Tijuana writer Luis Humberto Crosthwaite wins the José Fuentes Mares national literature prize

Tijuana writer Luis Humberto Crosthwaite has won the 2026 Premio Nacional de Literatura José Fuentes Mares, awarded by the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), Zeta reported on Tuesday. This year’s edition, the 41st, was devoted to the short story, and the jury picked his collection El último show del Elegante Joan (Literatura Random House, 2024) unanimously from 47 entries, according to the report. The prize is for books published in Spanish by Mexican writers.

The book gathers 11 stories. Zeta quoted the jury’s praise for its narrative, the sharpness of its style and its handling of humor, and reported that the university singled out his use of what it called subversive narrative elements, along with his border prose, regional popular culture and the everyday speech of northern Mexico. The report doesn’t mention prize money or an award ceremony.

Crosthwaite was born in Tijuana in 1962, and the city runs through his work. Zeta’s account traces his start to 1980, when, at 18, he won a municipal literary contest with a story written in a workshop at the Casa de la Cultura. His books include Estrella de la calle Sexta (2000), Tijuana: crimen y olvido (2010) and Instrucciones para cruzar la frontera, and in 2024 he won the Premio Nacional Letras de Sinaloa. In a 2024 interview with Zeta, he said Tijuana comes up in everything he writes and that it can’t be separated from who he is.

Around town

• Tijuana’s book fair is open at Parque Morelos through Sunday, Nov. 1, with free entry (our story).
• The Fondo de Cultura Económica’s traveling bookstore, the Librobús, stops in Tijuana on Tuesday, Nov. 3 (our story).
• Calle Sexta, the downtown street in the title of Estrella de la calle Sexta, is part of our Zona Centro guide, and the Casa de la Cultura, where he wrote the story that won that 1980 contest, has a profile of its own.