Sonia Rivera Valdes was born in Cuba and first lived in New York City in 1966. Considered one of the most important writers from Cuba, she has had stories appear in many anthologies in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, including Cubana (Beacon Press, 1998) and Dream with No Name (Seven Stories Press, 1999). She is president of Latino Artists Round Table (LART), a cultural organization established in New York. She has written extensively on Latin American and Hispanic literature, and is a professor of Latin American Literature at York College. Rivera-Valdes was the second Cuban residing outside the island to receive the prestigious Casa de las Americas Literature Award (1997).