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)
Website
carolinaderobertis.com

Carolina (Caro) De Robertis is a Uruguayan-American author and professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University. They are 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] They are also well known for their translational work, frequently translating Spanish pieces.

Early life

Carolina De Robertis is the child of two Uruguayan parents. They were born in England and moved throughout their childhood, following the scientific career of their father, Edward De Robertis. De Robertis later moved to Basel (Switzerland), until finally ending up in Los Angeles, California.[2][3] Aged 19, De Robertis came out as bisexual, which they have described as the beginning of the process of their parents disowning them, which was complete by the time she was 25.[4] Describing their relationship with their parents, they 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]

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

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

Career

De Robertis released their 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]

In 2022, De Robertis became the 41st recipient of the Dos Passos Prize, awarded annually to an American author who American "experiments with form, explores a range of voices and deserves more recognition."[12]

Personal life

De Robertis lives with their two children in Oakland, California. They identify as queer and genderqueer.[4] Describing their sexuality on the LGBTQ&A podcast, De Robertis said, "The more words the better. So I'm a dyke, I'm a lesbian... It's all good."[13]

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. 1 2 3 "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 their 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 University, Longwood. "Carolina De Robertis named 41st John Dos Passos Prize winner". www.longwood.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  13. ↑ "LGBTQ&A: Carolina De Robertis: A Love Letter to Anyone Who's Felt Despair on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  14. ↑ "Perla (Vintage Contemporaries) | IndieBound.org". www.indiebound.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  15. ↑ "Carolina De Robertis". NEA. 2012-01-01. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
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