Maria Arrillaga
María Arrillaga is a Puerto Rican poet who has been a professor at the University of Puerto Rico. She taught in the Spanish Department on the Rio Piedras campus. She is a member of PEN American Center as well as PEN Club de Puerto Rico. She was a member of the Women's Writing Committee of PEN International, served as its secretary and organizer for Latin America. Arrillaga was president of PEN Club de Puerto Rico during 1989–1991. She is the author of several collections of poetry. According to Matos Paoli, the poetry of Maria Arrillaga participates in  the "demythologizing conventional culture" both in the claiming of human sexual nature and in its commitment to social justice. She has contributed to the following journals: "Confrontation", "Cupey", "Festa Da Palabra", "PEN International", and "Tercer Milenio". Arrillaga was a 1996 fiction finalist at the Institute of Latin American Writers. In Puerto Rico, she has won awards for poetry, essays, and fiction. She is currently working on a book of memoirs, "The Guava Orchard", and has a home in two cities; New York and Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.