Alberto Manguel is a writer, editor, translator, and essayist of Argentine-Canadian descent, born in Buenos Aires on March 13, 1948. Internationally recognized for his profound reflection on reading, books, and libraries, Manguel has dedicated much of his work to exploring the connection between human beings and the written word.
During his youth, he briefly worked as a reader for Jorge Luis Borges, an experience that deeply marked his life and his view of the act of reading. In the 1980s, he moved to Canada, where he became a citizen and developed much of his career as an author. He also lived in other countries, such as France and Germany, and has worked in various roles related to the publishing, academic, and library worlds.
Among his most famous books are A History of Reading (1996), The Library at Night (2006), and The Traveler with the Light Luggage (2011). His work blends personal memory, cultural history, and literary criticism, with a scholarly yet accessible style.
He was the director of the National Library of Argentina from 2016 to 2018. Considered a great contemporary humanist, Manguel continues to be an influential figure in thinking about written culture and reading as a form of knowledge and freedom.
See more
See less