Martha Batiz
Course Director
Spanish (Hispanic Studies)
mbatiz@glendon.yorku.ca
Martha Bátiz was born and raised in Mexico City, but has been living in Toronto since 2003. Her articles, chronicles, reviews and short stories have appeared in diverse newspapers and magazines not only in her homeland, but also in Spain, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Peru, Ireland, England, the United States and Canada. Her first book was a short-story collection called A todos los voy a matar (I’m Going To Kill Them All, Castillo Press, 2000). Her novella Boca de lobo received the Casa de Teatro award in Santo Domingo and was originally published in Spanish both in the Dominican Republic and in Mexico (Boca de lobo, in 2007 and 2008, respectively), then launched as an ebook by INK Press in the summer of 2015. Recently, it was released in a new print edition by Lugar Común Editorial in 2019. It has been translated and published in English as The Wolf’s Mouth (Exile Editions, 2009) and Damiana’s Reprieve (Exile Editions, 2019), and in French as La Gueule Du Loup (Lugar Común Editorial, 2018). Her second short-story collection in Spanish is titled De tránsito (In Transit), published in 2014 in Puerto Rico by Terranova Editores, and received an honorary mention in the International Latino Book Awards in San Francisco in 2015. Martha has since written her first short-story collection entirely in English, Plaza Requiem: Stories at the Edge of Ordinary Lives (Exile Editions, 2017), which won the International Latino Book Award for Best Popular Fiction in English in Los Angeles in 2018. Martha edited the anthology Desde el norte: Narrativa canadiense contemporánea (UAM, 2015), and is also part of the editorial committee of the successful books Historias de Toronto and Historias de Montreal (Lugar Común, 2016 and 2019, respectively). Martha edited the anthology Desde el norte: Narrativa canadiense contemporánea (UAM, 2015), and is also part of the editorial committee of the successful books Historias de Toronto and Historias de Montreal (Lugar Común, 2016 and 2019, respectively). She holds a PhD in Latin American Literature and is an ATA-certified literary translator. Besides being the founder and instructor of the Creative Writing in Spanish course currently offered by the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto, she is a part-time Professor at York University/Glendon College, where she teaches Spanish language and literature as well as translation. In 2014, Martha was featured in Latinos Magazine among the Top Ten Most Successful Mexicans in Canada. In 2015, she was chosen as one of the Top Ten Most Influential Hispanic-Canadians.
Hispanic Literature
Music
Theatre
Translation, English / Spanish
Academic
PhD University of Toronto, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, 2011.
Dissertation: Sonido y sentido en escena: El papel de la música en la comedia española del Siglo de Oro y el teatro político latinoamericano de la segunda mitad del siglo XX.
Major Field: Latin American Political Theatre of the 20th Century.
Minor Field: Spanish and Spanish American Early Modern Theatre.
MA University of Toronto, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, 2005.
BA Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), 2003.
English Language and Literature.
ATA (American Translators Association) Certified Translator, English> Spanish / Since 2011
Elementary School-High School (1978-1990) German School Alexander von Humboldt, Mexico City
Creative Writing
The Writer's Quest: Breaking the
Conventions, with Kim Echlin and
Sandra Campbell.
School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto, Nov.
2013.
Master Class in Playwriting, with Guillermo Verdecchia.
Alameda Theatre Company, Sept. 2013.
Certificate in Creative Writing.
School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto, 2008.
