Ana Lydia Vega

Ana Lydia Vega (born Dec. 6, 1946, Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican writer. She has received the Premio Juan Rulfo (1984) and the Premio Casa de las Américas (1982). Vega was a professor of French literature and Caribbean studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, and retired later.

Her parents were Virgilio Vega, from Coamo, Puerto Rico, y Doña María Santana, a teacher from the town of Arroyo. She studied at the Academia del Sagrado Corazón, and at the University of Puerto Rico, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1968. She went on to study at the University of Provence, France, receiving a master's in French literature in 1971, and a doctorate in French literature in 1978.

Puerto Rico's history plays a role in Vega's writings. The country became a U.S. territory under the Treaty of Paris (1898), after the Spanish American War. Remorse still exists toward one of the leading causes of the war, and many people believe that the bombing of the US battleship Maine (ACR-1) was a conspiracy. This sentiment is present in Vega's works.

Puerto Rico became a commonwealth after adopting a constitution on July 25, 1952. Because of the nation's ties to the United States, English is mixed with Spanish to make up the dialect of the region, which is used in her writings. Migration to the United States is common, and it is also a theme in Vega's stories.

Vega's writing is also influenced by her familiarity with African oral traditions. In 1978, she wrote her doctoral thesis on the influence of Haitian leader Henri Christophe on African American theater and on theater in the Antilles. Vega's father was an accomplished practitioner of the Décima, a Puerto Rican form of poetry emphasizing improvisation.

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