RUNNER-UP OF THE 2020 BODLEY HEAD / FINANCIAL TIMES ESSAY PRIZE

'Just before the COVID-19 quarantine, I moved into my girlfriend's apartment, a renovated garage in a forgotten triangle of blocks where three Mexico City neighbourhoods come together.'

A River Passes By Here is a story about Mexico City, its climate, its history and the life and love that flourishes within it. It describes efforts over more than a century to tame a unique natural environment, and explores what nature means to us when we are forcibly separated from it.

It is a deeply evocative and enchanting portrait of a very particular time in an exceptional place.