Ernesto Quiñonez
Encyclopedia
Ernesto Quiñonez is an American
novelist. His work received the Barnes & Noble
Discover Great New Writers designation, the Borders Bookstore Original New Voice selection, and was declared a “Best Book” by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times
.
...the story he tells has energy and nerve.” Time Magazine announced that “Quiñonez knows this 'hood--readers may have to remind themselves that this is a work of fiction and not a memoir. His prose, detailed and passionate, brings the tale to life.” The novel was chosen as a Barnes & Noble
Discover Great New Writers title, as well as a Borders Bookstore Original New Voice selection. It was also named a “Best Book” by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Quiñonez’s second novel Chango’s Fire solidified his international reputation as a literary novelist, and a voice for a new generation of Latinos throughout the United States. The Washington Post declared that Chango’s Fire “succeeds in its rich characterizations of the people of the barrio, led by Julio, whose complexity and sensitivity carry the story.” The El Paso Times
praised Quiñonez's “extraordinary ability to detail, and nurture, and then unveil complex emotions in his characters. For any reader who wants to believe in a difficult protagonist, and appreciate the reality of El Barrio
beyond facile stereotypes, this book is essential.” Kirkus Reviews
hailed “Quiñonez's ingeniously detailed revelations of how people cheat and improvise, to survive in an impoverished and dangerous racist environment. This is an author who knows his material.” Booklist
heralded it as a “searing portrait of a community at the tipping point...Quiñonez ably illuminates the sordid politics of gentrification
and the unexpected places new immigrants turn to for social and spiritual support.”
. In 2003 he was chosen as a visiting screenwriter at the Sundance
Screenwriter Lab in Provo, UT.
Quiñonez is currently a member of the graduate faculty at the Cornell University
M.F.A. creative writing program. He is working on his next novel Taina’s Song, and the short story collection Botanica Tales.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist. His work received the Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
Discover Great New Writers designation, the Borders Bookstore Original New Voice selection, and was declared a “Best Book” by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
.
Work
Quiñonez’s first novel, Bodega Dreams, was published in 2000 and received immediate critical acclaim. The New York Times declared it “a New Immigrant Classic” and “a stark evocation of life in the projects of El BarrioEl Barrio
El Barrio can refer to the following:* The Spanish Harlem district of New York* Parts of East Los Angeles* El Barrio , a flamenco band...
...the story he tells has energy and nerve.” Time Magazine announced that “Quiñonez knows this 'hood--readers may have to remind themselves that this is a work of fiction and not a memoir. His prose, detailed and passionate, brings the tale to life.” The novel was chosen as a Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
Discover Great New Writers title, as well as a Borders Bookstore Original New Voice selection. It was also named a “Best Book” by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Quiñonez’s second novel Chango’s Fire solidified his international reputation as a literary novelist, and a voice for a new generation of Latinos throughout the United States. The Washington Post declared that Chango’s Fire “succeeds in its rich characterizations of the people of the barrio, led by Julio, whose complexity and sensitivity carry the story.” The El Paso Times
El Paso Times
The El Paso Times is the English-language newspaper for the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas. The paper was founded in 1881 by Marcellus Washington Carrico. It originally started out as a weekly but within a year's time, it became the daily newspaper for the frontier town.The newspaper has a daily...
praised Quiñonez's “extraordinary ability to detail, and nurture, and then unveil complex emotions in his characters. For any reader who wants to believe in a difficult protagonist, and appreciate the reality of El Barrio
El Barrio
El Barrio can refer to the following:* The Spanish Harlem district of New York* Parts of East Los Angeles* El Barrio , a flamenco band...
beyond facile stereotypes, this book is essential.” Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
hailed “Quiñonez's ingeniously detailed revelations of how people cheat and improvise, to survive in an impoverished and dangerous racist environment. This is an author who knows his material.” Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
heralded it as a “searing portrait of a community at the tipping point...Quiñonez ably illuminates the sordid politics of gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
and the unexpected places new immigrants turn to for social and spiritual support.”
Academic Life
Quiñonez has written for the New York Times and received fellowships from the Wesleyan Writer's Conference, the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference and Indiana UniversityIndiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
. In 2003 he was chosen as a visiting screenwriter at the Sundance
Sundance
Sundance Resort is a ski resort located northeast of Provo, Utah, spanning over on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch Range. Snow skiing began on the site in 1944...
Screenwriter Lab in Provo, UT.
Quiñonez is currently a member of the graduate faculty at the Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
M.F.A. creative writing program. He is working on his next novel Taina’s Song, and the short story collection Botanica Tales.
Journalism
- Ernesto Quiñonez, The White Baby, The New York Times, June 6, 2000
- Ernesto Quiñonez, Dog Days, The New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2000
- Ernesto Quiñonez, Counting The Ways, The New York Times Magazine, November 11, 2001
- Ernesto Quiñonez, The Fires Last Time, The New York Times; December 18, 2005.
- Ernesto Quiñonez, The Diaper Caper and Small Dog Scam, The New York Times, July 8, 2007
- Ernesto Quiñonez, The Black and Brown Divide, Esquire, July 2008
- Ernesto Quiñonez, Y Tu Black Mama, Tambien," Newsweek, June 12, 2003
- Ernesto Quiñonez, Catcalling," Newsweek, August 14, 2003
Scholarly Engagement
- Scholars continue to analyze Ernesto Quiñonez’s novels and their overarching themes of economic, cultural and political power.
