Mexican writer René Avilés Fabila passes away at 75

The Mexican journalist and writer, René Sadot Avilés Fabila, passed away this morning in Mexico City due to a heart attack at the age of 75.

A year ago, he joked about his age in the occasion of his 74th birthday: “to tell you the truth I feel like a 50-year-old boy, I have 23 lady friends and I can still enjoy half a bottle of whisky on my own”, he was born on November 15, 1940 in Mexico City and held various positions in the arts and culture sector.

He opened the Writer’s Museum in 2008 and is recognized as one of the most prolific key figures of Mexican literature, covering various genres like the live chronicle, short story, novels, essays and two autobiographies: “Memoirs of a Communist” (1991) and “Remembrances” (1995).

Among his work translated into English, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Russian and Croatian are featured: “Tantadel” (1975), “Oddette’s Song” (1982), “Requiem for a suicidal” (1993) and “The Forest of Prodigies” (2007), among others.

He was a tireless cultural promoter and a journalist for “EL UNIVERSAL”, among many other national and foreign newspapers.

Avilés Fabila had been a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Metropolitan Autonomous University of Xochimilco (UAM-X) since the mid-seventies.

More of his work at: http://www.museodelescritor.org.mx/index.php