Rei Berroa

He has participated in numerous international poetry festivals in Mexico (Mexico City and Tabasco), Cuba, Brasil (Fliporto), Spain, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Turkey (Izmir), the Festival Mundial de Poesía in Caracas, Venezuela, and the International Poetry Festival of Medellín, Colombia. Some of his poems have also been translated into English, Romanian, Belarusian, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Turkish. In May 2009, he received a “Médaille de Vermeil” from the Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Letters of Paris in recognition for his poetic work.

He has lectured at universities in the United States, Latin America, and Spain, and has published papers in numerous university journals. His poems have appeared in literary journals in many parts of the world. His book of poetry Libro de los fragmentos y otros poemas, published in Caracas in 2007, sold out the same day it was made available to the public. His long poem “De adinamia de mente de umnesia” about the Alzheimer's disease received an award in Murcia, Spain, in 2008 and in February 2010 became a book published in Villahermosa, Mexico.

He was Faculty Advisor to the GMU journal Hispanic Culture Review (1992–2006), for which he received the GMU Advisor of the Year Award in 2002. He has been literary advisor to Arlington’s Teatro de la Luna since its founding in 1991 and since 2001 has coordinated its annual Poetry Marathon at Casa de la Luna, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and other venues. Through this festival he has brought together poets from all over the Spanish speaking world, and has published the festival poetry anthologies since 2001. His advice and participation as poet, scholar and teacher has been sought by organizers of poetry festivals and international book fairs in Villahermosa (Mexico), Izmir (Turkey), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Caracas (Venezuela), and Recife (Brasil), among other places.

In 1983 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, and since 1984 has taught Spanish literature and literary criticism at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Rei Berroa (born in Gurabo, Dominican Republic, 1949) is a Dominican-American poet, university professor, literary and cultural critic, and translator living in the United States. He has published more than 25 books of poetry, anthologies, translations, and literary criticism.

He is writing a book about García Lorca’s visit to New York in 1929-1930, and is preparing several books and anthologies for the Venezuelan publishing houses El Perro y la Rana and Monte Ávila, and for other publishers in Spain, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. These books include one of Caribbean poets living in the U.S.; one of contemporary Dominican poets; a study on the poetics of motherhood; a translation of American poet John Curl’s poetry; and a study of Spanish poet Miguel Hernández.