Background
Mario Bencastro was born on March 20, 1949, in Ahuachapán, El Salvador.
(The blight of political strife and social injustice color...)
The blight of political strife and social injustice color this richly textured short story collection about the passion and politics of civil war in El Salvador. The turmoil, intrigue and suffering have been captured and universalized in these beatifully wrought tales.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1558851860/?tag=2022091-20
1997
(A collage of conversations, news reports, courtroom trans...)
A collage of conversations, news reports, courtroom transcripts, love letters, and anecdotes chronicles Calixto's flight from his home in El Salvador, where he faces imprisonment, to Washington, D.C.
https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-North-Mario-Bencastro/dp/1558852565/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(The English translation of author Mario Bencastro’s Viaje...)
The English translation of author Mario Bencastro’s Viaje a la tierra del abuelo makes its debut as A Promise to Keep. This novel for young adults explores the critical topics of identity, patriotism, and culture—significant issues to young Hispanic immigrants who come of age and are educated in the United States.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VAOYTU2/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(More than a political novel, A Shot in the Cathedral is a...)
More than a political novel, A Shot in the Cathedral is a tribute to the endurance of the human spirit. Its protagonists are ordinary people who strive to live ordinary lives in the midst of dangerous and oppressive circumstances. Not a propagandistic or partisan view of the strife, A Shot in the Cathedral is remarkable for its sensitivity, restraint and poetic vision of the tragic and inhuman events and actions that polarized not only the people of El Salvador but also those of the United States, Latin America and Europe.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LYHB34/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(Salvadoran writer Mario Bencastro presents moving images ...)
Salvadoran writer Mario Bencastro presents moving images fueled by the horrible realities of war and the painful need to leave behind all that is dear in his riveting new bilingual collection comprised of stories, poetry, and one novella, Paraíso Portátil / Portable Paradise.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R52P2G8/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(Musical, great in scope, and anchored by vivid imagery, W...)
Musical, great in scope, and anchored by vivid imagery, Waves of the East River recounts the lyrical passage through lower Manhattan of an exile who, upon being freed at a Brooklyn pier, receives three shares of Fortune, Drama and Faith, which he must invest in Wall Street.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1542833736/?tag=2022091-20
2017
Mario Bencastro was born on March 20, 1949, in Ahuachapán, El Salvador.
Mario Bencastro took up the brush and canvas as the first outlet for his artistic expression. The medium garnered him remarkable success from an early age, with his works gracing the walls of major galleries in El Salvador, the United States, Latin America and Europe. Despite his success as a painter, the social and political drama unfolding in his country compelled him to concentrate his artistic endeavors in literature. His first novel, A Shot in the Cathedral (Arte Público Press, 1996), is a powerful work focusing on the coup d’etat in El Salvador in 1979.
His subsequent work, The Tree of Life: Stories of Civil War (1997), blends fantasy with reality to show readers the daily struggle of ordinary Salvadorans to survive the tragedy of civil war. Most recently, his work has turned north of the border as he explores the lives of Central American immigrants in the United States. While all of his work is appropriate for young adults and his novels are used in high schools across the country, he wrote a novel specifically for young people: Viaje a la tierra del abuelo (2004), or A Promise to Keep (2005). The novel, which focuses on a young Salvadoran boy raised in the United States, is part adventure and part coming-of-age as the struggle to keep a promise to his grandfather raises questions of identity, homeland and culture. In his new collection of stories, Paraíso portátil / Portable Paradise (2010), he again brings to life the impact of war and exile on a community.
Mario Bencastro is an award-winning writer and painter. He has received important awards and tributes for his literary and artistic works, which have earned him numerous awards. His literary creations have been translated into English, French and German, and have been published in El Salvador, Mexico, Canada, the United States and Germany.
(Salvadoran writer Mario Bencastro presents moving images ...)
2014(Musical, great in scope, and anchored by vivid imagery, W...)
2017(A collage of conversations, news reports, courtroom trans...)
1999(The blight of political strife and social injustice color...)
1997(The English translation of author Mario Bencastro’s Viaje...)
2004(More than a political novel, A Shot in the Cathedral is a...)
2011