Caro De Robertis


Caro De Robertis is an Uruguayan–American author and professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University. They are the author of six novels and a nonfiction book, and the editor of an award-winning anthology, Radical Hope, which include essays by such writers as Junot Díaz and Jane Smiley. They are also well known for their translation work, frequently translating Spanish pieces.
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Early life

Caro De Robertis was born in England in 1975 to Uruguayan parents. Their father, Edward De Robertis, is a noted embryologist. At the time of their birth, Edward was studying postdoctoral training at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology under Sir John Gurdon after completing his undergraduate and graduate studies in Uruguay and Argentina, whereas their grandfather, Eduardo De Robertis, was an Argentine physician and biologist. De Robertis is of paternal Italian descent, with their great–grandfather hailing from Prepezzano, a hamlet in Giffoni Sei Casali, located in the province of Salerno of the Campania region.
During their childhood, De Robertis moved across the world on several occasions following Edward's scientific career, starting in England, then moving to Basel, until finally settling in the United States, first in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles where they graduated from Palisades High School, and eventually to Oakland.
At the age of 19, De Robertis came out as bisexual, which they have described as the beginning of the process of their parents disowning them, which was complete by the time they were 25. Describing their relationship with their parents, they said that "they actually dug in their heels and tried to turn my siblings against my first child when I was pregnant with the first child. I use that example to say, it's not true that everybody comes around."
De Robertis received a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1996. They worked as a rape counselor and were active in the Bay Area's LGBTQ+ community in their 20s. They received a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Mills College in 2007.

Career

De Robertis released their first book, The Invisible Mountain, in 2009. The novel was an international best-seller, and was translated into 17 languages. It was selected as one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Booklist. It was a finalist for a California Book Award, an International Latino Book Award, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.
De Robertis' 2019 novel, Cantoras, is set in 1970s Uruguay. Its five protagonists are lesbians. The book was selected as a New York Times Editors' Choice. It won a Stonewall Book Award and a Reading Women Award, and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. In 2021, their novel The President and the Frog was published. The character of the President in the book is heavily influenced by José Mujica, the former President of Uruguay. Writing in The Nation, Lily Meyer said that the book, "asks its readers to think seriously about the weight of taking political action, then suggests that they take it."
In 2022, De Robertis became the 41st recipient of the Dos Passos Prize, awarded annually to an American author who American "experiments with form, explores a range of voices and deserves more recognition."
Their non-fiction oral history So Many Stars was released in May 2025.

Personal life

De Robertis currently resides with their two children in Oakland, California. They identify as queer and genderqueer. Describing their sexuality on the LGBTQ&A podcast, De Robertis said, "The more words the better. So I'm a dyke, I'm a lesbian... It's all good." De Robertis uses they/them pronouns.

Works

Novels

The Invisible Mountain Perla The Gods of Tango Cantoras The President and the Frog
  • ''The Palace of Eros''

Non-fiction

  • ''So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color''

Essays

Short fiction

Edited works

  • ''Radical Hope''

Translated works

Honors and awards

Honors and scholarships