Nationality American Name H. Carrillo Other names H.G. Carrillo
Hache Role Writer | Ethnicity Afro-Cuban Education Cornell University Years active 2004-present Books Loosing my Espanish | |
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Born 1960 (age 54–55) Cuba Alma mater Cornell University, bachelor of arts (2004) and master of fine arts (2007) Occupation George Washington University, English Department Faculty
Novelist Residence Washington metropolitan area, United States | ||
Herman "H.G." Carrillo (born 1960) is an Afro-Cuban American writer and Assistant Professor of English at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Central to Carrillo's writing is the Cuban immigrant experience in the United States.
Contents
- Early life and education
- Career
- Publications
- Loosing My Espanish
- Awards
- Awards and grants
- Books
- Short Stories
- References
Early life and education
Carrillo was born in Havana, Cuba in 1960. Carrillo received his BA in Fiction Writing from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 2004 and an MFA from Cornell in 2007.
Career
Carrillo is an assistant professor of English at George Washington University. He started teaching at the university level after 2007.
Publications
Several publications have included his work, including The Kenyon Review, Conjunctions, The Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, Ninth Letter, and Slice. Areas of interest include Fiction Writing, U.S. Latino Literature and Visual Culture, Literature and Culture of the 1960s, 20th- and 21st US Literature, Gender Studies.
Loosing My Espanish
Carrillo's first full-length novel, Loosing My Espanish, (Pantheon, 2004) addresses the complexities of Latino Immigration, religiously associated education, homosexuality, and lower class struggles from a Cuban immigrant's perspective.
Wendy Gimbel at The Washington Post wrote a lengthy review of this novel, saying this about Carrillo's interesting writing style:
"In this complexly structured novel, Oscar's narrative moves backward and forward, alternating between the present and historical time. If one considers the present moment as a force field that holds together all the disparate elements in the book, a cohesive tale emerges from a seemingly disorderly series of scenes."(Gimbel 2005)Synopsis: "Oscar Delossantos is about to lose his job as a teacher at a Jesuit high school in Chicago. Rather than go quietly, he embarks on a valiant last history lesson that chronicles the flight from Cuba of his makeshift extended family. Evoking the struggle between nostalgia and the realities of the Cuban Revolution with both grit and lyricism, he inspires his students with an altogether dazzling reinterpretation of the Cuban-American experience." (Random House, inc. 2005)
Awards
Carrillo received the Arthur Lynn Andrew Prize for Best Fiction in 2001 and 2003 as well as the Iowa Award in 2004. He has received several fellowships and grants, including a Sage Fellowship, a Provost's Fellowship, and a Newberry Library Research Grant. He earned the 2001 Glimmer Train Fiction Open Prize and was named the 2002 Alan Collins Scholar for Fiction.