The novel 'La ira y la niebla' by Colombian-American writer John Londoño was presented at the Bogotá International Book Fair. The work explores Colombia in the first half of the 20th century, marked by the coffee boom, modernization, and violence. Published by Editorial Oveja Negra, it aims to spark dialogue on memory, territory, and identity.
The novel 'La ira y la niebla' by Colombian-American writer John Londoño was presented at the Bogotá International Book Fair. Published by Editorial Oveja Negra, the story stems from years of research in archives, family memories, and historical facts.
The narrative starts with the construction of the aerial cable between Manizales and Mariquita, an iconic infrastructure project symbolizing national progress at the time. From there, the work weaves around 12 stories addressing social tensions such as the weight of religion, machismo, gender violence, the evolving role of women, and political conflicts.
The characters not only experience these events but resist them, highlighting human bonds like loves crossed by class differences, moral pressures, war, distance, and losses. Loving becomes an act of resistance amid progress and violence.
Londoño returns to writing after over 30 years as a geologist in the energy industry and university professor, blending his professional experience with literary sensitivity on Colombia's historical memory.