Literary Studies
· Contemporary Latin American and Peninsular theatre, literature, and culture
· Spanish and Spanish American Early Modern (Golden Age) comedias
· Latin American and Peninsular literature and cultural studies
Language Teaching
· Advanced Composition and Style
· Spanish as a Second Language at all levels
· Literary Translation
· Creative Writing
Books
Boca de lobo. Ottawa: Lugar Común Editorial, May 2019. Damiana’s Reprieve. Toronto: Exile Editions. November 2018. (Re-edition of The Wolf’s Mouth) La Gueule du loup (French translation of Boca de lobo). Transl. Khristina Legault. Ottawa: Lugar Común Editorial. May 2018. Plaza Requiem. Toronto: Exile Editions, November 2017. (Short story collection) Boca de lobo (e-book). Mexico City: Editorial Ink, 2015. http://editorial-ink.com/libros/boca-de-lobo/ De tránsito. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Terranova Editores, Spring 2014. (Short story collection, 128 pp.) The Wolf’s Mouth. (English Translation of Boca de Lobo). Trans. Gustavo Escobedo. Toronto: Exile Editions, 2009. (Novella, 141 pp.) Boca de lobo. Toluca, Edo. De México: Instituto Mexiquense de Cultura, 2008. Second printing Fall 2010. (Novella, 129 pp.) Boca de lobo. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: León Jimenes, 2007 (Novella, 97 pp.) La primera taza de café. (The First Cup of Coffee) Mexico City: Ariadna Press, 2007. (Compilation of short stories, articles, chronicles, and reviews published originally in Uno Más Uno newspaper from 1993-99; 122 pp.) A todos los voy a matar. (I’m Going to Kill Them All). Foreword by Daniel Sada. Monterrey, Mexico: Castillo Press, 2000. (Short story collection, 111 pp.) |
Journal Articles
| Peer Reviewed Articles In Print · “El estatuto de la verdad y las variaciones discursivas dentro del estado de excepción en La pasión según Antígona Pérez de Luis Rafael Sánchez.” Corrientes, Revista noruega de estudios hispánicos (edited by the University of Bergen in Oslo, Norway). Vol. 1, Núm 2, 2010; 3-12. · “El extensionista, la revolución que no fue.” México en sus revoluciones: historia, crítica y poéticas de la emancipación y la resistencia en México. Eds. Alejandro Zamora, Esther Raventós-Pons and Berenice Villagómez. Cuernavaca: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, 2013: 116-132. · “Social and Politica Criticism: The Reformulation of the Myth of Antigone in Franklin Domínguez' Antígona-humor,” Whose Voice Is This? Iberian and Latin American Antigones. Hispanic Issues On Line, Ed. Jennifer Duprey. Hispanic Issues On Line (Fall 2013): 114-129. Web. · “De paseo por la casa de los sustos: Afinidades estructurales y políticas entre Información para extranjeros de Griselda Gambaro y Terror y miseria del Tercer Reich de Bertolt Brecht.” Narrativas del miedo: Terror en obras literarias, cinemáticas y televisivas de Latinoamérica. Eds. Marco Ramírez, David Rozzotto and Karem Langer. Peter Lang, Fall 2018. Open Publications · “La muerte y la doncella o nadie es profeta en su propia tierra,” in Literal (Latin American Voices) Magazine. Houston, TX. Fall 2017. http://literalmagazine.com/la-muerte-y-la-doncella-o-nadie-es-profeta-en-su-propia-tierra/ · “Abindarráez y Otelo: dos moros cara a cara.” Apuntes Hispánicos (University of Toronto), December 2006: 33-42. · “La reinvención en torno a la nostalgia”, article on SEVA by Luis López Nieves. Diario Claridad, in its section En Rojo: April 26, 2006 (www.ciudadseva.com). (2 pp. in ms.) |
Other Publications
| Translations Spanish into English · Instructions for Nurses to Apply Remedies (Instrucción de Enfermeros para aplicar los remedios), a 17th century nursing manual written by Brother Andrés Fernández, partially translated for Prof. Sioban Nelson (Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto). June 2019. · Broken, short-story published in Label Me Latina/o. March 2019 (Spring Online Edition). · Venezuela: Heaven Became Hell. A newspaper article by Alexander Duarte (Venezuelan refugee in Canada). The Globe and Mail, Jan. 22, 2018. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/in-venezuela-heaven-has-become-hell/article37679605/ · Character bios for The Devil’s Backbone, a book on the movie by Guillermo del Toro. San Francisco: Insight Editions, Fall 2017. · Hitchcock (book), by Mexican movie director Guillermo del Toro. San Francisco: Insight Editions, 2018. · Catalogue for Art Exhibition of Spanish artist Juan Antonio Guirado. Guirado Estate, London, England. Fall 2015. · Juggling Games (Malabares), novel by Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón, 2016. · Square Day, short-story published in Deep Water Literary Journal, Ireland. Autumn 2013. · The Wolf’s Mouth, novella by M. Bátiz. Close collaboration with Gustavo Escobedo’s official translation of the book (Spring/Summer 2009). · El último patriarca, a screen play by Argentinean writer Tomás Stiegwart. Translated into English (with fragments in German) as The Last Patriarch. (March 2009) · “Ants,” a short-story by M. Bátiz, published in Exile, the Literary Quarterly. Canada. Summer edition, 2006. · “Sweet Valeria,” a short-story by M. Bátiz, published in TransVerse. Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. September 2005.
