Miguel Márquez (poet)
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- Writer
- Newspaper editor
- Poet
Miguel Márquez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1955 (age 69–70) Caracas, Venezuela |
| Citizenship | Venezuelan |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Co-founder of Grupo Tráfico |
Miguel Márquez (born 1955) was a Venezuelan writer, poet, and editor.
Born in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in 1955, Márquez got a degree in Philosophy from the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB).[1][2]
Career
Márquez dedicated most of his life to books, either as an author, researcher, editor, and bookstore manager.[3] He served as a director of both the Literature of the National Council of Culture of Venezuela (CONAC) and the Kuai-Mare Foundation's network of bookstores.[1][2] Márquez has been involved with other bookstores, including the one at the University of the Andes,[4] and the Ateneo de Caracas bookstore, where he worked as a collaborator.[2] He also participated in the Hojas de Calicanto workshop, worked as a researcher at the Rómulo Gallegos Center for Latin American Studies (CELARG), and even collaborated with the National Library of Venezuela.[1][2]
In 1981, Márquez, together with other poets of the literary Calicanto workshop, co-founded the Grupo Tráfico.[1][5] The following year, in 1982, he received the Fernando Paz Castillo Award for his work Cosas por decir ("Things to Say").[1] He has been included in various anthologies, including the Anthology of Venezuelan Poetry, which was written by Rafael Arraiz Lucca.[3]
He also served as the president of the state-owned publishing house El Perro y la Rana, a position that he held until 31 December 2009, when he resigned, citing personal reasons.[1][6] A few years later, he helped organize the inaugural edition of the World Poetry Festival of Venezuela, which was held in March 2014.[3] According to him, the World Poetry Festival should be looked at merely "as one more activity in the broader policy of inclusion and democratization of books and reading; that is, it is one more element within a whole that emerged alongside the Declaration of Venezuela as a country free of illiteracy".[5]