Speaker Bio

Roberto G. Fernández, internationally renowned Cuban American author and short story writer, is considered one of the most respected authors of our time. Born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba and immigrating to the United States at the age of 10, he found an artistic “home” in the fertile landscape of Miami’s Cuban community. As a consequence of this rich heritage and cultural experience, Fernández has come to embody a distinct perspective in his literature, one that notably blends the past and present into an intricate paradox of foreign and familiar.

Often described as the “Cuban William Burroughs” forthe fantastic and surrealistic qualities of work as well as his ability to depict the “collision of languages and temperaments,” Fernández is best recognized for his satirical approach to the anguish and frustration of the immigrant experience.

Fernández currently teaches in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at Florida State University. Among his most notable works are La vida es un special [Life Is on/a Special] (1982), La montaña rusa [The Russian Mountain or The Roller Coaster] (1985), Raining Backwards (1988), Holy Radishes! (1995), and En la ocho  y la doce [The Corner of Eighth and Twelfth] (2001).

Roberto Fernández has been the recipient of several prominent awards including the Cintas Foundation Fellowship (1986-87) and the Florida Councils Fellowship (1993), and was named the Dorothy Lois Breen Hoffman Professor of Modern Languages and Linguistics in 2001.