April 2008

"A dynamic and engaging speaker, Achy Obejas has something for just about everyone. Equally comfortable in English and Spanish-language environments, be they small classrooms or large lecture halls, Obejas dazzles with her deep political insights and her personal charm. She is profoundly knowledgeable about Cuba, Latin America, and the United States, as well as on issues of gender and sexuality. She does not shy away from controversy, and is generous in sharing her experiences as a writer and journalist. Students, faculty, and staff will all benefit from getting to meet her."

Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes
Assistant Professor of Latino/Latina Studies and Spanish
Program in American Culture and Department of Romance Languages and
Literatures
University of Michigan

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"Achy Obejas joined our Department for the Fall 2005 semester as Distinguished Writer in Residence, teaching undergraduate and graduate fiction workshops. In my position as Chair, I found the pedagogical commitment and professionalism she brought to the classroom particularly valuable. To faculty and students alike, her collegiality, generosity, and verve were a breath of fresh air. She also took it upon herself to learn quickly from the cultural mix and dynamics here in Hawai‘i. It’s great to have a writer with multiple awards who, even during a short stay in a program, mentors students, collaborates with colleagues, and cares for the place she is just learning about. Students in our program found her enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and challenging."

Cristina Bacchilega, Chair
Department of English
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

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"One of the largest turnouts our book club enjoyed was for the author visit by Achy Obejas. The somewhat foreign nature of the novel’s subject mater — post revolution Cuba, Cuban-Americans, Santeria, hidden Jewish roots — as well as the post modern style of the prose left many of the book club members a little apprehensive before Achy’s arrival. However, Achy Obejas herself exudes an essence of warmth, humor and a seemingly unqualified open-mindedness. Almost immediately there was a relaxed and easy atmosphere. Achy hadn’t sat for more than five minutes before being bombarded by questions. The curiosity piqued by learning about the actual lives of average individual Cuban people (rather than another image of Fidel and his cigar) was strong. And, Achy’s easy going manner gave us all the sense that asking a seemingly naïve question was absolutely okay. And so we enjoyed a very warm and fascinating round of “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Cuba (and/or the main characters in ‘Days of Awe’) But Were Afraid to Ask.” Ninety minutes went by like five. Several book club members told me afterward they had not had time to ask their questions. When a guest author would visit our book club, I always had a couple pages of questions prepared in case book club members ran out of their own. I only got to my first question that night, and I believe I had to interrupt someone else to get it in. Personally I was amazed at the ease with which Achy could weave personal anecdotes with crisp, thorough explanations of Cuba’s history, culture, and the Jewish Diaspora. I felt as if I were being told detailed, fascinating history conversationally. As a graduate of a large MFA creative writing program, this was not the first time I had met a writer who seemed absolutely deserving of all of her critical acclaim. However, my past impressions of meeting acclaimed writers was dominated, for the most part, by memories of their egos. What I recall most about Achy’s visit to our book club is the warmth, substance, and genuinely friendly tone of the discussion."

Dan Smolla
Librarian
Glenside Public Library District
Glendale Heights, Illinois

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"Achy Obejas was great with our students in a class about the literature of the Cuban experience. She was really able to bring into focus what it means to be Cuban, Latina, American, gay and how those identities meld. Her lecture on the subject was one of the most thoughtful, interesting meditations on identity I have ever heard."

Lissette Mendez
Program Coordinator
Florida Center for the Literary Arts
Miami Dade College

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"In addition to being an accomplished fiction writer, journalist, and poet, Achy Obejas is a riveting public performer who blends her story-telling abilities, journalistic acumen, and wry sharp eye for historical and cultural ironies and contradictions in presentations that are equally accessible to non-academics as to academics. She has a wide-ranging understanding not only of the varied Cuban American experiences in the United States and transnationally, but furthermore she demonstrates a keen awareness of other Latina/o communities and of the complexities of identity, (dis)location, and identification in the United States in our time."

Dr. María DeGuzmán
Associate Professor of English & Comparative Literature
Director of Latina/o Studies
UNC Chapel Hill