Embassy of Mexico in VietnamNhã Nam
VIEN
HANOI / 2026
MEXICO · LITERATURE · VIETNAM01—04 / 10 / 2026

Mexico
through
books.

Five authors, many doors
into Mexican literature

Enter a country from within — through stories, memories and questions still open.

Explore the five authors Browse books published in Vietnam ↗
A LITERARY SELECTIONCuốn sách Hoang dã — Vietnamese edition coverMê cung cô độc — Vietnamese edition coverNàng Aura — Vietnamese edition coverTên của khí trời — Vietnamese edition coverOctavio Paz
05VOICES
MANY MEXICOS
FROM MEXICO TO YOUR BOOKSHELF.

On the occasion of World Culture Festival in Hanoi 2026

Converging Heritage – Shaping the Future

AN INVITATION TO READ

One literature,
many Mexicos.

These five authors do not belong to a single literary school.

Mexico has many faces in literature: Octavio Paz’s questions about national identity; Carlos Fuentes’s seductive, haunted house; Alberto Ruy-Sánchez’s city of desire and the senses; Juan Villoro’s library where books choose their readers; and Cristina Rivera Garza’s painful search for justice.

Through works already available or forthcoming in Vietnamese from Nhã Nam, we invite readers to meet five very different voices in Mexican literature, from twentieth-century classics to one of today’s important contemporary writers.

Which door will you open?

CHOOSE A PLACE TO BEGIN ↓
01 / BOOKS & ADVENTURESBorn in 1956
Juan Villoro
Juan VilloroMexico

Writer · Journalist

Juan Villoro

A Mexican writer invites readers into a world where books have lives of their own.

Born in Mexico City in 1956, Juan Villoro is a writer, journalist and one of the most versatile voices in contemporary Mexican literature. His work spans novels, short stories, plays, essays, journalism and writing for children. He has received literary and journalism awards in Mexico, Spain and Latin America.

START READING WITH

Vietnamese edition cover

Available now
02 / IDENTITY & SOLITUDE1914–1998
Octavio Paz
Octavio PazMexico

Nobel Prize in Literature 1990

Octavio Paz

To see Mexico from within, this is one of the books to turn to.

Octavio Paz (1914–1998) was a Mexican poet, essayist and diplomat, and a major figure in twentieth-century Spanish-language literature. He spent many years in the Mexican diplomatic service, including a term as ambassador to India. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990.

START READING WITH

Vietnamese edition cover

Available now
03 / DESIRE & THE SENSESBorn in 1951
Alberto Ruy-Sánchez
Alberto Ruy-SánchezMexico

Premio Nacional de Artes y Literatura 2017

Alberto Ruy-Sánchez

Mogador: a geography of desire, where the body, memory and the elements find their voices.

Born in Mexico City in 1951, Alberto Ruy-Sánchez is a novelist, poet, essayist and editor. With Margarita de Orellana, he leads the cultural project Artes de México. His Quinteto de Mogador turns the city of Mogador into a geography of desire, the body, memory and the senses. In 2017 he received Mexico’s Premio Nacional de Artes y Literatura.

Three books in Nhã Nam’s catalogue · Part of the Quinteto de Mogador.

START READING WITH

Vietnamese edition cover

Previously published in Vietnam

Vietnamese edition cover

Previously published in Vietnam

Vietnamese edition cover

Previously published in Vietnam
04 / MEMORY & SHADOWS1928–2012
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos FuentesMexico

Premio Cervantes 1987

Carlos Fuentes

A dark house, a young woman, a past that keeps repeating itself.

Carlos Fuentes (1928–2012) was a Mexican novelist, essayist and diplomat, and a central figure in the Latin American Boom. A member of El Colegio Nacional and a former Mexican ambassador to France, he received the Cervantes Prize in 1987.

START READING WITH

Vietnamese edition cover

Previously published in Vietnam
05 / A CONTEMPORARY VOICEANOTHER DOOR OPENS
Cristina Rivera Garza
MEMORY STILL SPEAKS.
Forthcoming in Vietnam from Nhã Nam

Pulitzer Prize 2024 · Memoir or Autobiography

Cristina Rivera Garza

Liliana’s
Invincible Summer

A Sister’s Search for Justice

Restoring Liliana’s life beyond the case file.

Drawing on letters, notebooks, police files, family memories and the accounts of those who loved Liliana, Rivera Garza restores her sister’s voice, friendships, plans and interrupted youth. Liliana emerges as a person with a life of her own, beyond the label of a victim in a crime file.

About Cristina Rivera Garza

Cristina Rivera Garza is a Mexican writer, poet and scholar who teaches at the University of Houston. Her work crosses the boundaries between fiction, history, documents, memory and formal experimentation. A MacArthur Fellow and two-time recipient of the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, she won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography for Liliana’s Invincible Summer.

READ ON / VIETNAMESE PERSPECTIVESPRESS LIBRARY

Vietnamese perspectives on
Mexican literature

Conversations, reviews
and encounters. Articles in Vietnamese; titles translated here.

01

VnExpress / 21.05.2025

An adventure in the world of books

Juan Villoro
(opens in a new tab)02

Tuổi Trẻ / 09.05.2025

“Cuốn sách Hoang dã”: a pure heart matters more than an ocean of knowledge

Juan Villoro
(opens in a new tab)03

Nhân Dân / 05.05.2025

Launching the Vietnamese translation of Juan Villoro’s “Cuốn sách Hoang dã”

Juan Villoro
(opens in a new tab)04

VOV / 06.05.2025

Juan Villoro’s “Cuốn sách Hoang dã” published in Vietnam

Juan Villoro
(opens in a new tab)05

Tuổi Trẻ / 28.05.2012

Understanding women’s desires

Alberto Ruy-Sánchez
(opens in a new tab)06

VOV5 / 2012

A conversation with Mexican writer Alberto Ruy Sánchez

Alberto Ruy-Sánchez
(opens in a new tab)07

Thanh Niên / 09.08.2009

Alberto Ruy Sánchez’s “Tên của khí trời”

Alberto Ruy-Sánchez
(opens in a new tab)

MEXICO ↔ VIETNAM

An encounter
through literature.

Created on the occasion of the World Culture Festival in Hanoi 2026, this selection places literature alongside other forms of cultural exchange: a way to enter a country from within, through language, memory, desire, history and the questions we continue to ask of ourselves.

01–04.10.2026
World Culture Festival in Hanoi 2026
Converging Heritage – Shaping the Future
Principal venue: Thăng Long Imperial Citadel
Return to the doors