Perla Suez was born in Córdoba, Argentina, but lived the first fifteen years of her life in Basavilbaso in the province of Entre Ríos. She is a writer and professor of contemporary literature, and graduate of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina.
She was the recipient of fellowships from the French government and worked at the Centro Internacional de Estudios Pedagógicos de Sèvres, and in 1998, she also received fellowships from the Canadian government.
Upon returning to Argentina in 1985, she was named a delegate to the CRILJ, (Centre de Recherche Internacional de Littérature pour la Jeunesse) and organized a group of collaborators to found the CEDILIJ (Centro de Difusión e Investigación de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil). She served as the director of the CEDILIJ for several years, and also as director of the literary magazine, Piedra Libre.
During this period, she presented lectures, panels, and seminars in Latin America and the Caribbean, some sponsored by the OAS for the promotion of reading and the difusion of high quality books. Among her publications for children and young adults are: Dimitri en la Tormenta, Memorias de Vladimir, Un golpe de buena suerte, El viaje de un cuis muy gris, and Tres pajaritos.
Her novel for young adults, Memorias de Vladimir, published in 1992, won the Premio White Ravens, awarded by the International Library of Munich, Germany in 1993. The same award was bestowed upon her children’s book El viaje de un cuis muy gris.
In 1997, she received an Honorable Mention for the Premio Mundial de Literatura Infantil José Martí in recognition of her contributions to children’s literature.
In 1998, she was invited to participate as a jury member for the Premio Internacional de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil, CIELJ, Premio Octogonal, in París, France.
In 2001, she was named a Finalist of Rómulo Gallego’s Prize for her Letargo (Norma, 2000) and in the same year she published El Arresto, and in 2004, Complot, which was a first place finalist in the Premio Internacional de Novela Grinzane Cavour – Montevideo, 2005, Fundación Grinzane Cavour, Torino, Italy.
In 2006, Letargo, El Arresto y Complot were published in one volume by the Editorial Norma, Buenos Aires, Argentina in the collection, La otra orilla, under the title Trilogía de Entre Ríos, an edition that has garnered praise in Argentina and abroad.
The publication of the Trilogía de Entre Ríos, coincided with the 2006 publication of The Entre Ríos Trilogy: Three Novels, translated by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan and published by The University of New Mexico Press in their Jewish Latin America Series.
In 2008, she won the Primer Premio Internacional Grinzane Cavour of the Fundación Grinzane Cavour, Turín, Italy and its counterpart in Montevideo for the Trilogía de Entre Ríos, which was translated to Italian by Elena Rolla and Luigi Cojazzi and published in 2009 with the title I Fiumi Della Memoria, by Alacrán Edizioni, Milano, Italy.
In 2007, Perla Suez won a Guggenheim Fellowship for the novel La pasajera, which was published in 2008 by Grupo Editorial Norma in Buenos Aires.
In 2008, the novel Dimitri en la tormenta received the Premio Destacado de ALIJA, awarded by the Asociación de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil Argentina, Sección Nacional de IBBY.
In 2008, the book Arciboldo, illustrated by Jorge Cuello, was published in Córdoba, Argentina by Editorial Comunicarte, in their collection, Vaquita de San Antonio.
In 2011 Blum, illustrated by María Jesús Alvarez, was published in Argentina by Editorial Comunicarte, in their collection Cola de ratón.
Actually it is found in press the special books El hombrecito de Polvo and Las flores de hielo in Editorial Comunicarte, Córdoba, Argentina.
Dimitri en la tormenta has been translated to Serbian by Jelena Dosen and was published by PiPress in November 2011, Belgrade, Serbia.
She received the Municipal Prize of Novel gave by the government of Buenos Aires city for Trilogía de Entre Ríos.
Dreaming of the Delta, the English version of the novel La pasajera, has been translated by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan and be published recently, in the Americas Series of Texas Tech University Press.
La pasajera has also been translated to French by Mathias de Breyne as La passagère, and was published in February 2012 by Rouge Inside, under the direction of François Collet.
Her novel for adults, Humo Rojo, published by Edhasa, Buenos Aires, Argentina in August 2012.
In 2013 Perla Suez received the Municipal Prize Glauce y Romilio by the government of Córdoba city. Humo rojo was one of the Rómulo Gallego’s Prize finalists. Besides that, the book was awarded the Argentina’s National Prize for Novel.
