5 Contemporary Puerto Rican Authors You Should Know​


​Esmeralda Santiago was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is renowned for her adult memoirs such asWhen I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, which she adapted into a Peabody Award-winning film for PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, and The Turkish Lover; the novel America's Dream; and a children's book, A Doll For Navidades (Scholastic, 2005). Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and House & Garden, among other publications, and on NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition. She received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Trinity University, from Pace University, from Metropolitan College and from Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Mayagüez. 
Mayra Santo Febres is a poet, novelist and essayist. She has won numerous prizes for her stories, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and long-listed for the prestigious IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She has published more than twenty-five books of poetry, short stories, essay collections, and novels. Among her most import titles are Sirena Selena (2000), Our Lady of the Night (2006), and La amante de Gardel(2015). Her works have been translated into Croatian, Icelandic, French, Italian, German, and English. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Puerto Rico, and is one of the main organizers of Festival de la Palabra. She is the editor of San Juan Noir. 
Denice Frohman is a poet, performer, and educator from New York City. She is a CantoMundo Fellow, former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion and National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures grant recipient. Her work has appeared in The Adroit Journal, Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism, and garnered over 10 million views online. She’s featured on national and international stages, including The Apollo, The White House, The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, PEN World Voices Festival, and over 200 colleges and universities. She has a Master’s in Education and is co-organizer of #PoetsforPuertoRico. She lives in Philadelphia.
Raquel Salas Rivera is the author of x/ex/exis (poemas para la nación) (poems for the nation), which won the 2018 Ambroggio Prize and is forthcoming from Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe in 2019. Rivera is also the author of lo terciario/the tertiary, which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award in Poetry, as well as tierra intermitente  and Caneca de anhelos turbios, both of which were published in Puerto Rico. Rivera coedited The Wanderer and of Puerto Rico en mi corazón, a collection of bilingual broadsides of contemporary Puerto Rican poets. They currently serve as the 2018–2019 poet laureate of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning writer and author of the young adult novels Dealing in Dreams, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster on March 5, 2019, and The Education of Margot Sanchez, available now in bookstores everywhere. The Education of Margot Sanchez, was nominated for a 2019 Rhode Island Teen Book Award, a 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adult Fiction by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), and has been featured on NPR, New York Times Book Review, New York magazine, MTV.com, and Teen Vogue, among others. Her work has appeared in Lenny Letter, Tin House, and Los Angeles Times, among others. Lilliam lives in Los Angeles.
12/09/2018
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