Alicia Borinsky
An Argentine writer and critic who maps the playful, chaotic heart of Latin American literature, from the Boom to Buenos Aires barrios.
Born 1946 (age 80)·US-based Argentine novelist, poet and literary critic·Birthday: October 23·Baby Boomers
Biography
Alicia Borinsky operates in the vibrant borderlands between creation and critique. Born in Buenos Aires and building her career in the United States as a professor at Boston University, she brings a dual perspective to Latin American letters. As a scholar, she helped decode the literary explosion known as the Boom for wider audiences, while also championing foundational, eccentric figures like Macedonio Fernández. But Borinsky is equally a novelist and poet of sharp wit and urban energy. Her fiction, often set in the tango halls and crowded apartments of her native city, crackles with dialogue and dark humor, exploring themes of exile, identity, and the performative nature of everyday life. She doesn't just study the archive; she actively expands it, writing with a voice that is simultaneously intellectual, streetwise, and deeply connected to the rhythms of the Americas.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Alicia was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alicia Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Alicia's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2016Turned 70
Donald Trump elected president; Brexit vote
Gas: $2.14/galHome: $181,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Love Yourself" — Justin BieberBest Picture: Moonlight
2026Turned 80
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Authored critical studies that helped shape the academic understanding of the Latin American Boom generation.
- Wrote novels such as 'Mean Woman' and 'All Night Movie' that blend satire with poignant explorations of displacement.
- Held a professorship and directed the Writing in the Americas program at Boston University.
- Published poetry collections that engage with themes of language, memory, and cultural hybridity.
Did You Know?
She has written literary criticism in both English and Spanish.
Her novel 'Mean Woman' was noted for its humorous and chaotic portrayal of Buenos Aires society.
She introduced the complex figure of writer Macedonio Fernández, a major influence on Jorge Luis Borges, to a broader academic readership.
“My writing is a game of hide-and-seek with the reader, a bilingual dance.”
