Angie Cruz (born February 24, 1972) is an American novelist and associate professor at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, where she teaches in the M.F.A. program.

Early life and education

Cruz was born on February 24, 1972, in Washington Heights,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She is of Dominican descent, and regularly travelled from New York City to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

as a child. Cruz attended Catholic school through eighth grade and grew interested in visual arts in high school. She attended LaGuardia School of the Arts and the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

, where she studied fashion design. She received her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in English from

SUNY Binghamton The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university with campuses in Binghamton, Vestal, and Johnson City, New York. It is one of the four university centers in the State ...

and an M.F.A. in creative writing from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Career

Cruz has written numerous books focusing on themes of home, gender, race, displacement, and working class life. Cruz published her first novel '' Soledad'' in 2001 and her second novel, ''Let It Rain Coffee'' in 2005, both with

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

. Her third novel, '' Dominicana'' (2019), which she published with

Flatiron Books Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, received widespread acclaim. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' described the work as "Enthralling...Cruz's winning novel will linger in the reader’s mind long after the close of the story."

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

described ''Dominicana'' as "one of the most evocative and empowering immigrant stories of our time." In 2022, Cruz published her fourth novel, ''How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water'', also with Flatiron Books. Cruz is currently an associate professor at the

writing program and the Editor-in-Chief, Publisher and Founder of Aster(ix) literary journal.

Awards

Cruz has received numerous grants for her teaching and writing, including the Barbara Deming Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Camargo Fellowship, Van Lier Literary Fellowship, and NALAC Fund for the Arts Fellowship. She has also been awarded residencies:

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

The Macdowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...

, Fundacion Valparaiso, La Napoule Foundation, and The Millay Colony. ''Dominicana'' was shortlisted for the 2020

Women's Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

. In 2020, ''Dominicana'' received the

Alex Awards The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Essentially, the award is a listing by the American Library Association parallel to its annual Best Books for Young A ...

. In 2021, Cruz was awarded the Gina Berriault Award. The award is given annually to a writer who has shown a love for storytelling and a commitment to helping young writers.

Novels

* * * *

References

External links

Introductory arts article about Cruz
* ttp://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/v030/30.3cruz02.pdf Conversation between Cruz and fellow novelist Nelly Rosario* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Angie 21st-century American novelists Dominican Republic novelists Dominican Republic women novelists American writers of Dominican Republic descent Postcolonial literature Dominican Republic women writers Living people 1972 births Texas A&M University faculty Hispanic and Latino American novelists University of Pittsburgh faculty American women novelists 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Pennsylvania Novelists from Texas