Francisco Méndez (1907-1962) was a Guatemalan poet and short-story writer born in Joyabaj, El Quiché. He published his first poem at the age of eighteen, and moved to the city of Quetzaltenango shortly after. A self-taught writer, , he went on to publish numerous volumes of poetry, including the celebrated Nocturnos. He wrote for the Guatemala City newspaper El Imparcial from 1935 until his death, and he is linked to a generation of Guatemalan writers from the 1930s known as the Tepeus. His book of memoirs and short stories, Stories of Joyabaj, was published posthumously .
Sources
Words Without Borders
Pagina de Literatura Guatemalteca
Ministerio de Cultura, Guatemala
The Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape: A Descriptive Guide, by Francisco Aguilera, Library of Congress Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish Division. Washington: Library of Congress, 1974.
External links
The Water Cathedral
Francisco Mendez recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division’s audio literary archive between 1955 and 1961