- The Fire Between Them: Religion & Gentrification In Ernesto Quinonez's Chango's Fire, Mendez, Susan C., CENTRO Journal, Spring 2011, Vol.23 Issue 1
- The Politics of Gentrification in Ernesto Quinonez's Novels, Moiles, Sean. Critique; 2011, Vol. 52 Issue 1.
- Chapter 7: The Poetics of Aquí: Barriocentrism in Puerto Rican Diaspora Literature from Mean Streets to Neo- Noir, Dalia, Kandiyot, Migrant Sites, Dartmouth Press, 2010.
- Reimagining the Ethnic Enclave: Gentrification, Rooted Cosmopolitanism, and Ernesto Quiñonez’s Chango’s Fire, Dwyer, June, MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., Volume 34, Number 2, Summer 2009.
- On Bodega Dreams, Marwell, P. Nicole P., Sociological Forum, Volume 24, Issue 2, June 2009.
- Chapter 7: Literary Tropicalizations of the Barrio: Ernesto Quiñonez's Bodega Dreams and Ed Vega's Mendoza's Dreams, Antonia Dominguez Miguela,Writiing Off the Hyphen: New Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, Editors, Jose L. Torres-Padilla, Carmen Haydee Rivera, University of Washington Press, 2008.
- Chapter 13: Getting There and Back: The Road, the Journey, and Home in Nuyorican Diaspora Literature, Solimar Otero,Writiing Off the Hyphen: New Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora,Editors, Jose L. Torres-Padilla, Carmen Haydee Rivera, University of Washington Press, 2008.
- Ernesto Quiñonez’s Fiction Seen As A Picaresque Narrative, Ignacio Rodeño Iturriaga, CENTRO Journal, Volume: 20 Issue: 2, Fall 2008.
- Barrio, Bodega, and Botanica Aesthetics: The Layered Traditions of the Latino Imaginary, Solimar Otero, Atlantic Studies, October 2007.
- Chapter 2: The Meaning of Consuelo and Chango’s Fire, Profane & Sacred: Latino/a American Writers Reveal the Interplay of the Secular and the Religious, Bridget A. Kevane, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2007
- Chapter 2: Mercado Dreams: The End(s) of Sixties Nostalgia in Comptemporary Ghetto Fiction, The Latino/a Canon and the Emergence of Post-Sixties Literature, Raphael Dalleo, Elena Machado Saez, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
- Chapter 8: The Fiction of Ernesto Quiñonez, Latino literature in America, Bridget A. Kevane, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.
- When Willie Met Gatsby: The Critical Implications of Ernesto Quiñonez's Bodega Dreams, Dwyer June,, LIT: Literature, Interpretation, Theory 14.2, 2003.
Further reading
- Booklist, August, 2004, Frank Sennett, review of Chango's Fire, p. 1902.
- Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2004, review of Chango's Fire, p. 772.
- The Daily News, April 7, 2005, Carlos Cruz, Interview, Quinonez's Fire.
- USA Today, Reviews, December 9, 2004, Carol Memmott, Review of Chango's Fire.
- NOW, Toronto, Canada, October 22, 2004, Maria Amuchastegui, interview, Quinonez On Fire.
- The Puerto Rico Herald, October 24, 2004, Mary Ann Grossmann, Interview, Latino Writers, Universal Themes.
- The Independent, London, UK, November 26, 2000, Sue Steward, interview, Up Tempo at the Salsa Museum.
- Library Journal, January 17, 2000, Lawrence Olszewski, review of Bodega Dreams, p. 42.
- New York Times Book Review, March 12, 2000, Maud Casey, "Bad Influencia," p. 11.
- Publishers Weekly, January 17, 2000, review of Bodega Dreams, p. 42; August 9, 2004, review of Chango's Fire, p. 228.
- School Library Journal, September, 2000, Francisca Goldsmith, review of Bodega Dreams, p. 259.
- Time, March 27, 2000, Desa Philadelphia, "Moving Up: A Debut about Upward Mobility, Lowdown Crime," p. 98.
- Times Literary Supplement, November 3, 2000, Stephen Henighan, review of Bodega Dreams, p. 23.
- El Pais, Spain, September 2, 2000, Isable Piquer, interview, Ernesto Quiñonez La Nueva Voz del Harlem Hispano,
- The New York Times, March 15, 2000, Finn Robin, interview, Public Lives.
- The Village Voice, April 15, 1999, Ed Morales, Interview, Writers on the Verge.
External links
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKtK9BldKlk
- http://video.usanetwork.com/features/characters_unite/the-moth-ernesto-quinonez/v1316920
- http://www.amazon.com/Bodega-Dreams-Novel-Ernesto-Quinonez/dp/0375705899
- http://www.amazon.com/Changos-Fire-Ernesto-Quinonez/dp/0060564598
- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/nyregion/thecity/18feat.html
See also
- List of Puerto Rican writers
- List of Famous Puerto Ricans
- Puerto Rican literature