Jaime Saenz

Jaime Saenz was born on October 29, 1921, in La Paz. Living a reclusive, nocturnal existence in the high Andean capital, Saenz became one of the most hypnotic and singular literary voices in twentieth-century Latin American letters. His poetry explored themes of death, transfiguration, cold Andean nights, and the spiritual secrets of bodegas and morgues.

His 1979 masterwork, the novel Felipe Delgado, is widely acclaimed as the definitive urban epic of La Paz. Saenz's poetic memoirs and essays, such as Imágenes paceñas, captured the souls of the city's indigenous porters (aparapitas), alcoholics, and eccentric nocturnal inhabitants with metaphysical tenderness.