Isabel Zapata (born 1984) is a Mexican writer, editor, poet, and translator. She is the author of Ventanas adentro, Las noches son así, Una ballena es un país, Alberca vacía, In vitro, Tres animales que caben en el agua, and Troika. She has also published in literary magazines such as Periódico de Poesía, Letras Libres, and Este País. In 2015, she co-founded the publishing house Ediciones Antílope.
Background and career Born in Mexico City, Isabel Zapata is the daughter of the former governor of San Luis Potosí, Fausto Zapata. She spoke on behalf of her family when they donated her father's book collection to the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí in 2016. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico and a master's degree in philosophy from the New School for Social Research in New York.
From 2013 to 2015, she was the cultural programs coordinator for the Mexican Cultural Institute in New York. In 2015, she co-founded Ediciones Antílope with Marina Azahua, Jazmina Barrera, Astrid López Méndez, and César Tejeda; Dora Navarrete is also currently part of the team. After returning to Mexico, she has been involved in film festivals, such as the Ambulante Film Festival and the Morelia International Film Festival.
Selected works
Una ballena es un país In 2019, she published Una ballena es un país (A Whale is a Country), a collection of poems. The poems reflect her views regarding animals. Zapata writes about her empathy for other living beings and writes that she considers animals "for what they are and not for what they are and not for their usefulness" to humans.
In vitro In 2021, she published In Vitro, a novelistic essay in which she reflects on motherhood and pregnancy. This work includes autobiographical accounts of her own experience with the reproduction process.
Troika In 2024, she published Troika, her first novel, which is 200 pages long. The synopsis of the novel mentions that it is an "exploration of the affections and bonds we create to secure our passage through the world".
List of works +YearTitlePublisherLocationGenreISBNNotes2002Ventanas adentroUrdimbreMexicoPoetry2018Las noches son asíBroken EnglishPoetryDigital Book2019Alberca vacía / Empty PoolArgonauticaMexicoEssayBilingual Edition2019Una ballena es un paísAlmadíaMexicoPoetry2021In vitroAlmadíaMexicoEssay2022Maneras de desaparecerExcursionesMexicoEssay2023Tres animales que caben en el aguaAlmadíaMexicoChildren's2024TroikaAlmadíaMexicoNovel
Translations
Into Spanish Julia de Burgos: La creación de un ícono puertorriqueño (Becoming Julia de Burgos: The Making of a Puerto Rican Icon). University of Illinois Press, 2022. . Los peces no existen: Una fábula contemporánea sobre cómo vivir sin etiquetas (Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life). Seix Barral, 2024. .
References