Alberto Manguel

Argentine-Canadian writer · Argentina · Writers · Born 1948 · age 78

Alberto Manguel is read about 147 times a day, in 22 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 8 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 76 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2021Honorary Doctor of the University of PoitiersAward2017Alfonso Reyes International PrizeAwardOfficer of the Order of CanadaAwardPrix FormentorAward2010Fellow of the Royal Society of LiteratureAward2007Honorary doctor of the University of LiègeAward2004Roger Caillois PrixAward1998Prix Médicis essaiAward1996“I had done this all by myself. No one had performed the magic for me. I and the shapes were alone together, revealing themselves in a silently respectful dialogue.”In their wordsThe Last Page, p. 6.Read the whole statement

“A society can exist - many do exist - without writing, but no society can exist without reading.”In their wordsThe Last Page, p. 7.Read the whole statement

“I never talked to anyone about my reading; the need to share came afterwords.”In their wordsThe Last Page, p. 11.Read the whole statement

“A book brings its own history to the reader.”In their wordsThe Last Page, p. 16.Read the whole statement

“Nothing moves except my eyes and my hand occasionally turning a page, and yet something not exactly defined by the word "text" unfurls, progresses, grows and takes root as I read.”In their wordsReading Shadows, p. 28.Read the whole statement

“In every literate society, learning to read is something of an initiation, a ritualized passage out of a state of dependency and rudimentary communication.”In their wordsLearning To Read, p. 71.Read the whole statement

1948Born13 March 1948

Also in Deutsch

Photos 2

Manguel at Fronteiras do Pensamento (Frontiers of Thought) in 2014

In their own words 10

Alberto Manguel

10 statements, newest first

I had done this all by myself. No one had performed the magic for me. I and the shapes were alone together, revealing themselves in a silently respectful dialogue.
1996, The Last Page, p. 6., Own words
We read to understand, or to begin to understand. We cannot do but to read. Reading almost as much as breathing, is our essential function.
1996, The Last Page, p. 7., Own words
A society can exist - many do exist - without writing, but no society can exist without reading.
1996, The Last Page, p. 7., Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Honorary Doctor of the University of Poitiers2021

Prix Formentor2017

Officer of the Order of Canada2017

Alfonso Reyes International Prize2017

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature2010

Honorary doctor of the University of Liège2007

Roger Caillois Prix2004

Prix Médicis essai1998

Officer of Arts and Letters

Guggenheim Fellowship

Honorary doctor of the University of Ottawa

About this person

Alberto Manguel is an Argentine-Canadian anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, editor, and a former director of the National Library of Argentina. He is a cosmopolitan and polyglot scholar, speaking English, Spanish, German, and French fluently, and also Italian and Portuguese at a very advanced level. He left Argentina at the age of twenty, in 1968. He has lived in Israel, Argentina, France, United Kingdom, Italy, French Polynesia, Canada, United States and Portugal. Since 2021 he has directed an international center for reading studies in Lisbon, baptized in 2023 as Espaço Atlântida; In the biography of the center's website you can read: "He became a Canadian citizen and continues to identify his nationality as first and foremost Canadian."

Country

Argentina

In common with Alberto

Hélène CixousBoth received Prix Formentor

Pascal QuignardBoth received Prix Formentor

Witold GombrowiczBoth received Prix Formentor

Enrique Vila-MatasBoth received Prix Formentor

Nathalie SarrauteBoth received Prix Formentor

Juan GoytisoloBoth received Prix Formentor

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