A Father Is Born

The moving story of a man becoming a father, written by the winner of the 2009 Alfaguara Award.

"I am delighted that we are together, my son, becoming what we will both be."

A man awaits his son’s birth. Captivated, he follows the mother’s pregnancy, imagining the child that will transform his house, his language, his relationship, and his family history. For a year, he annotates the memorable first steps leading the three of them into these new existential situations: being a father, a mother, a son; three different characters in a universal story, told in newly born words. A situation further complicated when the child begins speaking and articulating his world.

A Father Is Born is a lyrical tale that resonates both on intimate and collective levels. Its understanding of fatherhood faces masculinity with the miracle of life and its incessant rereading of the present. In a time that redefines traditionally attributed roles, A Father Is Born accepts Anne Waldman’s invitation: "Tell the man to give up tumult for the while / To wonder at the sight of baby’s beauty." But it is also, and above all, a love statement.

© 2025 Open Letter (Ebook): 9781960385420

Translators: Robin Myers

Release date

Ebook: 8 July 2025