Literature, power, and humanity: Hear the voices of FIL Mty 2025

The 2025 Monterrey International Book Fair was a thought-provoking event as well as a literary one.

This literature festival brought together authors from different places and genres to reflect on power, identity, freedom, and violence.

They talked about topics ranging from how literature is all around us, how science fiction also discusses what it means to be human, and how books are a way of exploring the human impulses for power and transformation.

Here are some of the most iconic voices from Monterrey’s literary festival.

Laura Restrepo: Narrating violence without losing humanity

Colombian writer Laura Restrepo presented her most recent novel, Soy la daga y soy la herida (I Am the Dagger and I Am the Wound), after noting that literature is not only in books but all around us.

“There’s always someone thinking in literary terms behind any movie or series you love, or any graphic novel or cartoon".

During FIL Monterrey, the Colombian author presented her most recent novel, which is replete with her recurring themes of good and evil; ethics and violence; and the compassion and love that endure in the midst of chaos.

Restrepo defines this book as an example of “brutal noir,” a term she has coined for stories that discuss genocide or brutality.

“If the crime novel is called ‘noir,’ the genocide novel should be called ‘brutal noir.’ I want my readers to feel the horror alongside the love and humanity that endure in its midst.”

“If the crime novel is called ‘noir,’ the genocide novel should be called ‘brutal noir’”. - Laura Restrepo

The symbol of the acéphale, inspired by André Masson, runs through this work, depicting something not normally named: the headless man as reflection of the horrors of power.

This writer also highlights the Mexican themes running through her novel: gallows humor, grotesque ways of discussing death, and cultural traditions such as pan de muerto (bread of the dead).

Each chapter combines parody, fiction, and social reflection. Her goal is to show that it is possible to tell stories about violence without losing emotion or humanity.

Leila Guerriero: Writing the unutterable

When presenting La llamada (The Call), Leila Guerriero spoke about the process of telling the true story of Silvia Labayru, a survivor of Argentina’s dictatorship who was kidnapped, tortured, and then accused of treason by her own comrades.

“It’s the story of a woman who people tried to erase twice over,” said Leila, “first her torturers and then those who were supposedly on her side”.

She explained that the book seeks neither redemption nor heroic justice:

“It doesn’t turn anyone into a hero or try to comfort you. This is an act that defies the logic of the media circus".

“Some tales aren’t written from a position of control but from one of disturbance”. - Leila Guerriero

Guerriero described La llamada as a text fashioned out of silences, lapses, and repetitions, a “book that breathes” in which each phrase feels hollowed out to contain the weight of the unutterable.

She interviewed Silvia for a year and seven months, constructing a narrative in which contradictions, omissions, and shame are not corrected but put on display.

“It’s not about making it pretty but making it fit the truth I heard. Self-editing is also an ethical practice”.

The author stressed that her work does not seek to comfort the reader: “Showing concern isn’t about erasing what’s uncomfortable but about listening to the end”.

Guerriero remarked that La llamada is also a book about language and memory, about things that cannot be said without their falling apart:

“Some tales aren’t written from a position of control but from one of disturbance".

Rosa Montero: Science fiction and humanity

In her talk, Spanish writer Rosa Montero discussed her Bruna Husky series and how science fiction allows her to explore the present.

“There is a huge amount of prejudice toward science fiction. People think it’s about things that have nothing to do with the human experience, when it’s actually a very powerful metaphorical tool for talking about the here and now”.

Montero explained that her futuristic stories do not seek to predict but reflect what we’re already experiencing:

“None of my novels are more realistic than the ones about Bruna Husky. Everything I write is based on fact; even the most outrageous things are happening now or could happen":

“Finding out who we are allows us to lead fulfilling lives, yet many die without discovering this fact”. - Rosa Montero

She also spoke about identity crisis and the passage of time:

“The underlying theme of all my novels is death, the passage of time, and what time does to us. Finding out who we are allows us to lead fulfilling lives, yet many die without discovering this fact”.

