Roberto de la Torre
A Pilar of Spanish Literature in the U.S.


​Yesterday, a friend and pilar of the South Texas community passed away. Roberto de la Torre was a folklorist, fiction writer, poet and organizer. He was the founder of Voces en la Frontera "Voices on the Border", one of the best established literary events on the US-Mexico border. Roberto de la Torre created a space for Spanish speaking writers, blurred the divisive border line by uniting poets from all around the US, Mexico and Latin America. We extend our deepest condolences to his family. Roberto de la Torre, Presente!

​Roberto De la Torre Hurtado was born on June 6, 1954 in Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He lived in McAllen, Texas, since 1983. He was an independent writer and researcher. His areas of study included the Mexican Revolution, the corrido, border studies, among others. He has been a professor at Universities in Tamaulipas, Mexico and has taught courses and conferences in Mexico and the United States.

He wrote short stories, poetry and essays. His publications include the collection of short stories, El Vampiro del Río Grande (LAGO-México); the poetry collection, Flight of two moons (ALJA-México); and edited Mundos Extraños antología de cuento fantástico (ALJA-México). His poem "Fantasmas" is included in the book Speaking desde las heridas (UNAM-Mexico). His stories appear in the anthologies Canto Rodado, Letras en el estuario, Estuario de la palabra, Enero Rojo Lunar and Río Bravo / Río Grande.

He has been published in literary magazines such as: Literal: Latin American Voices (Houston); Puentes: Mexican-Chicano Journal of Literature, Culture and Art (Arizona State University); Chasqui: Revista de literatura latinoamericana (University of Nevada-Reno); Confluencia: Hispanic Magazine of Culture and Literature (University of Northern Colorado); Novosantanderino (University of Texas-Brownsville); Ventana Abierta: Revista latina de literatura, arte and cultura (University of California Santa Barbara) and Céfiro: Enlace hispano cultural y literario (Texas Tech University).
He has participated in conferences at universities in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Spain such as: University of Texas at Brownsville, Laredo, Edinburg, Corpus Christi and San Antonio; University of Louisville in Kentucky; University of Wisconsin at Madison, Milwaukee, and Whitewater; University of Kansas at Lawrence, Kansas; Marshall University in West Virginia; Florida International University in Miami, Florida; New York City University; Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa; Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois; University of Alcalá de Henares in Spain; University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, among others. He has also participated in conferences of ALDEEU, SCOLAS, NCCLA, MACHL and Ateneo Literario José Arrese.

He also coordinated the Literary Groups Canto Rodado in Reynosa, and Voces del Río in McAllen. Since 2004, he organized the Writers Conference Voces en la Frontera on the Tamaulipas-Texas Border, with authors from Tamaulipas, Texas and Nuevo León, mainly.

​He was the winner of the short story award from the Casa de la Cultura and the Reynosa City Council, Tamaulipas. He was part of the teacher literary workshops: Orlando Ortiz and Emmanuel Carballo.
Interview by
Rossy E. Lima
4/24/2020
Rossy Evelin Lima, PhD, is an international award-winning poet. She has been awarded the Gabriela Mistral Award by the National Hispanic Honor Society, the Premio Internazionale di Poesia Altino in Italy, the International Latino Book Award, the Premio Orgullo Fronterizo Mexicano award by the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, the Premio Internazionale La Finestra Eterea in Italy, among others. She is the president and founder of the Latin American Foundation for the Arts, the founder of the International Latin American Poetry Festival (FeIPoL), as well as the founder of Jade Publishing. 
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