Pablo Medina


Pablo Medina is a Cuban American poet and novelist and a professor in the Department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College and director of its MFA program.

Biography

Medina was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated to New York City in 1960. He received an M.A. degree from Georgetown University.
Pork Rind and Cuban Songs, Medina’s first collection of poems, was the first publication by a Cuban author written directly from the English language. His memoir, Exiled Memories, was the first of several autobiographical accounts to be published from the generation of Cubans who emigrated to the United States after the Cuban Revolution. Medina chronicles early memories from his childhood in Cuba as well as his arrival in New York City; the memoir is a personal reflection on his own self-identity, irreconcilably divided between Cuban and American culture.
Among his recent publications are a collection of translated poems by Virgilio Piñera, The Weight of the Island: Selected Poems of Virgilio Piñera and a collection of original poems, Island History: Poems, The Cuban Comedy.

Awards and honors