9 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
Frank Chin (1940– )
Chinese American playwright and fiction writer. He coedited Aiiieeeee! (1974)
and The Big Aiiieeeee! (1991) and is the author of The Chickencoop Chinaman and
The Year of the Dragon: Two Plays (1981), The Chinaman Pacif ic & Frisco R .R. Co.
(1988), Donald Duk (1991), Gunga Din Highway (1994), and Bulletproof Buddhists
and Other Essays (1998).
Judith Ortiz Cofer (1952– )
Writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction who was born in Puerto Rico and raised
there, as well as in New Jersey and Georgia. Her poems have been collected in
Latin Women Pray (1980), Reaching for the Mainland (1987), Terms of Survival
(1989), The Latin Deli: Prose & Poetry (1993), and The Year of Our Revolution:
New and Selected Stories and Poems (1998). She is also the author of the young-
adult book An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio (1995).
Victor Hernández Cruz (1949– )
Poet who was born in Puerto Rico and moved with his family to the United
States in 1954. He is the cofounder of New York’s East Harlem Gut Theatre. His
works include Snaps (1969), Mainland (1973), Tropicalization (1976), By Lingual
Wholes (1982), Rhythm, Content and Flavor (1988), Red Beans (1991), Panoramas
(1997), Maraca (2001), and The Mountain in the Sea (2006).
Kiana Davenport (?– )
Born Diana Davenport in Hawaii. Of part-Hawaiian descent, she is the author
of the novels Shark Dialogues (1994), Song of the Exile (1999), and House of Many
Gods (2006).
Junot Díaz (1968– )
Born in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to New Jersey in 1974. His
works include Drown (1996) and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007).
Sandra María Esteves (1948– )
A founder of the Nuyorican poetry movement who has published six collec-
tions of poetry: Yerba Buena (1980), Tropical Rain: A Bilingual Downpour (1984),
Bluestown Mockingbird Mambo (1990), Undelivered Love Poems (1997), Contra-
punto in the Open Field (1998), and Finding Your Way (1999).
Gustavo Pérez Firmat (1949– )
Poet, novelist, and literary critic who was born in Havana and grew up in Miami.
His poetry collections include Carolina Cuban (1987), Equivocaciones (1989),
Bilingual Blues (1995), and Scar Tissue (2005). Anything But Love (2000) is a
novel, and Next Year in Cuba (1995; revised, 2000) is a memoir.
Cristina García (1958– )
Cuban American author of the novels Dreaming in Cuban (1992), The Agüero
Sisters (1997), Monkey Hunting (2003), A Handbook to Luck (2007), and The
Lady Matador’s Hotel (2010). The Lesser Tragedy of Death (2010) is a collection
of poems.