She had this to say on the power of storytelling: “We are narrative beings. Telling stories about ourselves is what saves us. Reading and writing are ways of keeping our minds alive. Some studies show that people who read novels have more empathy and feel happier”.

Regarding the excessive use of AI, she said that “this series is also a love letter to the human species. It’s not to late to look at ourselves at our best and decide what to keep”.

Mario Vargas Llosa: Novel as narrative engineering 

On a panel dedicated to Mario Vargas Llosa, literary critic Christopher Domínguez Michael defined him as “the last novelist of the 20th century” and “a master of the art of telling complex stories”.

The critic explained that Vargas Llosa thought of the novel as narrative engineering, in which each element needed to have formal rigor. His plots, multiple points of view, and precise structure demanded an attentive reader.

The critic remarked that Vargas Llosa was always obsessed with Peru. “If we delve deeper into what we know, it’s more likely that the world will understand us. We can discover a universal truth from local experience”.

In works such as The Green House, Conversation in the Cathedral, or The Feast of the Goat, he depicted his country’s corruption, violence, and authoritarianism.

His characters of dictators, idealists, lovers, and traitors embody freedom of choice.

“Vargas Llosa’s heroes make decisions. Whether these be good or bad, they make them”.

From this critic’s point of view, he was a storyteller who turned free will into his greatest gesture of provocation.

The Vortex: Unhealed wounds a century later

One hundred years after being published, The Vortex by José Eustasio Rivera continues to hold a mirror up to Colombia. 

On the panel Reading and Editing a Tradition, participants Francisco Montaña, Andrea Lozano, Elizabeth López Carolla, and Olga Naranjo agreed it was still relevant to this day.

“It discusses a country whose wounds haven’t healed,” said Montaña, alluding to the exploitation, displacement, and violence that persist.

For Olga Naranjo, its presence runs through everyday life:

“The Vortex is everywhere: it’s sold in supermarkets and in pirated editions. There are brothels and shops that bear its name.”

This novel intertwines poetry and accusation, jungle and the female body, territory and extractivism.

“The jungle protects, but it also defends itself,” said Naranjo.

They concluded that one hundred years later, it continues to be a “painfully relevant” novel.

Guillermo Arriaga: Human impulses for power and transformation

Mexican writer Guillermo Arriaga presented his most recent book El hombre (The Man), in which he returns to the themes that have accompanied him since Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch): violence, passion, and redemption.

Set in 19th-century America, the novel tells the story of a slave owner who frees his slaves but does so in order to embark on a violent new conquest of territory. 

Through this contrast, Arriaga explores the human impulses for power and transformation.

In an interview with CONECTA, he discussed the 25th anniversary of Amores Perros and his wish to continue directing films.

“Yes, I’d like to work with Alejandro González Iñárritu again,” he said, after having reconnected with the director after years of estrangement.

Tatiana Tîbuleac: Writing as catharsis

Moldovan-Romanian author Tatiana Tîbuleac shared her experience when writing The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes, the novel that garnered her international fame.

She explained that the process was also healing and personal. The book tells the story of a teenager who initially despises his mother. As she comes closer to death, he transforms that hate into love.

“It was a kind of catharsis,” she confessed, “but it also served to explore my relationship with my father”.

She said that her writing emerges from an attempt to understand pain and transform it into beauty. Tîbuleac announced that she is already working on a new book to be published soon.

About FIL Monterrey 2025

Talks, tributes, book presentations, workshops, and activities for all ages were part of FIL Monterrey 2025, organized by Tecnológico de Monterrey. 

The guest country this year was Colombia, which shared its literary and cultural riches in an event that brought together over seven hundred authors from twelve countries.

“This year’s FIL Monterrey is very special. Having Colombia as a guest of honor is something we are looking forward to; it fills us with dreams and possibilities,” said Juan Pablo Murra, Rector of Tecnológico de Monterrey.

The fair was held from October 11 to 19 at Cintermex and attracted around 360,000 attendees.

*With information from Susan Irais, Inés Valle, and Alejandro Navarrete

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