# Mayra Santos-Febres

Mayra Santos-Febres (born 1966 in Carolina) is a Puerto Rican author, poet, novelist, professor of literature, essayist, and literary critic and author of children's books. Her work focuses on themes of race, diaspora identity, female sexuality, gender fluidity, desire, and power. She is a cultural activist who helps to bring books to young readers and the less fortunate. Her writings have been translated into French, English, German, and Italian.

## Early life

Santos-Febres was born in 1966 to parents who were both schoolteachers. Her mother, Mariana Febres Falu was an Elementary School teacher of Spanish. Her father, Juan Santos Hernandez, was a high school teacher of Puerto Rican History. He was also a baseball player. Later, he became the Director of Sports and Recreation Department in the township of Carolina, Puerto Rico. Mayra Santos-Febres began writing at the age of five because her asthma did not permit her to "climb trees or ride bikes like the kids in the neighborhood." She states that her disability, combined with her educator parents' knack for keeping books in the house, catapulted her into the beginnings of her writing career. At the age of fifteen, after writing poetry for ten years, she was encouraged to take her writing seriously by Ivonn Sanavitis, the only female teacher who was not a nun at her Catholic school Colegio Lourdes, Puerto Rico.

## Education and academic work

Santos-Febres completed her undergraduate work at the University of Puerto Rico in 1991 and currently holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. She has been a visiting professor at Rutgers University, Harvard university and Cornell University as well as at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain and Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia

