She is a poet , novelist , essayist and university professor. She began publishing poems in 1984 in international magazines and newspapers such as Casa de the Americas of Cuba , Página / 12 of Argentina , Revue Noire de Francia and Review : Latin American Literature and Arts , in New York . In 1991, her first collections of poetry appeared: Anamú y manigua , a book that was selected as one of the 10 best of the year by Puerto Rican critics, and El orden escapado , winner of the first prize for poetry from Tríptico magazine in Puerto Rico. In 2010, the publishing house Trilce of Mexico published Tercer Mundo, her third collection of poetry. As a short story writer, she has won the Letras de Oro Prize ( United States , 1994) for her collection of short stories Pez de vidrio , and the Radio Sarandí Award at the Juan Rulfo International Short Story Contest ( Paris , 1996) for her short story "Oso Blanco " . In 2000, Grijalbo Mondadori published her first novel in Spain, entitled Sirena Selena vestida de pena. Novel Prize in 2001. In 2002, Grijalbo Mondadori published her second novel, Muchos miércoles soy tuya. In 2005, Ediciones Callejón published her book of essays Sobre piel y papel and her collection of poems Boat People , both of which were critically acclaimed. In 2006, she was the first finalist in the Premio Primavera from the publishing house Espasa Calpe with her novel Nuestra Señora de la Noche . In 2009, she published her novel Fe en disfraz. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard and Cornell University . She is currently a professor and directs the narrative workshop at the University of Puerto Rico , Río Piedras campus.