'Homero Aridjis's poems open a door into the light.' - Seamus Heaney

Homero Aridjis, twice a Guggenheim Fellow, was born in Michoacán, of Mexican-Greek antecedents, in 1940.Poet, novelist, columnist and activist, he is president of International P.E.N.He was Mexican ambassador to the Netherlands and to Switzerland. Among other marks of recognition, in 1997 he received the Prix Roger Callois in France for his poetry and prose. One of Latin America’s greatest living writers, he is also extraordinary for his pioneering work as an environmental activist and his two-term stint as president of PEN International. Many of his forty-eight books of poetry and prose have been translated into fifteen languages.He is the recipient of important literary and environmental prizes including the Xavier Villaurrutia (Mexico), the Roger Caillois (France), the Grinzane-Cavour (Italy), the Orion Society’s John Hay Award, The Smederevo Golden Key, the Premio Letterario Camaiore Internazionale 2013, the Violani Landi University of Bologna poetry prize, and two Guggenheim Fellowships. He has been Mexico’s Ambassador to Switzerland, The Netherlands and UNESCO. Betty Ferber is the translator of three novels by Homero Aridjis: 1492 The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile, The Lord of the Last Days: Visions of the Year 1000 and Persephone. With Canadian/Irish poet George McWhirter she co-edited Eyes to See Otherwise, Selected Poetry of Homero Aridjis.As International Coordinator of the Group of 100 since 1985 she shared the Mikhail Gorbachev/Green Cross Millennium Award for International Environmental Leadership with Homero Aridjis, the Group’s founder and president.Ferber and Aridjis held three international symposia of writers and scientists in Mexico as well as three acclaimed international poetry festivals.