In 2014, Editorial Comunicarte published three books that Suez wrote for children: El huemul, Un oso, and Lara y su lobo, and her novel Letargo was released in a new edition by Editorial Edhasa. Perla Suez was invited by the Argentine Ministry of Culture as one of the 45 writers who represented Argentina at the Book Fair (Salón del Libro) in Paris in 2014.
In 2015, Perla featured two illustrated children’s books El hombrecito de polvo and Espero. Her last novel, El país del diablo, was published by Editorial Edhasa in April, and won the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Price, granted by the Guadalajara International Book Fair.
In 2016, she was invited to the Frankfurt Book Fair, where the translation to Greek of her novel Humo Rojo was presented.
In 2017 a new edition of El arresto came out, and a new edition of Complot is coming soon.
In March 2018 her book Espero was selected as one of the 10 best books in the world and is a candidate for the “Best children and young adults books 2018” of Banco del Libro. Also in 2018, her story book Aconcagua (Editorial Ojoreja, Buenos Aires) was one of the winners of the Editorial Projects Competition of the National Arts Fund, and will be published this year. In March she released her new novel Furia de invierno (Edhasa, Buenos Aires) and in April the special edition of Memories of Vladimir, Editorial Comunicarte, Córdoba will be released. The country of the devil was translated into English and will be published by White Pine Press, New York, USA. Currently, Perla is working on Tres mujeres, a photobook with texts and analogical photographs of her authorship.
Recent publications by Perla Suez
Letargo. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editorial Norma, Colección La otra orilla, 2000. (Novel)
El arresto. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editorial Norma, Colección La otra orilla, 2001. (Novel)
Tumba, Tumba, Retumba, Poetas de América. Córdoba, Argentina: Alción Editora, 2001. (Anthology, selection, prologue and notes by Perla Suez)
Complot. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editorial Norma, Colección La otra orilla, 2004. (Novel)
Trilogía de Entre Ríos. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editorial Norma, Colección La otra orilla, 2006. (Novel with a prologue by Guillermo Saccomano)
The Entre Rios Trilogy, Three Novels. Translated by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The University of New Mexico Press, Jewish Latin America Series, 2006. (novels, with an Introduction by Ilan Stavans and Preface by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan).
Un golpe de buena suerte. Buenos Aires: Ediciones e.d.b., 2006. (short stories for children)
Memorias de Vladimir. Buenos Aires: Ed. Alfaguara, Alfaguara Juvenil, new edition, 2007. (Novel)
Dimitri en la Tormenta. Buenos Aires: Ed. Sudamericana, new edition, 2008. (Novel for young adults)
La pasajera. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editorial Norma, Colección La otra orilla, 2008. (Novel)
I Fiumi Della Memoria, Translated by Elena Rolla and Luigi Cojazzi. Milan, Italy: Alacrán Edizioni, 2009. (Novel)
El viaje de un cuis muy gris. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 7th ed. 2009. (Short stories for children, illustrated by Oscar Rojas, White Ravens Prize).
Arciboldo. Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Comunicarte, 2009. (Illustrated children’s book)
El árbol de los flecos. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 5th ed., 2010. (short stories for children)
Tres pajaritos. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, Colección Puercoespín, 3rd ed., 2011. (Short stories for children)
Blum. Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Comunicarte, new edition, 2011. (Short stories for children)
Dimitri u oluji, Belgrado, Serbia: PiPress, new edition, 2011 (Novel for young adults)
La Passagère, Lyon, France: Rouge Inside, new edition, 2012 (Novel)
Humo rojo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Editorial Edhasa, 2012 (Novel)
El huemul, Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Comunicarte, 2014 (Illustrated children’s book)
Lara y su lobo, Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Comunicarte, 2014 (Illustrated children’s book)
Un oso, Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Comunicarte, 2014 (Illustrated children’s book)
Letargo. Editorial Edhasa, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2014 (New edition of 2000 novel)
Dreaming of the Delta, Lubbock, USA, Texas Tech University Press, 2014 (Novel)
El hombrecito de polvo, Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Comunicarte, 2015. (Illustrated children’s book)
Espero, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Comunicarte, 2015 (Illustrated children’s book)
El país del diablo. Editorial Edhasa, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2015
El país del diablo, Vostok Publishing, Macedonia, 2018.
Furia de Invierno, Edhasa, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2019.
The Devil’s Country, White Pine Press, Buffalo, United States, 2020. (Translated by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan)
Aconcagua, Ojoreja, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2020.