The Argentine writer, translator, and editor Juan Forn, author of titles such as Nadar de noche and Frivolidad, died today at the age of 61 in the seaside resort of Mar de las Pampas, of a heart attack.
Forn had a deserved reputation as a workman and in that dimension, he stood out as a journalist, editor, writer, translator, and discoverer of valuable authors who have unjustly fallen into oblivion or rescuer of books that, because they were published many years ago, deserved to have a second wind, such and as he had been appreciating in recent months when he was in charge of the Rara Avis collection of the Tusquets publishing label. From the last thing he edited for this collection, let’s consign Hunter. La vida salvaje de H. S. Thompson de E. Jean Carroll (2020).
This author marked an epoch when he founded the Radar Libros supplement of the newspaper Página / 12 in 1996 and which he directed until 2002, a function that he had to abandon due to a pancreatic arrest that was “on the verge of leading him to death.” Doctors warned him that “he must stop before he gets tired.” In this regard, Forn followed the advice and went to live with his wife and daughter in Villa Gesell, a coastal town located 300 km from Buenos Aires. In this place, Forn read a lot, edited for Planeta, and wrote not a few articles for Página / 12 and important foreign media, such as the Colombian magazine El malpensante.
As for his work of fiction, Forn delivered important novels such as Frivolidad (1995) and Puras mentiras (2001), and the storyteller Nadar at night (1991); He also published his articles and chronicles in four volumes entitled Los Fridays (2015-2019).
With this last project, the Argentine author ended up signing his referential for the last litters of young Latin American journalists.
In all of Forn’s work – made up of the aforementioned facets of interest and which should also be included in the prestigious awards that he was awarded, namely the 2007 Konex Prize, which highlighted his journalistic work – his two greatest obsessions were reflected: reading and writing in a feverish state of production.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
