IN: Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican writer. She is credited with writing the first Spanglish novel Yo-Yo Boing! (1998), the post-modern poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams (Yale, 1994) and the philosophical fiction United States of Banana (AmazonCrossing, 2011), which chronicles the Latin American immigrants' experiences in the United States. "

In the 1980s, Giannina Braschi burst onto the downtown Nuyorican poetry scene with spoken word performances of rhythmic intensity, humorous gusto, and anti-imperialistic politics. Her prose poems were written, recited, and published entirely in Spanish during this period. Her first collection of Spanish prose poetry, Asalto al tiempo, debuted in Barcelona in 1980 and was followed by La Comedia profana in 1985 and El imperio de los suenos in 1988. New York is the site and subject of much of her work. In a climatic episode of "Pastoral or the Inquisition of Memories", shepherds invade 5th Avenue on the Puerto Rican Day Parade and take over the City of New York; the shepherds ring the bells of St. Patrick's Cathedral and seize the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Poet and feminist scholar Alicia Ostriker has praised Braschi's Empire of Dreams, which features gender role-playing and transvestism, for having "sheer erotic energy that defies definition and dogma." "Those three award winning books were published together as the inaugural volume of the Yale Library of Literature in Translation." (Braschi 1998: Yo-Yo Boing!: 13) In the 1990s, Giannina Braschi began writing dramatic dialogues in English, Spanish, and Spanglish. Her bilingual novel Yo-Yo Boing! (AmazonCrossing) is experimental in format and radical in its defiance of English-only laws, ethnic cleansing campaigns, and the corporate censorship. In 2011, Giannina Braschi debuted "United States of Banana," her first work written entirely in English; it is a postmodern dramatic novel about the powers of the world shifting after September 11. The work is a poetic critique of 21st century capitalism and corporate censorship. In 2012, "The Economist cited "United States of Banana" among the best sources for bold statements on the economy: "Banks are the temples of America. This is a holy war. Our economy is our religion". "United States of Banana," takes as a springboard the collapse of the World Trade Center, the event which displaced her from the Battery Park neighborhood that became known as the Ground Zero vicinity. Braschi writes about the death of the businessman, the end of democracy, and the delusion that all men are created equal. "Revolutionary in subject and form, "United States of Banana" is a beautifully written declaration of personal independence," declared the late publisher Barney Rosset former owner of Grove Press of "Evergreen Review." The main characters are Zarathustra, Segismundo, Hamlet, Giannina and the Statue of Liberty; cameos are made by Latin American left wing leaders Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez, Cristina Kirchner, and Evo Morales.

What was a pivotal work for Giannina?

OUT: 2011, Giannina Braschi debuted "United States of Banana," her first work written entirely in English;

IN: King was born in Long Beach, California, into a conservative Methodist family, the daughter of Betty (nee Jerman), a housewife, and Bill Moffitt, a firefighter. Billie Jean's family was athletic. Her mother excelled at swimming, her father played basketball, baseball and ran track. Her younger brother, Randy Moffitt, became a Major League Baseball pitcher, pitching for 12 years in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays.

When the open era began, King campaigned for equal prize money in the men's and women's games. In 1971, with ideas for the formation of an eight player women's group from her husband, Larry King, financial backing of World Tennis magazine founder, Gladys Heldman, and the sponsorship of Virginia Slims Chairman Joe Coleman, King became the first woman athlete to earn over US$100,000 in prize money; however, inequalities continued. King won the US Open in 1972 but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie Nastase. She stated that she would not play the next year if the prize money were not equal. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women. King led player efforts to support the first professional women's tennis tour in the 1970s called the Virginia Slims, founded by Gladys Heldman and funded by Joseph Cullman of Philip Morris. Once the tour took flight, King worked tirelessly to promote it even though many of the other top players were not supportive. "For three years we had two tours and because of their governments [Martina] Navratilova and Olga Morozova had to play the other tour. Chris [Evert], Margaret [Court], Virginia [Wade], they let us do the pioneering work and they weren't very nice to us. If you go back and look at the old quotes; they played for the love of the game, we played for the money. When we got backing and money, we were all playing together - I wonder why? I tried not to get upset with them. Forgiveness is important. Our job was to have one voice and win them over." In 1973, King became the first President of the women's players union - the Women's Tennis Association. In 1974, she, with husband Larry King and Jim Jorgensen, founded womenSports magazine and started the Women's Sports Foundation. Also in 1974, World TeamTennis began, founded by Larry King, Dennis Murphy, Frank Barman and Jordan Kaiser. She became league commissioner in 1982 and major owner in 1984. King is a member of the Board of Honorary Trustees for the Sports Museum of America, which opened in 2008. The museum is the home of the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center, a comprehensive women's sports hall of fame and exhibit.

Did she recieve recognition for her work?

OUT:
King is a member of the Board of Honorary Trustees for the Sports Museum of America, which opened in 2008.