Yvonne Denis Rosario (born March 9, 1967) is an Afro-Puerto Rican storyteller, poet, librettist, columnist and academic. A former president of the Puerto Rican PEN International Centre, she is also a professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus.[1]

Yvonne Denis Rosario
Born (1967-03-09) March 9, 1967 (age 57)
Alma materUniversity of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras; InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico
Occupation(s)Writer and professor
EmployerUniversity of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Websiteyvonnedenis.com

Biography

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Yvonne Denis Rosario was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 9, 1967, one of the seven children of Alejandrina Rosario Román, a public employee, and Juan Denis Estrada, a dry-cleaning business owner.[2] Her maternal great-grandmother, Josefa “Maita” Osorio Villarán (1860–1953), had been kidnapped from Benin, West Africa, and enslaved in Puerto Rico, before achieving her freedom.[2]

Denis Rosario attended Luz América Calderón high school in Carolina, Puerto Rico, graduating in 1984. She went on to earn a Paralegal Studies certificate in 1995 at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras (UPR-RP), a Criminal Justice B.A. degree from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico (2005), and a Creative Literature M.A. from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in 2008. She also has a Ph.D. in Puerto Rican and Caribbean Literature from the Center for Advanced Studies on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.[2]

Since 2006, she has been writing professionally and her books, which have been translated into many languages, include Capá Prieto, Bufé, Delirio Entrelazado, and Sepultados.[3] Her publications examine issues of race and racism in Puerto Rico.[2]

She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[4][5]

Honours she has received include the Nacional Instituto de Literatura Puertorriqueña Award and the Fifth International Prize Award of Journalism and Literature.[2]

Denis Rosario is a former president of the Puerto Rican PEN International Centre (2012–13).[1][6] She has been a guest columnist for El Nuevo Día newspaper, has taught at Ana G. Méndez University and at Metropolitan University, and since 2015 has taught at UPR-RP, where she is a professor of literature.[2]

Bibliography

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  • Capá Prieto (short stories), Isla Negra Editores, 2009
  • Bufé (novel), Isla Negra Editores, 2012
  • Delirio Entrelazado (poetry), Editorial EDP University, 2015
  • Sepultados, Editorial EDP, 2018

References

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  1. ^ a b "Yvonne Denis Rosario", in Busby, Margaret (ed.), New Daughters of Africa (2019), Penguin Books, 2022, p. 332.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Guzman, Will (February 24, 2021). "Yvonne Denis-Rosario, (1967– )". blackpast.org. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  3. ^ "Black Nannies in Latin America: A Conversation with Yvonne Denis-Rosario". Pitzer College. October 12, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  4. ^ "New Daughters of Africa". yvonnedenis.com. 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  5. ^ "New Daughters of Africa" (PDF). Myriad Editions. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  6. ^ "History of the Puerto Rican Centre". pen100archive.org. PEN International. 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
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