Kingdom Cons

Yuri Herrera, born in Actopan, Mexico, is an acclaimed and award-winning author. His Signs Preceding the End of the World won the Best Translated Book Award in 2016 and was included in many best books of the year lists, including the London Guardian’s Best Fiction and NBC News’s Ten Great Latino Books. His first novel, Kingdom Cons, won the 2004 Premio Binacional de Novela Joven and, when published in Spain won the Premio Otras Voces, Otros Ámbitos, being considered the best work of fiction published in Spain by a jury of 100 people, including editors, journalists and cultural critics. He studied politics in Mexico, creative writing in El Paso, and took his PhD in literature at Berkeley. He teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Armando Durán has appeared in films, television, and regional theaters throughout the West Coast. For the last decade he has been a member of the resident acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In 2009 he was named by AudioFile as Best Voice in Biography and History for his narration of Che Guevara. A native Californian, he divides his time between Los Angeles and Ashland, Oregon.

Lisa Dillman is a translator from Spanish and Catalan and a lecturer at Emory University.