The Writing of "Season of the Swamp" with Yuri Herrera

The Writing of "Season of the Swamp" with Yuri Herrera
Date: Friday September 19, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Location: Benson Latin American Collection, 2nd floor conference room. In this talk, part of the Hackett Lecture Series, award-winning author Yuri Herrera will discuss the research and writing process for his latest novel, Season of the Swamp (La estación del pantano, 2022). Set in 1850s New Orleans, Herrera’s historical novel imagines 18 months in the life of Mexican exile Benito Juárez that were spent in this complex and problematic port city. In the absence of any account in the historical archive, Herrera paints a vivid picture of life in the Crescent City during its time as bustling crossroad of peoples and cultures still in the grips of the slave trade. He also speculates about the effects of this period in exile on the man who would go on to become the first Indigenous head of state in post-colonial Mexico.

About the Author

Yuri Herrera (Actopan, Mexico, 1970) is the award-winning author of multiple works. His first three novels, translated into several languages, are Kingdom Cons, Signs Preceding the End of the World, and Transmigration of Bodies. Signs Preceding the End of the World was awarded the 2016 Best Translated Book Award, which the author shared with translator Lisa Dilllman. That same year, he received the Anna Seghers Prize at the Academy of Arts of Berlin for the body of his work. His most recent books are A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire, Ten Planets, and Season of the Swamp. Herrera is professor of creative writing and literature at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Free and open to the public.

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