Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in New York City, Cristina Garcia uses her writing to examine critical questions close to the hearts of millions of Americans: What does it mean for someone with Hispanic roots to achieve comfort, familiarity and success within mainstream American culture? What are the benefits of this duality—and what are the drawbacks and penalties?

Garcia's debut novel, the bestselling Dreaming in Cuban, was nominated for the National Book Award. The New York Times called it "remarkable," and pegged her as "a magical new writer. . .blessed with a poet's ear for language, a historian's fascination with the past and a musician's intuitive understanding of the ebb and flow of emotion." She has since written three equally acclaimed novels, The Aguero Sisters, Monkey Hunting and A Handbook to Luck, all of which further showcase her gift for vividly capturing the intersection where the personal and the political collide in bicultural experience.

Formerly TIME magazine's bureau chief for Florida and the Caribbean, Garcia is also the editor of two popular and groundbreaking anthologies: Cubanisimo!, a collection of contemporary Cuban Literature, and Bordering Fires, a collection of contemporary Mexican, Chicano and Chicana Literature. The books have won praise from both academics and the general reading audience. Cristina Garcia is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton, and the Whiting Writers Award. She currently resides in California.