Dolores REYES

Author Dolores Reyes faced stigmatisation by officials during the year. On 7 November 2024, Vice-President Victoria Villarruel labelled Reyes’ novel Cometierra (Sigilo, 2019), about a young woman who experiences visions when she eats soil, as immoral and degrading, showing excerpts on her social media and calling for its removal from schools and libraries. Notwithstanding the Vice-President's condemnation, Reyes’ books remain part of library collections in Buenos Aires. PEN International condemned the attack as a dangerous step towards censorship and book banning based solely on the preferences of those in power.  

Dolores Reyes, born in Buenos Aires in 1978, studied Primary Education at Colegio Normal 10 and Greek and Classical Cultures at the University of Buenos Aires. Cometierra, which was a finalist for the Medifé-Filba Foundation Novel Prize, the Silverio Cañada Memorial Prize, the Mario Vargas Llosa Prize and the Sara Gallardo National Novel Prize, has been translated into 14 languages. Reyes followed Cometierra by Miseria (Alfaguara, 2023), a sequel addressing femicide in Latin America. She worked on the Untold Microcosms project for the British Museum.