Esther Cross is now officially a member of the Argentine Academy of Letters.

Argentine writer and translator Esther Cross was officially inducted into the Argentine Academy of Letters (AAL) . The official ceremony took place last night in the Errázuriz Palace hall. “I joined the Academy at the end of 2023, but today marks my formal entry into the Academy. This means I have been participating in Academy meetings and activities for over a year,” Cross told Clarín moments before receiving her honorable distinction.

The honoree was joined at the same table by academics : Rafael Felipe Oteriño (president of the AAL), Santiago Kovadloff (vice president), Pablo Cavallero, Eduardo Álvarez Tuñón, Antonio Requeni, Alicia María Zorrilla, Santiago Sylvester, Jorge Fernández Díaz, Hugo Beccacece, Pablo de Santis, Hilda Albano, Javier Roberto González, Leonor Acuña, Oscar Conde, Alejandro Parini, Sofía Carrizo Rueda, Ángela Pradelli, Andreina Adelstein and Jaime Correas.

Next, the president of the Argentine Academy of Letters, Rafael Felipe Oteriño , gave the opening speech at the ceremony in honor of Esther Cross: “Of the traditional twenty-four academic chairs, Cross was assigned chair number seven, which is under the patronage of Fray Mamerto Esquiú , the Argentine bishop born in Catamarca, recognized for his defense of the 1853 constitution and for his pastoral and social work,” said the highest authority of the Argentine Academy of Letters.

Since the Academy was founded in 1931, that seat has been successively occupied by Monsignor Gustavo Franceschi, Leónidas de Vedia, Monsignor Octavio Derisi, and Norma Beatriz Carricaburo.

“The academic appointment highlights one of the most significant events in our institutional history. It is the culmination of a process that begins with the proposal for the admission of a prominent figure in Argentine culture, signed by four academics , and which, in one of the corresponding analyses and deliberations, is voted on by the full body,” Oteriño read.

"The new member holds this status upon approval, but the culmination of his integration takes place in this ceremony, with the praise of the person introducing him , in this case the academic and narrator Pablo de Santis , followed by the presentation of attributes, medals, insignia, and diploma."

To select the new member, the Argentine Academy of Letters examines a variety of backgrounds : " Their career, their personal qualities, their works , and the institution's own need to incorporate, in a careful balance, intellectuals from the fields of literature and language. Thus, with their collaboration, we will continue to fulfill linguistic and literary studies, preserve and enhance the Spanish language in light of the living forms of culture, ensure the correct use of the language without neglecting the element of diversity in unity, and stimulate the multiple aspects of literary creation," Oteriño remarked.

“A storyteller, essayist, translator, meticulous in the construction of her stories, silent in her temperament but fiery with the creative force of her narratives, Esther Cross is one of the most unique voices in Argentine literature,” acknowledged the president of the Argentine Academy of Letters.

Esther Cross was born in 1961 in Recoleta. Her father was a literature professor, so she spent her childhood and youth surrounded by books and libraries . She lived just two blocks from the home of Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo, whom she admired as a child while walking the streets of her neighborhood. She published a book of interviews about Bioy Casares at the age of 27 .

She studied Literature at the University of Buenos Aires and graduated with a degree in Psychology from the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA). Cross became a prominent Argentine writer and translator , with an extensive body of work as a novelist. Her major works include The Flood (1993), The Spider's Banquet (1999), Miss Porcel (2009), and The Woman Who Wrote Frankenstein (2013), among others.

He has also published numerous anthologies and short story collections, such as Chronicles of Winged and Apprentices (1992), The Divine Proportion and Other Stories (1994), Kavanagh (2004), and The Supernatural Adventure: True Stories of Apparitions, Literature, and the Occult (2023), co-authored with Betina González. He also dabbled in screenwriting and documentary film directing.

Throughout her career as a distinguished writer, she has received renowned awards and distinctions in the fields of national and international culture . These include the Puro cuento magazine prize (1987), the Fortabat Foundation Novel Prize in 1992 for La pantano (The Flood), and the 1998 Fulbright National Endowment for the Arts scholarship (Film). In 2001, she won the third National Literature Prize for her work El banquete de la araña (The Spider's Banquet ). She also received the Civitella Ranieri Scholarship (2004) and, in 2008, the International Narrative Prize for La señorita Porcel (Miss Porcel), awarded by Editorial Siglo XXI of Mexico.

During the ceremony, writer Pablo de Santis, also an academic, gave the welcoming speech to the new member . He first mentioned Radiana (2007), and other short story collections such as The Divine Proportion and Kavanagh , and novels such as The Flood and The Spider's Banquet . But "There is another inaugural book in Esther Cross's literary career: Chronicle of Winged and Apprentices ," he emphasized.

“ Esther Cross entered literature enthusiastically seeking to create a complex plot and populate it with revenge, clever schemes, and secret loves . Her grandparents' library, filled with art books, led Esther to set her plot in the world of painting. She would return to art, but in a tone closer to satire, in The Spider's Banquet ,” de Santis added.

Finally, the most anticipated speaker, Esther Cross, spoke. First, she thanked the members of the Academy and her parents, and recalled the recent passing of honorary member Élida Lois, and the writer and literary critic Luis Chitarroni, who passed away in 2023 and was a member of the Argentine Academy of Letters. She then delivered her speech , "The Danger of Telling a Life."

“For me, it was an honor, a joy to join the Academy,” Esther Cross, visibly moved, told this outlet. “In addition to the shared work and what I can contribute, it's important to note that this is the Academy of Letters, not just of Language, but there is a collaborative effort between writers and linguists . There are some wonderful linguists: Alicia Zorrilla, Leonor Acuña, Andreina Adelstein. They are all excellent,” she remarked.

“In each of the meetings, there are discussions within the different committees . There's a committee on Argentinianisms where I can participate and learn from the discussions among the people from the Department of Linguistic Research, directed by Santiago Kalinowski: many topics are discussed with great dedication. These are topics that have to do with language, with words, and the relationship between words and dictionaries .”

"Where does this appointment find me? This is a time when I find myself dedicated to translation. In that sense, all the reflections related to translation and the issues that arise in translation are closely related to the work of the Academy," Cross concluded.

The ceremony concluded with Esther Cross being honored with a medal and honorary diploma as a full member of the Argentine Academy of Letters. She then spoke with those present. Family members, friends, academics, and authors celebrated this milestone alongside the renowned Argentine writer and translator.