Carlos Vázquez Cruz (Puerto Rico, 1971) is a writer, teacher and musician. He earned a doctorate in Romance Languages from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master's degree in Creative Writing in Spanish from New York University and a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education in Spanish from the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. Among his publications are the hybrid book, Inimaginado (poetry, short story, essay, 2003), the poetry collections Sencilla mente (2010), Ares (2014) and Silente (2022), the short story collections 8% of desk-stories/Asado a las doce (2006/2011) and Malacostumbrismo (2012), the novels Dos centímetros de mar (2008) and Las siete Partidas (2022) and the volume of articles La mirilla y la muralla: el estado crítico (2009). 8% desk-cuentos, Dos centímetros de mar, Malacostumbrismo, Silente y Las siete Partidas were recognized by Puerto Rico PEN among the best books of their respective years. Silente and Las siete Partidas received bronze medal (poetry) and honorable mention (Best LGBTQ Themed Book), respectively, during the 25th International Latino Book Awards (2023).
Vázquez Cruz received the Banco Santander Fellowship for Creative Writing in Spanish (NYU, 2008-2010), the Nuevas Voces Award (Festival de la Palabra de Puerto Rico, 2014), and the Letras Boricuas grant (Flamboyán and Andrew W. Mellon foundations, 2022).
Currently, he serves as an assistant professor in the Spanish Department at Kalamazoo College, Michigan.

(Photo: Mark White)