Yolanda Pantin

Yolanda Pantin (born 1954) is a Venezuelan author who has mainly written poetry, although she has also worked in children's literature.

Early life and education

Born in Caracas, the eldest of eleven siblings, she spent her childhood in Turmero, Aragua. There, she studied arts at the Escuela de Artes PlÃÂ¡sticas (renamed, Escuela de Artes Visuales Rafael Monasterios). In 1974, she returned to Caracas to study literature at AndrÃÂ©s Bello Catholic University (UCAB).

Career

Pantin, who is included in the literary generation of 1978, founded that year the university group "Rastros". Her first texts appeared in the magazine, which she herself illustrated. The following year, she won an honorable mention in the Francisco Lazo MartÃÂ award with Casa o lobo, her first collection of poems, which would be published in 1981 by Monte ÃÂvila Editores.

In 1979, she joined the literary workshop "Calicanto", directed by the writer Antonia Palacios, where she rubbed shoulders with various writers of her generation. In 1981, she left Calicanto and co-founded , which broke with and questioned the nocturnal poetic approaches that prevailed in Venezuela at that time. TrÃÂ¡fico published a literary manifesto that criticized the poetic canons they considered outdated, which had a wide repercussion and promoted aesthetic renovation.

In 1986, the awarded Pantin a creative scholarship to promote her literary projects. She also worked as a cultural journalist for the weekly NÃÂºmero and as co-editor of QuÃÂ© Pasa. In 1989, she was one of the founders of the publishing house PequeÃÂ±a Venecia, which publishes poetry. In 1990, with Santos LÃÂ³pez, she created the "Casa de la PoesÃÂa Foundation".

In 2001, the MarÃÂa Lionza statue in Caracas was the inspiration for Pantin's poem "The pelvic bone"; in the poem, the narrator travels into Caracas for a protest and sees the statue. The image of the pelvis Ã¢ÂÂ its "most notable feature" Ã¢ÂÂ stays in the narrator's mind, and the poem goes on to address the statue directly.

Pantin has been invited to book fairs and poetry festivals including the First Poetry Biennial (1991) in Val-de-Marne, France, and the Moscow Poetry Biennial (2019). Fond of photography, Pantin participated in the Dedicatorias exhibition held at the FundaciÃÂ³n La Poeteca in 2019. There, a selection of images she took in 2008 while making the Trans-Siberian route could be seen.

Awards and honours

1979, Honorable Mention, Francisco Lazo MartÃÂ National Poetry Prize, for Casa o lobo
1982, Honorable Mention, JosÃÂ© Rafael Pocaterra Poetry Biennial, for Correo del corazÃÂ³n
1989, Fundarte Award, for Poemas del escritor
1994, List of Honor, International Board on Books for Young People, for RatÃÂ³n y Vampiro se conocen
2000, Best Book of the Year Award, children's book category, Centro Nacional del Libro de Venezuela, for ÃÂ¡Splash!
2003, Residency at the Bellagio Study Center of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Roberto Celli Memorial Fund scholarship to carry out with Ana Teresa Torres the research project which allowed them to publish, as co-editors, El hilo de la voz. AntologÃÂa crÃÂtica de escritoras venezolanas del siglo XX (FundaciÃÂ³n Polar, 2003)
2004, Guggenheim Fellowship
2015, Poets of the Latin World Victor Sandoval Award, for her work, Seminar of Mexican Culture and UNAM
Selected for the anthology Il fiore della poesia latinoamericana d'oggi, volume 2, America meridionale - I
2017, XVII Premio Casa de AmÃÂ©rica de PoesÃÂa Americana, for Lo que hace el tiempo
2020, XVII for her literary career

Selected works

Poems

Casa o lobo, colecciÃÂ³n Los Espacios CÃÂ¡lidos, Monte ÃÂvila Editores, Caracas, 1981 (Ciencuentena de Cincuentena, 2002)
Correo del corazÃÂ³n, FundaciÃÂ³n para la Cultura y las Artes del Distrito Federal (Fundarte), Caracas, 1985
El cielo de ParÃÂs, Fondo Editorial PequeÃÂ±a Venecia, Caracas; 1989
Poemas del escritor, Fundarte, Caracas, 1989
La canciÃÂ³n frÃÂa, Editorial Angria, Caracas, 1989
Paya (Una elegÃÂa), Colecciones Clandestinas, Caracas, 1990
Los bajos sentimientos, Monte ÃÂvila Editores, Caracas, 1993
La quietud, PequeÃÂ±a Venecia, Caracas, 1998
El hueso pÃÂ©lvico, Grupo Editorial Eclepsidra, Caracas, 2002
La ÃÂ©pica del padre, La Nave Va, Caracas, 2002
Poemas huÃÂ©rfanos, La Liebre Libre, Maracay, 2002
PaÃÂs, FundaciÃÂ³n Bigott, Caracas, 2007; FrailejÃÂ³n Editores, BogotÃÂ¡, 2021
21 caballos, editorial La CÃÂ¡mara Escrita, Caracas, 2011
Bellas ficciones, Eclepsidra, Caracas, 2016
Lo que hace el tiempo, Visor editorial, Madrid, 2017
El dragÃÂ³n protegido, Editorial Pre-Textos, Valencia, 2021

Poetry collections/anthologies

Poemas del escritor / El cielo de ParÃÂs, dos poemarios, Fundarte / AlcaldÃÂa del Municipio Libertador, Caracas, 1991
Enemiga mÃÂa. SelecciÃÂ³n poÃÂ©tica (1981-1997), Iberoamericana Editorial Vervuert, Madrid, 1998
PoesÃÂa reunida 1981-2002, Otero Ediciones, Caracas, 2004
Herencia. SelecciÃÂ³n poÃÂ©tica (1981-2004), colecciÃÂ³n AtlÃÂ¡ntica, Ediciones Idea, Canarias, 2005
PaÃÂs. PoesÃÂa reunida (1981-2011), Editorial Pre-Textos, Valencia, 2014
El ciervo, antologÃÂa, compilaciÃÂ³n de NÃÂ©stor Mendoza; El Taller Blanco Ediciones, BogotÃÂ¡, 2019

Children's and youth literature

RatÃÂ³n y Vampiro se conocen, Monte ÃÂvila Editores, Caracas, 1991
RatÃÂ³n y Vampiro en el castillo, illustrated by Marcela Cabrera; Monte ÃÂvila Editores, 1998
ÃÂ¡Splash!, illustrated by Rosana FarÃÂa, Playco Editores, Caracas, 2000
Un caballo en la ciudad, illustrated with photographs by Rosa Virginia Urdaneta, Playco Editores, Caracas, 2002
RatÃÂ³n y Vampiro, illustrated by Jefferson Quintana, Lugar ComÃÂºn, 2012
Era un tren de noche, illustrated by the same author, Cyls Editores, Caracas, 2018

Non-fiction

Marie Curie, biografÃÂa, Los Libros de El Nacional, Caracas, 2005
Nelson Mandela, Los Libros de El Nacional, Caracas, 2006
Viaje al poscomunismo, with Ana Teresa Torres, Eclepsidra, Caracas, 2020.

Theatre

La otredad y el vampiro, Fundarte, AlcaldÃÂa de Caracas, 1994