Achy Obejas

Achy Obejas
Born (1956-06-28) June 28, 1956 (age 68)
Havana, Cuba
OccupationNovelist, journalist
NationalityCuban, American
Notable worksDays of Awe
Notable awardsLambda Literary Awards (x2)
Website
www.achyobejas.com

Achy Obejas (born June 28, 1956) is a Cuban-American writer and translator focused on personal and national identity issues,[1] living in Benicia, California. She frequently writes on her sexuality and nationality, and has received numerous awards for her creative work. Obejas' stories and poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Fifth Wednesday Journal, TriQuarterly, Another Chicago Magazine and many other publications. Some of her work was originally published in Esto no tiene nombre, a Latina lesbian magazine published and edited by tatiana de la tierra, which gave voice to the Latina lesbian community.[2] Obejas worked as a journalist in Chicago for more than two decades. For several years, she was also a writer in residence at the University of Chicago, University of Hawaii, DePaul University, Wichita State University, and Mills College in Oakland, California. She also worked from 2019 to 2022 as a writer/editor for Netflix on the bilingual team in the Product Writing department.

Obejas practices activism through writing, by telling her own story about her identity, as well as others. The anthology Immigrant Voices: 21st Century Stories, written in collaboration with Megan Bayles, is a collection of stories that seeks to describe the experience of people who have emigrated to America. While most anthologies focus on one group, this anthology expands the perspective to multiple group identities.[3][4]

  1. ^ Textor, Lauren (October 11, 2006), "A Cuban American writer on her identity", The Daily Pennsylvanian, archived from the original on September 20, 2008, retrieved March 25, 2009
  2. ^ PhD, María Dolores Costa (2003-06-01). "Latina Lesbian Writers and Performers". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 7 (3): 5–27. doi:10.1300/J155v07n03_02. ISSN 1089-4160. PMID 24816051. S2CID 149030062.
  3. ^ Tierra, Tatiana (April 5, 1995). "Achy Obejas: 'All the Way from Cuba'". Deneuve. 5: 38–39 – via MLA International Bibliography with Full Text.
  4. ^ Kurdi, Soran (2015). "Immigrant Voices: 21 st Century Stories ed. by Achy Obejas and Megan Byles (review)". Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. 69: 109–111 – via JSTOR.