I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, in a loving and creative family. As a young girl I kept diaries and notebooks with thoughts, poems, dreams and all kinds of lists. Following my father’s footsteps, I read with no filters and fell in love with the rhythmic sound of typewriters. My mother’s work introduced me to plots, characters, screenplays and photography. My loving grandparents were always close, sleepovers at my abuelitos was the best treat, and basking under the sun with my cousins at my yayo’s garden was pure joy. Upon graduating, I studied anthropology and specialized in the symbolic meaning of landscape and the mythology of the Arawakan people of the Amazonian Forest. I navigated their sacred rivers and documented their rock carvings and rock paintings. My love for the outdoor lifestyle and the sometimes invisible meaning of places took me to explore nature not only through rivers, trails and forests but also vertically. As a rock climber, I earned a Pan-American Silver medal. I’ve traveled four continents and lived in three.
Rock climbing took me to yoga, and yoga to a stay of several months in South India. When my country began its sociopolitical collapse, I felt the urge to understand the crisis and tried to make sense of it all. I went back to the university and earned a MS in Political Studies. In the meantime, I kept writing diaries and notebooks, enrolled in Fiction and Poetry Workshops, and soon compiled my first short-stories collection: Ana no duerme, which was Finalist as Best Fiction Book in Venezuela’s National Awards in 2006, and published in 2007. I soon started to write my first novel and poetry collection, and also became a mom. Both learning processes changed my perspectives on life itself.
When my country’s political instability felt unbearable, the violent vibes and the lack of self-determination took me to search for a safe place where my kids and my literary work could grow and develop free and without fear. That’s when I was accepted in New York University’s MFA in Creative Writing and I moved to the city that became home. After pursuing a MA in Hispanic Cultural Studies at Columbia University I finished my second short stories book Ana no duerme y otros cuentos, my poetry book Viaje legado, and Los días animales which in 2018 earned Best Novel in Spanish International Latino Book Awards. My aspiration to establish a conversation with readers in the US led me to find a translator and a publishing house for this novel. In 2021 The Animal Days was born, and two years later, it received an Honorable Mention for Best Novel in English, International Latino Book Awards. That year I also published the short stories collection Enero es el mes más largo, Best Compilation in Spanish Honorable Mention in the International Latino Book Awards. In 2022 my chronicles El día en que Corre Lola Corre dejó sin aire a Murakami were published and my poetry collection: Perseo en si Bemol, was Finalist in the Paz Prize for Poetry. This book and my novel Minerva were published in Spain in 2023. I am delighted to soon see it in English by Regal House.
I believe every story, every glimpse at the world and the most intimate experiences have their own literary form of expression: it’s a matter of listening to their particular rhythm, language and need for expansion and silence. For this reason, I have always explored and crossed literary genres: I feel one feeds and nurtures the other and that’s what I teach in my writing workshops which are spaces for creativity, togetherness and freedom. Translating other authors offers me new ways of crossing boundaries, understanding, and enjoying literature, whilst collaborating with literary magazines and newspapers in the US, Venezuela and Spain, gives me the privilege to stay in touch with my community of writers and readers. Regardless of the season, you will see me running in Central Park. I am a walking jukebox, adore exploring my city on foot and feel thankful yoga found me again this time around. Where there is an illusion of division, I am inclined to question it. After finishing my third novel, a story inseparable from my life-changing experience in the Amazonian Forest, I am currently working on my fourth one.
Regal House Publishing is delighted to bring you the English translation of Keila Vall de la Ville’s Minerva in 2026.
