Giannina Braschi

Iconic Puerto Rican poet Giannina Braschi is a leading force in experimental literature and Latinx philosophy. Her epic works include Empire of Dreams, Yo-Yo Boing! and United States of Banana. She has won awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Ford Foundation, PEN America, Cambio16 in Spain, and the North American Academy of the Spanish language (ANLE), among others. With a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literatures from State University of New York, she taught at Rutgers University, City University of New York, and Colgate University. She has also published critical essays on Cervantes, Garcilaso, Machado, and Lorca, as well as a book on Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. According to ANLE, Braschi’s lifework represents “an essential contribution to the advancement, strengthening, and expansion of the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures in the United States, in addition to being highly innovative and of extraordinary intellectual value. She occupies a prominent place among Latin American intellectuals for her critical stance against American colonialism and for alternating the use of Spanish, Spanglish, and English in her work.” The Library of Congress describes the work of this iconic Puerto Rican poet as “cutting-edge, influential and even revolutionary”.

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