Acclaimed Novelist Achy Obejas to Read, Lecture at Chapel

The renowned Cuban-American author Achy Obejas will lecture and read from her work Monday, April 22 at 11 a.m. in the UGA Chapel. The event is sponsored by the Willson Center, the Department of Romance Languages, the Department of History, and the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Institute, with support from the Franklin College Office of Inclusion & Diversity Leadership.

Achy Obejas is the author of the critically acclaimed novels RuinsDays of Awe and three other books of fiction. Her poetry chapbook, This is What Happened in Our Other Life, was both a critical favorite and a best-seller. She edited and translated, into English, Havana Noir, a collection of crime stories by Cuban writers on and off the island. Her translation, into Spanish, of Junot Díaz’ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao / La Breve y Maravillosa Vida de Óscar Wao was a finalist for Spain’s Esther Benítez Translation Prize from the national translators’ association. She is a founding member of the creative writing faculty at the University of Chicago, a member of the editorial board of In These Times, the editorial advisory board of the Great Books Foundation, and a blogger for WBEZ.org. Born in Havana, she currently lives in Chicago with her wife, Megan Bayles, their son Ilan, and too many cats.