fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Carolina de Robertis is a Uruguayan-American author and teacher of creative writing at San Francisco State University. She is the author of five novels and the editor of an award-winning anthology, Radical Hope (2017), which include essays by such writers as Junot Diaz and Jane Smiley.[1] She is also well known for her translational work, frequently translating Spanish pieces.

Carolina de Robertis
de Robertis at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born	1975 England
Occupation	Author
Language	English, Spanish
Citizenship	American
Education	BA - University of California Los Angeles MFA - Mills College
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Notable works	The Invisible Mountain (2010) Perla (2013) The Gods of Tango (2015) Radical Hope (2017)
Notable awards	Rhegium Julii Debut Prize (2010) Stonewall Book Award (2016)
Spouse	Pamela Harris
Website
carolinaderobertis.com

Early life

Carolina De Robertis is the child of two Uruguayan parents. She was born in England and moved throughout her childhood, following the scientific career of her father, Edward De Robertis. De Robertis later moved to Basel (Switzerland), until finally ending up in Los Angeles, California.[2][3]^{[unreliable source?]} Aged 19, De Robertis came out as bisexual, which she has described as the beginning of the process of her parents disowning her, which was complete by the time she was 25.[4] Describing her relationship with her parents, she said, "They actually dug in their heels and tried to turn my siblings against my first child when I was pregnant with the first child. I use that example to say, it's not true that everybody comes around."[4]

She worked as a rape counselor and was very active in the Bay Area's LGBTQ+ community for ten years in her 20s.[5]

De Robertis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from University of California, Los Angeles in 1996. She also received a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Mills College in 2007.[6]

Career

De Robertis released her first book, The Invisible Mountain, in 2009. The novel was an international best-seller, being translated into 17 languages,[7] including Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, French, Hebrew, and Chinese. It won best book for the San Francisco Chronicle, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Booklist. It was also a finalist for the California Book Award, an International Latino Book Award, and the VCU Cabell First Book Award.

De Robertis' 2019 novel, Cantoras, is set in 1970s Uruguay. Its five protagonists are all lesbians.[8] The book was selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice.[9] It also won a Stonewall Book Award,[10] and a Reading Women Award, as well as being a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and a Lambda Literary Award.[11] In 2021, her novel The President and the Frog was published. The character of the President in the book is heavily influenced by José Mujica, the former President of Uruguay. Writing in The Nation, Lily Meyer said that the book, "asks its readers to think seriously about the weight of taking political action, then suggests that they take it."[8]

Personal life

De Robertis lives with her wife, Pamela Harris, and their two children in Oakland, California. She identifies as queer and genderqueer.[4] Describing her sexuality on the LGBTQ&A podcast, De Robertis said, "The more words the better. So I'm a dyke, I'm a lesbian, I'm also bi. It's all good."[12]

Works

Novels

• The Invisible Mountain (2009)
• Perla (2012)
• The Gods of Tango (2015)
• Cantoras (2019)
• The President and the Frog (2021)

Translation

• "Trans: A Love Story" by Gabriela Wiener (2007)
• Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra (2008)
• "I Never Went to Blanes" by Diego Trelles Paz (2010)
• The Neruda Case by Roberto Ampuero (2012)
• "Tripych" by Raquel Lubartowski (2017)

Essays

• "42 Poorly Kept Secrets About Montevideo" for The Indiana Review (2006)
• "Translating a Pablo Neruda Mystery" for Publishers Weekly (2012)
• "We Need the Real, Racist Atticus Finch" for the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review (2015)
• "Why We Must Listen to Women" for the Easy Bay Express (2017)

Other

• "The Askers" for the Virginia Quarterly Review (2009)
• "On the Brink of Words" for the 580 Split (2009)
• "For Orlando" for the San Francisco Chronicle (2016)
• "The Tango Police" for CNET's Technically Literate Series (2017)
• Radical Hope (2017)

Honors and awards

• Terrific Read from O, The Oprah Magazine (2009)[13]
• Rhegium Julii Prize (2010)
• 2012 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts[14]
• San Francisco Chronicle, the Best Books of 2015
• Stonewall Book Award (2016)

References

External links

• http://www.carolinaderobertis.com

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