J. J. Junieles

J. J. Junieles was born in Sincé (Sucre, Colombia, 1970), grew up in Cartagena de Indias, and has lived in Bogotá for twenty years. In 2022, he received the Premio de Cuento Ciudad de Bogotá-IDARTES and was selected by The London Magazine for their special issue on contemporary Colombian literature. He is the author of the detective novel El hombre que hablaba de Marlon Brando (Planeta, 2020), which will be published in translation in Italy in 2026. Barrio Bomba (Periscopio Editorial, 2025) is his second novel. He has published the short story collections Con la luz que me queda basta (2007), El amor también es una ciencia (2009), Todos los locos hablan locos (2011), and Las canciones te salvarán de las noches más oscuras (2024), as well as five books of poems, the latest of which is Te falta cumbia mi amor (2025). In 2002, he won the Premio Nacional de Literatura Ciudad de Bogotá in the poetry category. In 2007, he was an artist in residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada. He also received the X Premio Internacional de Poesía “Nicolás Guillén” (Mexico/Cuba) and was selected by the Hay Festival as part of their “Bogotá 39” in 2007, among other accolades. He has taught fiction at the master’s program in creative writing of the Universidad Nacional and screenwriting at the Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, and was director of the novel-writing workshop of Colombia’s Ministry of Culture. He studied law and political science at the Universidad de Cartagena and government and public affairs at the Universidad Externado de Colombia.