## Career and literary work

While still an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico, Santos-Febres had her work published in magazines and journal reviews such as Casa de las Américas in Cuba, Página doce in Argentina, Revue Noire in France and Review: Latin American Literature and Arts, in New York. Santos-Febres acknowledged in El País the Puerto Rican narrators who influenced her career: “I come from a long tradition of women writers, Rosario Ferré, Giannina Braschi, Ana Lydia Vega. Mayra Santos-Febres got a bachelor's degree in Hispanic Studies, from the University of Puerto Rico which she graduated with high honors in 1987.”
In 1991, Santos-Febres published her first two collections of poetry, Anamu y manigua and El orden escapado, to critical acclaim. In 1994, Santos-Febres won the Letras de Oro literary prize for her collection of short stories Pez de Vidrio. "Oso Blanco," a short story from this collection, also won the Juan Rulfo Prize in 1996. Pez de Vidrio (Urban Oracles) contains 15 short stories about the complicated relationships between sexuality, race, gender identity, social status, and political status in modern Caribbean society.
Santos-Febres' first novel was Sirena Selena vestida de pena (Spain: Grijalbo Mondadori, 2000) about a teenaged drag queen who works in the streets and sings boleros. A finalist for the 2001 Rómulo Gallego’s Prize for the Novel, it won the PEN Club of Puerto Rico’s prize for Best Novel. Random House Mondadori published her second novel, Cualquier miércoles soy tuya, in 2002. Cualquier Miercoles Soy Tuya (Any Wednesday I'm yours) was also translated in English and was published by Penguin Books in 2002. Her third novel, Nuestra Señora de las noche (Rayo/HarperCollins, 2008), was a finalist for the Premio Primavera Literary Award and won Puerto Rico’s 2007 Premio Nacional de Literatura. Her other novels include Nuestra Señora de la Noche (Our Lady of the Night), Fe en disfraz (2009) and La amante de Gardel (2015).
Mayra Santos-Febres’s diverse body of work has been critically examined across various platforms, highlighting her contributions to Caribbean and Latin American literature. Reviews by scholars such as Daniel Torres on La amante de Gardel, William Luis on Fe en disfraz, and Carlos A. Colón Ruiz on Antes que llegue la luz, alongside Honora Spicer’s analysis of Boat People, showcase her exploration of race, gender, and diaspora through richly layered narratives. Additionally, the podcast series En Voz de Mayra Santos-Febres offers a firsthand perspective on her works and thematic focus. These analyses underline the depth and impact of her writing in challenging societal norms and preserving cultural memory.
* Sex, Violence, and the Archive in Mayra Santos-Febres’ Fe en disfraz by William Luis. William Luis, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University and editor of the Afro-Hispanic Review, analyzes Fe en disfraz (2009) as a novel that intertwines historical records of enslaved women with contemporary narratives. The story centers on Martín Tirado, who digitizes colonial petitions of enslaved women under the guidance of Fe Verdejo, an Afro-Venezuelan historian. These petitions expose brutal abuses within the colonial system while highlighting the women’s agency in utilizing legal frameworks to seek justice. Luis highlights the novel's non-linear structure, which juxtaposes historical accounts with Martín and Fe’s ritualistic relationship. Fe’s harness symbolizes physical and historical scars, representing both pain and empowerment. Through this metaphor, the narrative underscores black women’s resilience and centrality in reclaiming historical injustices. Luis emphasizes that Fe en disfraz portrays black women as active agents shaping their discourse and asserts their enduring power through storytelling and the archive.
* Boat People: a review by Honora Spicer, 2021. Honora Spicer, an experiential educator, writer, and translator with degrees from Oxford and Harvard, reviews Boat People by Mayra Santos-Febres, translated by Vanessa Pérez-Rosario. This bilingual poetry collection challenges colonial violence, historical amnesia, and systems of discipline through a "cimarrón poetics" that resists categorization. Spicer highlights Santos-Febres’ use of the sea as a metaphorical subject that engulfs and subverts oppressive structures, such as the ship manifest and colonial borders. Pérez-Rosario’s translation extends the original’s musicality, employing rhythm, sound, and imagery to emphasize African diasporic memory and the sea as an unharnessable, transformative archive. Boat People ultimately critiques the logic of containment and celebrates a fluid, migratory space of resistance.
* Antes que llegue la luz by Mayra Santos-Febres By Carlos A. Colón Ruiz. Carlos A. Colón Ruiz reviews Antes que llegue la luz by Mayra Santos-Febres, translated by Arthur Malcolm Dixon. This poignant work reflects the collective trauma of Puerto Ricans during and after Hurricane Maria. Santos-Febres combines personal chronicles and stories of survival, blending individual experiences with accounts from neighbors and communities to depict the widespread devastation, resilience, and solidarity. The book critiques systemic corruption, colonial neglect, and the hardships endured, including prolonged power outages, loss of homes, and deaths. Santos-Febres also recounts her time in the Puerto Rican diaspora in the U.S., highlighting the role of solidarity and cultural efforts in the recovery process. Ruiz praises the book for capturing the shared humanity of Puerto Ricans, offering a profound testament to their endurance and a critique of the colonial system.
* La amante de Gardel: A review by Daniel Torres. Daniel Torres, professor at Ohio University, reviews La amante de Gardel by Mayra Santos-Febres, a novel exploring race, gender, and diaspora in 1930s Puerto Rico. The story intertwines the fictional romance between Carlos Gardel, the Franco-Argentine singer, and Micaela Thorné, a black Puerto Rican surgeon, with themes of colonialism, social conventions, and betrayal. Through Micaela's narration, Santos-Febres critiques societal restrictions on interracial relationships and black identity while celebrating Caribbean rhythms, represented metaphorically in the tango’s cadence. The narrative contrasts Micaela's ancestral wisdom from her grandmother, Mano Santa, a healer, with her betrayal of this knowledge to achieve professional success within white-dominated spaces. Gardel's syphilis and his eventual abandonment of Micaela symbolize societal contamination and marginalization, while Micaela’s triumph highlights resilience in oppressive systems. Torres commends Santos-Febres’s evocative prose, balancing simplicity with lyrical beauty, and calls La amante de Gardel her most accomplished work, blending Caribbean aesthetics with deep reflections on identity. Translator and reviewer details were not included in the source text.
* En Voz de Mayra Santos-Febres, July 2015. The podcast series En Voz de Mayra Santos-Febres features the acclaimed Puerto Rican author, poet, and essayist as she reads and discusses her works. Santos-Febres examines themes such as gender stereotypes, societal transformation, and the complexities of identity, blending literary analysis with poetic performances. Supported by musical collaborations, these episodes showcase excerpts from her notable works, including Sirena Selena vestida de pena and Tratado de medicina natural para hombres melancólicos, along with critical reflections on modern society. Recorded live and produced by UNAM, the series captures her engaging narrative voice and insights into literature’s transformative power.
Santos-Febres teaches at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, where she specializes in African, Caribbean, and feminist literature. She also is the Executive Director of Festival de la Palabra in Puerto Rico. She also reviews books on Univision television and hosts the Radio Universidad show En su tinta (sources?). Currently she is the Principal Investigator for PRAFRO, the AfroDiasporic and Race Studies Program at the University of Puerto Rico, founded by the Mellon Foundation. She is also a member of SCORES, Kellog Foundation's Solidarity Council for Racial Equity.

## Awards and honours

* Award for poetry from Revista Tríptico in Puerto Rico 1991
* Award Letras de Oro 1994
* Award Juan Rulfo de cuentos 1996
* Award Rómulo Gallegos 2001
* Guggenheim Fellowship 2009
* long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award