Luisa Reyes Retana

I was born in Mexico City in 1979. Following Law school, I did a masters degree in Constitutional Law at Berkeley, CA. I worked in civil litigation, and as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Justice in Mexico. My work drafting claims and rulings, contrary to expectations, diluted my vocation as a lawyer and cemented my calling as a writer.

I left the Supreme Court to work on books. In 2013, I founded Sicomoro Ediciones alongside poet and editor María Álvarez. At Sicomoro, we publish books on art, cooking, and architecture.

In 2015, I set out to finish a novel. In 2017, *Arde Josefina* won the Mauricio Achar Prize and was published by Penguin Random House Mexico. Its English translation is expected in 2026. Between 2019 and 2021, I served as cultural attaché and director of the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Germany, a position that brought me to Berlin, where I have lived ever since.

In 2022, my second novel, *Tu lengua en mi boca*, was published under the same imprint. In 2025, *Mortis Causa* (Libros UNAM) and *Mal de Río* (Penguin Random House) were released.

*Mortis Causa* is a science fiction novel that addresses themes of ethics and technology in forensic medicine and is my first YA novel. *Mal de Río* represents the milestone of reconciliation between my legal past and my writing present within the context of the climate crisis, the inadequacy of law for the defense of the environment—territory and ecosystems—and the need to tell stories that steer the imagination toward different possible outcomes.

I have collaborated in publications such as *El País*, *Gatopardo*, *Revista de la Universidad de México*, *Arte al Día*, *GQ*, and *La Tempestad*. In Germany, I contribute to *Kulturaustausch*. I am a coach for creative processes and lead narrative workshops.