Caribbean Fellowship for ''Fruta podrida'' * 2006: Award. Best Unpublished Novel, for ''Fruta podrida'' (National Council of Culture and the Arts)<ref name=Sor/> * 2010: Grant. National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, for ''Seeing Red''.<ref name=nearts>{{cite web | title=Lina Meruane | website=National Endowment for the Arts | url=https://www.arts.gov/impact/literary-arts/creative-writing-fellows/lina-meruane | access-date=2026-01-29}}</ref> * 2011: Award. Anna Seghers-Preis, por her literary work<ref name=Sor/><ref name="annaseghers">{{cite web | title=Anna Seghers-Stiftung – Anna Seghers Gesellschaft | website=Anna Seghers Gesellschaft | date=2025-10-26 | url=https://anna-seghers.de/anna-seghers/anna-seghers-stiftung/ | language=de | access-date=2026-01-29}}</ref> * 2012: Award. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, for ''Sangre en el ojo''<ref name=Sor/> * 2015: Award. Institute of Chilean-Arab Culture Award, for ''Volverse Palestina''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.federacionpalestina.cl/noticia.php?id=376 |title=Hoy: Instituto Chileno-Árabe de Cultura premiará a escritora Lina Meruane |trans-title=Today: Institute of Chilean-Arab Culture Will Award Writer Lina Meruane |publisher=Federación Palestina |language=Spanish |date=6 August 2015 |access-date=4 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205101700/http://www.federacionpalestina.cl/noticia.php?id=376 |archive-date=5 February 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * 2015: Award. Cálamo Another Look, for ''Fruta podrida'' (Zaragoza)<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://diario.elmercurio.com/2016/02/06/actividad_cultural/actividad_cultural/noticias/D97F63C1-5D81-4B3E-8669-06FEFA1CBB19.htm?id={D97F63C1-5D81-4B3E-8669-06FEFA1CBB19} |title=El buen momento de la literatura chilena |trans-title=The Good Moment for Chilean Literature |work=El Mercurio |language=Spanish |date=6 February 2016 |access-date=4 February 2018}}</ref> * 2017: Grant. Artists-in-Berlin Program, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service; for ''Sistema Nervioso''. * 2023: Award. {{ill|Premio José Donoso|es}}<ref>{{cite web | title=Escritora chilena Lina Meruane es la ganadora del Premio Iberoamericano de Letras José Donoso 2023 | website=El Mercurio | date=2023-09-08 | url=https://www.emol.com/noticias/Espectaculos/2023/09/08/1106661/lina-meruane-premio-jose-donoso.html | language=es | access-date=2026-01-29}}</ref>
==Works== ===Short stories=== * ''Las infantas'', Planeta, Santiago, Chile, 1998 (Eterna Cadencia, Argentina, 2010), {{ISBN|9789871673070}} * ''Avidez'', Paginas de Espuma, Spain, 2024
===Novels translated into English=== *''Seeing Red'' translated by Megan McDowell, Deep Vellum, USA (Atlantic Books, UK, 2016), {{ISBN|9781941920251}}; original edition ''Sangre en el ojo'' *''Nervous System'' translated by Megan McDowell, Graywolf, USA, 2021 (Atlantic Books, UK, 2021); original edition ''Sistema Nervioso''
===Novels in original Spanish=== * ''Póstuma'', Planeta, Santiago, 2000 (Oficina Do Livro, Portugal, 2001) * ''Cercada'', Cuarto Propio, Santiago, 2000 (Cuneta Editores, Santiago, 2014 with prologue by Lorena Amaro) * ''Fruta podrida'', Fondo de Cultura Económica, Santiago, 2007 (Eterna Cadencia, 2015), {{ISBN|9789562890601}} * ''Sangre en el ojo'', Caballo de Troya, Spain, 2012 (Penguin Random House, 2015) * ''Sistema Nervioso'', Penguin Random House, Chile & Spain, 2019
===Drama=== * ''Un lugar donde caerse muerta / Not a leg to stand on'', dramatic adaptation of the novel ''Fruta podrida'' by the author and the Chilean theater director Martín Balmaceda; bilingual edition with prologue by Guillermo Calderón and English translation by Sarah Thomas, Diaz Grey Editores, 2012 (Trópico Sur, Uruguay, 2013) thumb|Meruane signing her books at the 2016 Puerto de Ideas cultural festival
===Nonfiction=== * ''Viral Voyages. Tracing AIDS in Latin America'', translated by Andrea Rosenberg, Palgrave MacMillan, 2014, {{ISBN|9781137394996}}; original edition ''Viajes virales: la crisis del contagio global en la escritura del sida'', essay, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Santiago 2012, {{ISBN|9789562891042}} * ''Volverse palestina'', chronicle, Literal Publishing, USA / Conaculta, Mexico, 2013, {{ISBN|9789568228866}} * ''Palestina en Pedazos'', chronicle/personal essay; Literatura Random House, Santiago, 2021 * ''Contra los hijos'', essay-diatribe, Tumbona, Mexico, 2014, {{ISBN|9789569766626}} and Penguin Random House, 2018 {{ISBN|9788439734062}} * ''Zona Ciega'', essay, Penguin Random House, 2021 * ''Coloquio de las quiltras'', essay, Debate, 2024
===Visual essays=== * ''Cinco personas en busca de su personaje'', ongoing project, first part directed by Luciano Piazza
===In English language journals === ''Two Lines'' (California), ''Bomb'' (New York), ''The Literary Review'' (New York), ''Brick'' (Canada), ''N+1'' (New York), ''Words without Borders'' (New York), ''Drunken Boat'' (US), ''The White Review'' (UK), ''Litro Magazine'' (UK), ''Brown Book'' (Arab Emirates), ''Asymptote'' (US), among others in several languages.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{OL author|OL48025A}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meruane, Lina}} Category:1970 births Category:20th-century Chilean women writers Category:21st-century Chilean women writers Category:Chilean educators Category:21st-century Chilean women educators Category:21st-century Chilean novelists Category:Chilean people of Italian descent Category:Chilean people of Palestinian descent Category:20th-century Chilean short story writers Category:Chilean women short story writers Category:Living people Category:New York University alumni Category:New York University faculty Category:National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Category:Writers from Santiago, Chile Category:Chilean expatriates in the United States Category:Chilean women novelists Category:Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize winners