Alma Guillermoprieto was born in Mexico, but moved to New York as a teenager, where she studied modern dance. In 1970, she was hired to teach dance at the National School of Art in Cuba. Her memories of that time form the basis of her book, La Habana en un espejo (Mondadori Literature, 2005). She began her journalism career in 1978 as a reporter in Central America for The Guardian, and later for The Washington Post, where she was a staff writer in the 1980s. She also served as the South America bureau chief for Newsweek. Since 1989, she has written about Latin America for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. Among other distinctions, she has received the following awards: MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (1995), membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2001), an honorary doctorate from Baruch University (2008), the Julio Cortázar Chair at the University of Guadalajara (2008), the Ortega y Gasset Prize (2017), the George Polk Foundation Award (2024), and in 2018 the Princess of Asturias Award for Humanities. Her latest book is Esta improbable tierra prometida (2026).
Photo credit - Oswaldo Ruiz
