Signs Preceding the End of the World

• Genre: Fiction; literary
• Originally Published: 2009
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 9 chapters; approx. 128 pages; approx. 2 hours, 18 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Makina leaves behind her life in Mexico to look for her brother. After dangerous trials, she smuggles two messages—one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld—into the United States.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Strong language; violence; sexual harassment; racism              

Yuri Herrera, Author

• Bio: Born in Actopan, Mexico, in 1970; Mexican political scientist, editor, and writer; studied Political Science at National Autonomous University of Mexico; has a master’s degree in creative writing from University of Texas, El Paso, and received his doctorate in Hispanic Language and Literature at University of California, Berkeley; is currently a Mellow Postdoctoral Fellow at Tulane University; editor of El perro, a literary magazine
• Other Works: Kingdom Cons (2004); The Transmigration of Bodies (2013); A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire (2018); Ten Planets: Stories (2019)
• Awards: Best Translated Book Award for Signs Preceding the End of the World (2016)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Translation and Communication
• History as a Palimpsest
• Violence and Racism in the Borderlands

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will: