Herman G. Carrillo

African American Cuban writer and assistant professor of English at George Washington University in Washington, DC. The central theme in his writing was Cuban immigration in the United States.

Carrillo received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and English from DePaul University in Chicago in 2000 and an MFA from Cornell in 2007, Bachelor of Arts in 2004.

Occupation
George Washington University, faculty of the Department of English; novelist. Active Years 2004-2020


Career
Carrillo was an assistant professor of English at George Washington University. He began teaching at the university starting in 2007.

Publications
Various publications have included his work, including The Kenyon Review, Conjunctions, The Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, Ninth Letter and Slice. His areas of interest include fiction writing, Latino literature and the visual culture of the U.S., literature and culture of the 1960s, American literature of the 20th and 21st centuries and gender studies.

Carrillo's first complete novel, Loosing My Spanish (Pantheon, 2004) addresses the complexities of Latino immigration, religious education, homosexuality and the struggles of the poor classes from the perspective of a Cuban immigrant.

Wendy Gimbel in The Washington Post wrote an extensive review of this novel, analyzing Carrillo's interesting writing style:

In this novel of complex structure, the narrative moves backward and forward, alternating between present and historical time. If one considers the present moment as a force field that holds together all the disparate elements in the book, a coherent story emerges from a series of seemingly disordered scenes.

- Gimbel, 2005
Synopsis: "Oscar De los Santos is about to lose his job as a teacher in a Jesuit high school in Chicago. Instead of leaving quietly, he embarks on a brave history lesson that narrates the flight from Cuba of his makeshift extended family. Evoking the struggle between nostalgia and the realities of the Cuban Revolution, with both guts and lyricism, he inspires his students with a completely dazzling reinterpretation of the Cuban American experience." (Random House, Inc. 2005)

Awards
Carrillo received the Arthur Lynn Andrew Prize for Best Fiction in 2001 and 2003, as well as the Iowa Prize in 2004. He has received various fellowships and grants, including a Sage Fellowship, a Provost Fellowship and a Newberry Library Research Grant. He won the Glimmer Train Fiction Open Prize 2001 and was named Alan Collins Scholar 2002 for Fiction.

Awards and Fellowships
Iowa Prize 2004
Arthur Lynn Andrew Prize 2003 for Best Fiction
2002 Alan Collins Scholar for Fiction
Arthur Lynn Andrew Prize 2001 for Best Fiction
Wise Community
Provost Fellowship
Newberry Library Research Grant

Published Work
Books
Loosing My Spanish (2004)
Short Stories
Andalucía "Conjunctions (2008/2009)
Co-Sleeper (2008)
Who Knew That Desi Arnaz Was Not White? "An Essay. (2007)
Who Would Have Imagined That Desi Arnaz Was Not White? (2007)
Pornography (2007)
Elizabeth (2006)
The Boy from Santiago (2006)
Charity (2005)
Things (2004)
Blonde Bees (2004)