Antonio Casquin

Photo by Andrea Medrano

Ramon Antonio Castillo Quintanilla was born on December 17^th 1964, in Quezaltepeque, La Libertad, El Salvador. He is one of the descendants of the florist Rafaela Castillo Hernandez, and the peasant Reyes Albertos Quintanilla.

In 1985, he starts his superior studies in the faculty of  laws at the University of El Salvador; at the same time, he starts to develop his literary abilities and joins  “Taller Literario Extension Universitaria”, which was  course  by the  Salvadoran  poet Salvador Juarez; one year later he joined  “Taller Literario Xibalbá”; this year  was pivotal in  his life, as he began to promote the creation of literary movements among young people with  abilities and sense  for  literature creation,  he gave birth  to “Tahulashte”, an atelier in San Sebastian San Vicente, and  “Shilut” in Quezaltepeque, at the same time, he followed his studies  in laws and his literary work at the University of  El Salvador.

Antonio took part in the historical moment that El Salvador was living. He defines his political and ideological position fighting in the popular movements, he lining up in FMLN (Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional).In November 1989, he was hurt in the offensive final guerilla attack where his right foot and leg were complete destroyed and he is exiled to France.  Antonio spends 5 years in exile. During the time he was away from his country, he studied French as a second language at University Lille III, and worked in the “Departement d’Action Culture” at the same university.  In this period, he had contact with intellectual people from different countries, like Rigoberta Menchú Tun, Collette Benois among others, but he also established a good relationship with one of the most important Salvadoran writers, Roberto Armijo.  The time he stays absent from his country allowed him to write different books, some of them in Spanish like “Exile”, by Serpientemplumada publisher in August 2004, “For sculpting your memory”, unedited, and a French book: “Tout chemin est un Rêve” (by Serpientemplumada in 2015)  When Casquin returns to El Salvador, he continues his studies, in the Centro-American University “José Simeón Cañas” (UCA), this time, his studies are focused on literature. He gets the degree in “Sciences and Arts” (1995 – 2000). His main purpose, which is to discover passion for literature in young people, continuous every day , that work is reflected in the creation and foundation of the biggest Salvadorian literary movement in the 21st Century :  “ Generación de la Sangre”  which includes 13 ateliers:  ·         Serpientemplumada in 2002 ·          Taller Literario Amilicar Colocho in 2003 ·         Circulo Literario Rosa Negra, 2004 ·          Sol Nocturno 2005 ·          Circulo Literario Teshcal 2005 ·          Delira Cigarra 2006 ·          Taller Literario Tapayahuit 2007 ·          Taller Literario Tochtli  2008 ·          Taller Literario Ceniza Primitiva 2009 ·          Circulo Literario don-aire 2010 *            Circulo Literario Xipet 2011 The majority of these ateliers deal with the three “National Encounters of Ateliers of Literature: Generación de la Sangre” 2005, 2008 and  2010. As an intellectual man, Antonio Casquín has made different cultural and languages studies in various countries: France (1989- 1992) Venezuela (2008) Nicaragua (2011) Guatemala (2011) China (2011); these studies allowed him to spread Salvadoran art, culture and literature abroad. Beijin, Winter palace, 2011 He has worked in different city halls and government areas, conducting cultural areas; for instance, in Soyapango (2001- 2004), Quezaltepeque (2004 – 2012), Jiquilisco (2014 -2016).   Since 2013 he works as cultural advisor in the Depute Congress of El Salvador. In addition, as one of his passion is teaching literature, he continuous working in literature’s   ateliers at public and private schools and universities. Since 1985 he works on the formation of young people towards literature. But he also occasionally goes to universities to be part of intellectual conferences and share his literary creations with students and art colleges. Antonio Casquín at the University of El Salvador giving a speech about the role of students of Science and Arts.Were with him: Luis Melgar Brizuela, Manlio Argueta and Silvia Elena Regalado.    In 2014, he starts  a new literary project:  ULTIMOuniVERSO Literary Movement which is a movement integrated by ateliers, collectives, circles and emergent  literary groups  in the searching to be part  in the extended  literary , cultural and artistic tradition of El Salvador. Now a day this new literary movement works in the University of El Salvador with seven atéliers and circles of literature with students from different areas of studies since medicine, humanistic to economic. Some of them are: CALIneuTRINO, UNIversARTE, MATER NOVA, UNIVERSOconVERSO, COSMOVERSO and STELLABREVIS among others.