Venezuelan author Israel Centeno presents, "Pocos resultados ciertos," on Friday, April 20, from noon -1 p.m. in the Latin American and Iberian Institute. The lecture will be in Spanish with English interpretation provided; and light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public.

Centeno hosts an informal discussion of the evolution of Latin American literature from the end of the 20th century to the present with emphasis on socioeconomic factors affecting new literary styles.

Centeno describes his lecture: La gobernabilidad y la violencia en Latinoamerica. A partir de una de las últimas cartas escritas por un desencantado Simón Bolívar al general Flores, presidente del Ecuador, se busca un acercamiento para explicar la violencia endemica en America Latina, tomando como patrón a Venezuela. Al confrontar bibliografías aparecerán los nombres de Francisco Herrera Luque y Roberto Bolaño. El ensayo trabajará la figura del salvador o caudillo militar en las historias comunes de algunos pueblos de la región.

Centeno was born in 1958 in Caracas, Venezuela, and currently lives in Pittsburgh, Penn., as a Writer-in-Residence with City of Asylum/Pittsburgh. He filters genre through so-called postmodernism to tackle tough topics like politics and human nature. He writes both novels and short stories, and also works as an editor and professor of literature. He has published nine books in Venezuela and three in Spain.

In 1992, Centeno's first novel Calletania won Venezuela's National Council of Culture award and was a finalist for the Municipal Prize for Fiction of Caracas. His novel Bajo las Hojas was among the 10 finalists for the Iberoamericano Planeta-Casamerica prize in 2009. Centeno has also won prizes for poetry and short stories, and his work is studied in many universities (wildagepress.wordpress.com). This month, Centeno published an English-language debut poetry chapbook, "Bamboo City," with Wild Age Press.