In the stories of Plagues, Martín Kitch seeks to explore the dark side of everyday life.

Omar González Morales

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, May 12, 2025, p. 5

In his new collection of short stories, Plagas (Corvus Publishing), writer Martín Kitch plays with the concepts of human instincts. His stories, inspired by Kafkaesque narrative and the style of Jorge Luis Borges, highlight the beauty of language, which fulfills his intention of seamlessly uniting reflections on everyday life.

With this text, I also wanted to express my feelings during this extremely complicated time, fraught with uncertainty and fear. This should lead us to reflect on our daily lives, to learn to derive meaning from the small things that shape our reality, because this is what makes us human , he commented.

In an interview with La Jornada, the author stated that this title represents an important step in his progress as a writer, because it has greatly refined his work and style: "I felt it appropriate to emphasize the beauty of language; what satisfies me most about my creative process is that whoever reads my texts gets a reaction, especially a sigh ."

The book contains stories of mental labyrinths, dilemmas, contradictions, and characters who follow violent and unavoidable paths. Kitch affirms that in his writings, there is a need to explore other paths.

“Literature has taken me on a long journey; along with the pain and pleasure of what I've experienced, I felt the need to express my feelings.

It's a natural gesture for me to give new meaning to my experiences , he said.

"Perhaps in my career as a writer, I've come to realize that reality is more evil than fiction; you always have to keep that in mind.

It's one of the sources of inspiration for the most extraordinary works I've read. My audience is primarily young, and I notice they're more interested in learning about reality than rejecting it. The important thing is to always understand that we are part of it.

Breaking the monotony

For Martín Kitch, the goal of his literary career was to break the monotony of an automaton: "I didn't want that from my existence; I think that situation connects me a lot with my readers, because I know most of them are looking for the same thing.

My spirit, my vitality, is directed toward seeking a reaction from my readers, offering them new meaning. The fictional worlds I've created are largely based on what happens in my context , the author asserted.

He added that something that inspired him to break away from everything "was my desire to explore beyond my origins. I'm from San José El Vidrio, in the state of Mexico, a rural town, and I was deeply influenced by the stories my grandmother told, full of tales of witches and ghosts.

When I grew up and visited the city to study, I didn't realize I was inhaling an environment where there wasn't just one reality, but several. Little by little, they converged into different stories. In this book, specifically, I've focused on embracing the dark side of those everyday experiences.

For Martin Kitch, who has published more than seven books, his characters have an almost tragic structure. In Plagues, this path is unavoidable; it's as if he were digging into those people whose conscience is buried beneath the mask of everyday life.

The book Plagas, by Martín Kitch, can be purchased directly from the author through his Facebook profile or by email at [email protected] .

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, May 12, 2025, p. 5

The exhibition Tixinda: 40 Years in Defense of the Purple Snail, on display at the National Museum of Popular Cultures (MNCP), is a historical and biocultural journey through 40 years of struggle by the Mixtec community of Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca, to preserve the ancestral dye obtained from the purple snail (tixinda, in Mixtec).

Curated by Marta Turok and displayed in the María Sabina Room of this cultural center, the exhibition is made up of textiles, photographs, objects, and documents. We recovered images from 1985, brought textiles, artifacts, maps, and lessons learned from the Japanese, and from what we found in the Mediterranean and in pre-Hispanic codices. "It's an exhibition about memory, but also about the future ," the anthropologist commented.

Throughout 35 pieces, the story of the purple dye extracted from the Plicopurpura pansa snail is portrayed. It lives on the rocky coasts of the Mexican Pacific and its extraction technique, aimed at not harming the mollusk, has been preserved by the dyers of Pinotepa de Don Luis.

During the tour of the exhibition, maestro Mauro Abacuc Avendaño recalled the years of learning that led him to master this complex technique: "It's thousands of years old; to learn it, when I was 15, I walked for eight days to get to Puerto Ángel. No one taught us with words; we learned it with our eyes, with our hands ," he shared.

Although the snail is not biologically endangered, the culture surrounding its use is: “Its future depends on vigilance and political will, because young people can say, 'Yes, for culture,' but they also need an income. The technique will only survive if we support it as a society,” commented Marta Turok.

The exhibition documents the traditional use of dye in wedding, stewardship, and party attire, contextualizing its value in other regions of the world and highlighting its universality.

The exhibition will remain open to the public until August 17, from Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the MNCP (Hidalgo 289, Colonia del Carmen, Coyoacán).