Achy Obejas

Poet, novelist, journalist, translator, and teacher Achy Obejas was born in Havana, Cuba. When she was six years old, she and her family immigrated to the United States during the Cuban Revolution. She is the author of the bilingual Spanish/English poetry collection Boomerang/Bumerán (2021), the novels The Tower of the Antilles (2017), which was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction, Ruins (2009), and Days of Awe (2007), which was a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year, as well as the poetry chapbook This Is What Happened in our Other Life (2007). Her poetry and fiction have appeared in such publications as Another Chicago Magazine and Conditions. 

Obejas has translated the work of Wendy Guerra, Rita Indiana, Junot Díaz, and Megan Maxwell, among others, and is also an accomplished journalist; she worked at the Chicago Tribune for more than 10 years, and her articles have been featured in a variety of publications, including the Village Voice, Vogue, and the Nation. She was one of the organizers of the #15novCuba Poesiá Sin Fin 2021 marathon in support of change in Cuba.

Obejas is the recipient of a USA Artists fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and a Cintas fellowship, among other awards. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.