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Early Life, Adversitys, and Influences
Mariana Enriquez, born on December 6, 1973, was raised with the horrors of the world on her doorstep. She grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during a period of political unrest. The country was under an oppressive dictatorship and was experiencing a particularly intense time of military control, the Dirty War (1974 - 1983). Although it is unclear if this period of terrorism is considered a genocide or not, the crimes against humanity were undoubtedly atrocious. Enriquez faced this period in some of the most influential years of her life. She even recounts her father forcing her to listen to the news reports about the grotesque treatment of citizens at a very young age because he believed that it was the duty of citizens to understand what is going on around them. On top of this, Enriquez’s family left an impact on her early life, such as her grandmother, who was a deeply superstitious and religious person. Enriquez adopted similar beliefs to her grandmother’s, turning to Catholicism and the supernatural, and followed these beliefs long enough to develop a completely different perspective of them in adulthood. Enriquez went to a Catholic school as a child, but ended up leaving the faith later in life. She notes that this encounter with religion leaves her with an appreciation for believing in something beyond, or higher, than humans.
Obsessions and Facinations
Mariana Enriquez is passionate about many topics. These interests leave their impressions on all of Enriquez’s writing, so it’s important to point out some of them. One of these fascinations is punk culture. Enriquez has been a part of the punk scene since she was very young. She followed the DIY spirit, she focused on rock music in her journalism major, and highlighted many punk themes in her novels and short stories. The punk community as a whole, the ideals, the ethos, and the music have all been motivators in her writing since before she started writing. In addition, Enriquez uses her hometown, Buenos Aires, as the setting for most of her writing, a passion that starts with her very own experience growing up there. The compulsion to write over the same setting for many different stories spotlights the political climate, social issues, and overall difficulties associated with the place. All of these leave an impression on her writing, allowing for context to be right inside the story. Finally, Enriquez’s personal favorite topics to write about are young characters missing, alternative realities, the unknown, suburban scenarios, urban legends, and liminal scapes. The fascination with specific difficult realities and metaphors for realities is very useful for the overall significance of horror as a genre, something that will be delved into later.
Writing
As a teen, Mariana Enriquez didn't plan on going into writing as a career. In fact, she really started writing professionally by accident. Since she was a part of a circle of friends who supported her DIY and punk personality, she wrote a book for them just for the fun of it. Surprisingly, her friends enjoyed the book so much that one of them brought it to their sibling, who was a publisher, and it ended up being the first book Enriquez published. Over time, she saw lots of local success with this story and continued writing and studying journalism in college. Ten years later, she published her next book and finally committed to a career as a writer. This accidental and coincidental slope of a career led her to becoming a highly reputable author in the gothic horror genre. Furthermore, after studying, practicing, and publishing for thirty years, Enriquez has come up with her own process of writing that seems unique compared to other writers. She states that she taps into a hypnotic sort of headspace, which is reached by listening to music. This headspace is the only state that Enriquez can get writing done. Due to her connection to religion, she believes that this state of consciousness is very similar to being a vessel during a religious experience. She is able to achieve the mysterious feeling behind her writing, something she finds very important, by accessing and utilizing this headspace at all times she is creating. Finally, Enriquez has recieved recognitions, highlight her achievements. First, she has had many of her works translated to different languages, an acknowledgment that her work is important for everyone to have access to. Second, she has taught literature workshops, an acknowledgement that her knowledge on the subject is important to be spread. Last, she has won numerous awards for her work: A Premio Ciutat de Barcelona, a Premio Herralde de Novela, a Premio Kelvin 505, a Premio Celsius, a Promio de la Critica Narrativa, a Grand Prix de l'lmanginaire. Premio Iberoamericano de Letras Jose Donoso, and a Premio Knoex.
The Importance of Horror
Horror is a very disturbing genre, especially psychological horror. It pulls uncomfortable realities to light in places people find very difficult, so why write about it? In Enriquez’s simple words, the horror genre exists to “make sense of all the darkness.” (Howard, 2025). To elaborate on a more complex note, the world is filled with cruel people inflicting hate, pain, and conflict every day. Any person could become cruel if put in the wrong circumstance, and the inevitable seems impossible to deal with regularly. Enriquez, after a lifetime of harsh realities, believes that her genre and expression is extremely important because she is helping people find comfort and safety in the darkness. She does what she does as a career to not only help herself cope, but also offer exposure to tough topics, to allow people to make sense of the inevitable, and ease the very common fear of the unknown through powerful stories.
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