Carolina de Robertis

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Carolina de Robertis
de Robertis at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
de Robertis at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born1975
England
OccupationAuthor
LanguageEnglish, Spanish
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationBA - University of California Los Angeles
MFA - Mills College
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Notable worksThe Invisible Mountain (2010)
Perla (2013)
The Gods of Tango (2015)
Radical Hope (2017)
Notable awardsRhegium Julii Debut Prize (2010)
Stonewall Book Award (2016)
SpousePamela Harris
Website
carolinaderobertis.com

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.

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

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

Honors and awards

References

  1. ^ "Coming in May – RADICAL HOPE: LETTERS OF LOVE AND DISSENT IN DANGEROUS TIMES | Carolina De Robertis". www.carolinaderobertis.com. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  2. ^ Lee, Nicole (17 July 2015). "Carolina de Robertis talks about dancing through history with her novel 'The Gods of Tango'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  3. ^ BookBrowse. "Carolina De Robertis author biography". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  4. ^ a b c "Carolina de Robertis On Familial Homophobia: Not Everyone Comes Around". www.advocate.com. 2021-08-03. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  5. ^ Leon, Aya de (2016-02-01). "Novelist Carolina De Robertis wins a Stonewall Award for her historical treatment of queer and transgender identity in THE GODS OF TANGO". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  6. ^ "Graduate Program English | MFA & MA Alumnae/i | Mills College". inside.mills.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-04-29. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  7. ^ "Carolina De Robertis - Bay Area Book Festival". Bay Area Book Festival. Archived from the original on 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  8. ^ a b Meyer, Lily (2021-10-29). "The Moral and Magical Political Fictions of Carolina de Robertis". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
  9. ^ "10 New Books We Recommend This Week". The New York Times. 2019-10-10. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  10. ^ admin (2009-09-09). "Stonewall Book Awards List". Round Tables. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  11. ^ "Here are the finalists for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards". www.thefussylibrarian.com. 2020-03-10. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  12. ^ "LGBTQ&A: Carolina de Robertis: A Love Letter to Anyone Who's Felt Despair on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  13. ^ "Perla (Vintage Contemporaries) | IndieBound.org". www.indiebound.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  14. ^ "Carolina De Robertis". NEA. 2012-01-01. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-03-17.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Carolina de Robertis.
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