St Andrews Welcomes Cristina Rivera Garza

The School of Modern Languages was delighted to host Cristina Rivera Garza as its Writer in Residence this semester.

Cristina is one of the best-known Latin American authors today. During her time at the School of Modern Languages, Cristina led a writing workshop for students, delivered a research seminar on "The Affective Archive: Bodies and Collective Memory in Liliana’s Invincible Summer", and took part in a public conversation with Dr Liliana Chávez Díaz, Lecturer in Latin American Studies in the Department of Spanish, on women, freedom, and mobilities.

The School of Modern Languages is extremely grateful to Cristina for joining us as our Writer in Residence and to Dr Liliana Chávez Díaz for arranging this residency. Thanks as well to the St Andrews Institute for Gender Studies and the Centre for Amerindian, Latin American Studies, and Caribbean Studies who supported these events.

As a memento of her time in St Andrews, Cristina kindly contributed Seven Days in St Andrews - a short article describing her residency.

About Cristina Rivera Garza

Cristina Rivera Garza has published more than 20 works in a wide variety of genres – from poetry, novels and short stories to essays, non-fiction, theatre and even opera. She has been a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship in the US, the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize in Mexico twice, the Roger Caillois Award for Latin American Literature in France, the DAAD artist fellowship in Germany, and many other important prizes and grants.

In 2024 Cristina was listed as one of the BBC's ‘100 inspiring and influential women from around the world' and, in that same year, her book Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice won the Pulitzer Prize in the category of Memoir or Autobiography.