Gabino Iglesias

Iglesias is from Puerto Rico. In 1999, he began writing a "basic story" about revenge. After the success of his novel The Devil Takes You Home, he developed this story into the novel The House of Bone and Rain, which was published in 2024.^[1]

English is Iglesias's second language. In an interview with NPR, Iglesias stated "I didn't speak a word of it until I was, like, in sixth or seventh grade."^[2] Iglesias moved to the mainland United States in 2008 and began writing in English at that time.^[3]

Iglesias holds a bachelor's degree in business and an MA in Journalism from the University of Puerto Rico. He later graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a PhD in Journalism.^[4][5]

In an interview with Nightmare Magazine, Iglesias stated that he first began to read bizarro fiction in about 2007. His first published novel, 2012's Gutmouth, was part of the bizarro genre. He then wrote Zero Saints, which he described as a difficult and emotional task. When he needed a break, he wrote a "palate cleanser" which eventually became Hungry Darkness.^[6]

His novels have been described as "barrio noir."^[6] Ilana Masad wrote about Iglesias's 2022 novel The Devil Takes You Home and its relationship to noir fiction. Masad quotes Otto Penzler by stating that noir characters "are caught in the inescapable prisons of their own construction, forever trapped by their isolation from their own souls, as well as from society and the moral restrictions that permit it to be regarded as civilized." Masad then quoted Iglesias himself, who describes "barrio noir" as "any writing that walks between languages, borders, and cultures [and] that occupies a plethora of interstitial spaces and isn't afraid to engage with all religions and superstitions as well as to bring in supernatural elements." Masad further situated Iglesias's writing in the modern world, describing its relationship to migrant deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border, the curtailing of reproductive rights by the United States Supreme Court, and mass shootings, among other issues.^[7]

As of 2022, Iglesias teaches creative writing at an online MFA program for Southern New Hampshire University.^[8] In 2023, he joined the faculty of the UC Riverside Low Residency MFA Program as a Visiting Assistant Professor.^[4]

As of 2019, Iglesias is based in Austin, Texas.^[6]

As author

• Gutmouth. Eraserhead Press. 2012. ASIN B00BEPHW88.
• Hungry Darkness. Severed Press. 2015. ISBN 9781925342154.
• Zero Saints. Broken River Books. 2015. ISBN 9780316584739.
• Coyote Songs. Broken River Books. 2018. ISBN 9781940885490.
• The Devil Takes You Home. Mulholland Books. 2022. ISBN 9780316426916.
• House of Bone and Rain. Mulholland Books. 2024. ISBN 9780316427012.

Anthology appearances

• Steph Cha; Alafair Burke, eds. (2021). "Everything Is Going to Be Okay". The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021. Mariner Books. ISBN 9780358525691.^[9]
• Christopher Golden; Brian Keene, eds. (2025). "The Hope Boat". The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand. Gallery Books. ISBN 9781668057551.^[10][11]

As editor

• Gabino Iglesias, ed. (2020). Both Sides: Stories from the Border. Agora Books. ISBN 9781947993877.
• Andrew Cull; Gabino Iglesias, eds. (2022). Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories. Vermillion 2 One. ASIN B0BB6GQDW1.
• Andrew Cull; Gabino Iglesias, eds. (2024). Found 2: More Stories of Found Footage Horror. Vermillion 2 One. ISBN 9780648731566.