Stephanie Rendón de la Torre (born 9 March 1985) is a Mexican writer, translator, editor and data scientist based in Estonia. She has two published books; one in Mexico and one in Estonia. One book of short stories (fiction) and one of memoirs. She is the editor and founder of the literary magazine, Aksolotl in Estonia.
Early life and education
de la Torre is the daughter of Mexican parents. She is the eldest of her siblings, Luis Alexis and Ingrid. She grew up surrounded by books, not just children's books, which she could freely access. She spent her teenage years and early adulthood attempting to write about her experiences.
She studied a bachelor's degree in Public Accounting and Finance at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City campus.
In 2014, she was awarded the "Alfonso Caso" medal and graduated "Cum Laude" from her Master's studies in finance at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She received special mention in the 2014 IMEF-EY Financial Research Competition. She obtained her Ph.D. in physics from the Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) in 2019, where she has been lecturer at the undergraduate level. During her Ph.D., she received the Dora scholarship from the Archimedes Foundation and conducted research on complex networks and econophysics for the Tallinn University of Technology. She wrote a chapter for the book Modern and Interdisciplinary Problems in Network Science, by Taylor & Francis Group in 2018. She has published ten research articles and has also worked as an editor, translator, and international speaker on topics related to science and literature.
Career
Teekond Méxicost Setomaale is her first published work in Estonian language in Estonia by Hea Lugu publishing house in November 2022. In this book written as an essay, the author recounts the adventures and misfortunes experienced as a Mexican immigrant in Estonia since her arrival in the country in 2014. The work explores the adoption of the process of seeking one's own identity from an autobiographical perspective and travel chronicles.
She was a finalist in the Young Adult Novel Competition, 2022 organized by the Estonian Center for Children's Literature and Tänapäev publishing house for her novel Cinco segundos de luz. Her most recent publication (2023) was the book of short stories in Spanish Que venga la noche, published by the Mexican publishing house Editorial Libros de Godot. The book comprises thirteen stories that range from magical realism, science fiction, mystery, romance, classic horror, and comedy. The short story Memorias de un zorro is an ode to the Seto land in southern Estonia, for which the author feels a great love. The book has been presented in Estonia, Mexico, and Finland.
Recurrent topics in the author´s work
The theme of belonging is a recurring topic in the author's work.
The author reflects on her experience of living in Estonia for almost a decade, which has left a distinct impression on her compared to before she moved there. After a few years in Estonia, just before getting married, she bought a wooden cabin—a house in the forest that belongs to the Seto land, in southern Estonia, right on the border with Russia. From one of the windows in the living room, one can clearly see the black and white pole that marks the Estonian border in the midst of the green thickness of the forest. A little further ahead, the red and green pole that marks the location of the border with Russia can be seen. From that rustic little house, she has witnessed the magical passing of the seasons and has written several stories for this book. The questioning of "them" or "us", in terms of belonging to a culture, is something that is explored in depth in her first work, Teekond Méxicost Setomaale. Regarding her second work Que venga la noche, most of her stories are influenced by writers from the Latin American Boom. The author has shown a particular interest in promoting Mexican culture in Estonia through her work.