English into Spanish. · The Weeping Book (El libro que llora). The Mysterious Package Company. June 2019. · El retorno, a play by Marilo Nuñez. Dec. 2017. · A Translator (Originally titled 1989), Screenplay by Lindsay Gossling, Dec. 2016. · Tina, Screenplay by Christopher King and Gabriel Beristain, for a movie to be produced in Mexico on the life of Tina Modotti. Translation and adaptation to Spanish of the script. Summer 2016. · Tony Ryan, Ireland's Aviator, by Richard Aldous. To be published as Tony Ryan, el aviador de Irlanda, Forthcoming Fall 2018. · The following short-stories for Desde el norte: narrativa canadiense contemporánea (please see "Publications, as Editor" on page 11 of this CV): "Leila," by Marina Nemat "Cultura," by Martin Boyd "Archibaldo el ártico," by Michael Winter "Pabellón 24," by Gilbert Reid · Press Kit, LEO. Award-winning Show created by Y2D Productions, Montréal (Aug. 2014). · Press release and artist's statement for Patricia Espinosa's Popping Into Abstraction art exhibit at SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery in Manhattan, NY (Feb. 2013). · The Scavenger Queen, by Branko Gorjup, translated as La pepenadora reina. Short text to be published to accompany Claire Weissman Wilks’ art exhibit in Mexico. (March 2011) · Mexican Tenor Rolando Villazon’s biography, as it appears on his official website at www.rolandovillazon.com (November 2010)
Additional Experience: Proctor for the American Translator’s Association Certification Exam. Aug. 2018, Toronto. | |||
Honours and Awards
Top 10 Most Influential Hispanic-Canadians
Canadian Hispanic Congress and Hispanic Business Alliance. Toronto, July 2015.
Top 10 most successful Mexicans in Canada
Latinos magazine and the Globe and Mail. Toronto, Spring 2014.
Certificate of Recognition (“Certificado de Reconocimiento”) as an outstanding member of the Mexican community in Toronto, for contribution to the promotion of cultural activities and the development of education.
The Asociación de Profesores Hispano-Canadienses, February 2012.
Literary Awards
· Finalist in the 8th Vanderbilt- Exile Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Competition, for “Suspended”. Toronto, Canada, Oct. 2018. Anthology forthcoming June 2019.
· First Place in the International Latino Book Award in the United States in the category of Best Popular Fiction- English for her most recent short-story collection Plaza Requiem, Stories at the Edge of Ordinary Lives. Los Angeles, California, Sept. 2018.
· Finalist/ Honorary Mention in the International Latino Book Award in the United States in the category of Best Popular Fiction for her short-story collection in Spanish De tránsito. Awards given in June 2015 in San Francisco, California. http://www.lbff.us/
· Finalist in the 2nd G. Vanderbilt-Exile Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Competition, for “Paternity, Revised” (2016) and "The Last confession" (2012). Toronto, Canada.
· Third place in the Hispanic-Canadian 5th short story contest: Nuestra Palabra 2008 for “Las mil vidas del tío Co” (September 2008)
· First Honorary Mention (Second Place) in Casa de Teatro’s International Novel Contest in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for Boca de lobo (Summer 2007)
· SOMOS Award for Literary Merit: this award given annually by the Hispanic-Canadian Community in Toronto to Latino talents in all areas of expertise. (December 2005)
· First place in the first essay contest “Pride and Prejudice,” New Canadian Magazine, for “This Country as a Gift,” (2003)
· Special recognition in Nuestra Palabra short-story contest, for “Día de plaza,” (2004)
· Second Place Accésit in the XXXII International Short Story Contest “Miguel de Unamuno” in Salamanca, Spain, for “La primera taza de café.” NB:First Mexican writer to ever win a prize in this contest. A total of 1,708 short stories from all Latin America and Europe were contending pseudonymously for this award (1996).
· First place in the second short story contest of the Punto de Partida magazine, published by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), for “El malentendido,” (1996)
· Special recognition (mención honorífica) in the 2nd international short story contest “La Guadalupana” in Mexico City, for “Las siete Marías,” (1993)
Academic Fellowships
· Open Fellowship, University of Toronto (2004 – 2009)
· Milton A. Buchanan Fellowship, University of Toronto (2008).
· CONACYT Fellowship, the Government of Mexico (2005 – 2008).
· Beca de Excelencia Académica, Secretaría de Educación Pública, Mexico (2004 – 2005)
Creative Writing Scholarships and Grants
· Theatre Creator’s Reserve Grant, Ontario Council for the Arts, Toronto (Feb-June 2015)
· Writer’s Reserve Grant. Ontario Council for the Arts, Toronto. (Feb – Aug 2010, Dec. 2013-April 2014, Jan.- June 2019)
· Young Creators Scholarship National Fund for the Culture and the Arts (Programa de becas a Jóvenes Creadores del Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, FONCA) Mexico City. (1995-96)
· Mexican Writer’s Centre (Centro Mexicano de Escritores) Mexico City. (1994-95)
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German