Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro

Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro (born October 29, 1970) is an award-winning Puerto Rican novelist, short story writer and essayist.

Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro was born on 29 October 1970 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and was raised by her grandparents, Petronila Cartagena and Saturnino Pizarro. She began writing at an early age in school newsletters and newspapers and won drawing and essay competitions at the Colegio San Vicente Ferrer in Cataño. In 1989 she won the intra-university competition of the Bayamón Central University with the story "Vimbi Botella." In 1990 she directed a play entitled ¿A dónde va el amor? (Where Does Love Go?) based on her own script, which was staged in Barrio Amelia, a poor neighborhood in Guaynabo where the author was raised.

In 2004, Arroyo published her first book of short stories Origami de letras (Letter Origami). The following year published her first novel Los documentados (The Documented) which deals with migration conditions in the Caribbean, specifically from Hispaniola to Puerto Rico. This novel won the PEN Club Prize for 2006. In 2007 she published a new book of short stories, Ojos de Luna (Moon Eyes) in which she explores the ways in which eviction, solidarity, and spiritual barriers marginalize people. The book was selected by El Nuevo Día as one of the best in 2007 and was a finalist in the Puerto Rican Literature National Award. That same year she was chosen as one of the most important Latin American writers under 39 years of age as part of Bogotá39, convened by UNESCO, the Hay Festival, and the Ministry of Culture in Bogotá. She was the only representative from Puerto Rico.

In 2011, Salón Literario Libroamérica de Puerto Rico selected Arroyo's new book Caparazones, as the best new novel and the same year she was awarded a writer-in-residency grant by the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Latina Writers Convention recognized her short story Los cojones de una mujer in pecho at their 2012 convention. Arroyo's body of work consists of two novels, three collections of poetry, nine short story books and contributions to more than two dozen anthologies. Arroyo has broadcast as a radio host of Kooltureate for Bonita Radio and is the Chief Editor of the literary journal Revista Boreales. In addition her own publications, she regularly contributes to newspapers such as Claridad, La Expresión, El Nuevo Día, and El Vocero. She has served as a member of the jury for the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award Guadalajara International Book Fair for several years.

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