Bio
Pablo Medina is the author of twenty published books, among them the novels The
Cuban Comedy (2019) called "a literary triumph" by NBC, Cubop City Blues (2012)
called "rich and stunning" by the L.A. Review of Books, and The Cigar Roller (2005), a
Book Sense Notable for 2005; the poetry collections The Foreigner's Song: New and
Selected Poems (2021), The Island Kingdom (2015), about which Saw Palm Review
said, "Medina's raw and fearless language bridges the cultural, historical, and literary
gap between Cuba and the Americas," and The Man Who Wrote on Water (2011),
about which the poet D. Nurkse said, "His new book moves, with ease and anguish,
from Wittgenstein to Lord Chango." In January 2008, with fellow poet Mark Statman,
Medina published a new English version of García Lorca’s Poet in New York, which
John Ashbery called “the definitive version of Lorca’s masterpiece." Acclaimed as
“lyrical and powerfully evocative” and “deserving a prominent spot in today’s
literature of exile,” Medina’s prose and poetry have been translated into various
languages, among them Spanish, French, German, and Arabic. Medina has won a
number of awards and honors for his writing, including fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Oscar B. Cintas Foundation,
the Guggenheim Foundation, and others. He was a member of the board of AWP
(Association of Writers and Writing Programs) from 2002-2007, serving as Board
President in 2005–2006. He is Professor Emeritus of Fiction, Translation, and Poetry in
the Department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston
and is on faculty at the Warren Wilson College low residency MFA Program for
Writers in Asheville, North Carolina.