Stephanie Rendón

Stephanie Rendón de la Torre (born 9 March 1985) is a Mexican writer, translator, editor, physicist and data scientist based in Estonia. She has three published books; one in Mexico and two in Estonia. Two books 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
Rendón is the daughter of Mexican parents. She is the eldest of two younger siblings. 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 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 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 publication in Mexico (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. "Tulgu Öö" is her latest publication by Gallus Editors (2023). This book includes the short story in Estonian "Que venga la noche" and the short story "Tule odüseeia" (The Odyssey of Fire).

She won second place in the 2023 essay contest organized by the Estonian National Library "Keerame uue lehe" (Let's turn a new page") with her essay: "Thoughts of a Mexican writer"

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 generation. The author has shown a particular interest in promoting Mexican culture in Estonia through her work.

"...'Pandora Centauri' and 'Let the night come' are a sort of tribute to Bradbury, Asimov, and Clarke, whom I am a fervent admirer of. The story 'Beware of the devil' is a classic horror story based on very mysterious events that I once heard a prominent Catholic priest tell. 'Burn After Reading' is, for me, the saddest of all my stories, even though it doesn't feel that way when you read it. This story is based on real events that happened in my own family. 'Fredi Heart of Glass' is also a sad story, it is the echo of a boy I met a long time ago, with the same problem as Fredi. 'The Labyrinth of Anatfod' is perhaps the most Borgesian of all my stories. 'Damiana and Toribio' is a love story that revolves around the queen of my life: literature. 'Moussaka and Salmon' is based on the romantic history of a dear friend. 'My name is not Javier' is dedicated to my father and my husband. 'The map was upside down' is a kind of phantasmagoric comedy with an unexpected ending. 'Quid pro quo' is a story based on a crocodile that was in my family, although the animal is not the main character of this story. When I was a child, I heard my mother mention the crocodile and I imagined the rest of the story. In all my stories, there is some autobiographical element and some more fiction. However, the line that separates both elements is sometimes blurry or even non-existent.."

Works

 * 2022: Teekond Méxicost Setomaale
 * 2023: Que venga la noche
 * 2023: Tulgu Öö