HEKER, Liliana 1943-

PERSONAL: Born 1943, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Coach House Press, 401 Huron St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2G5.

CAREER: Writer. Director of literary magazines Escarabajo de Oro and Ornitorrinco (title means "Platypus").

WRITINGS:

Los que vieron la zarza (title means "The Ones That Saw the Zarza"), J. Alvarez (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1966.

Acuario (title means "Aquarium"), Centro Editor de América Latina (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1972.

Un resplandor que se apagó en el mundo (novel; title means "A Brightness That Was Put out in the World"), Sudamericana (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1977.

(Editor) Diálogos sobre la vida y la muerte (title means "Dialogues on the Life and the Death"), Grupo Editor de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1980.

Zona de clivaje (novel; title means "Zone of Clivaje"), Legasa (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1987.

Los bordes de lo real (stories; title means "The Edges of the Real Thing"), Alfaguara (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1991.

The Stolen Party: And Other Stories ("Passport Books" series), translation by Alberto Manguel, Coach House Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1994.

El fin de la historia (title means "The End of History"), Alfaguara (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1996.

Las hermanas de Shakespeare (essays; title means "The Sisters of Shakespeare"), Alfaguara (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1999.

La crueldad de la vida (title means "The Cruelty of Life"), Alfaguara (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Liliana Heker is an Argentine novelist and short-story writer who is also responsible for the success of two literary magazines that feature the writings of her region. Rather than fleeing Argentina during the period of military dictatorship that prevailed from the 1960s through 1982, she remained to edit and publish literary contributions.

Heker's work has been translated into many languages, and her collection The Stolen Party: And Other Stories, was translated into English as part of Coach House Press's "Passport Books" series. It contains six stories from three untranslated collections and feature mostly young, intelligent female characters who question the meaning of their lives. In the opening story a young girl comes to the realization that her beauty will not guarantee success, nor will it last forever. A male computer programmer is flung into an alternate world in the Kafkaesque "Family Life." The girl of the title story, the daughter of a maid, attends the birthday party of the employer's daughter, thinking she is an honored guest. What she discovers is that she has just begun her own training in servitude.

A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that Heker is "a writer concerned with the role of artists in society." Quill & Quire's Andi Curtis wrote that The Stolen Party "highlights Heker's sparse prose and her keen eye for bypassable, but potent, details."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1994, review of The StolenParty: And Other Stories, p. 577.

Quill & Quire, June, 1994, Andi Curtis, review of TheStolen Party, p. 43.*