Hostos Distinguished Professor Isaac Goldemberg has been awarded the 2015 PEN Club of Peru Award in recognition of his work as a novelist, poet, playwright and essayist and for his many important contributions to Peruvian letters and, by extension, to the definition of Peruvian identity.
In their statement regarding the award, the Board of Directors wrote the following: “Isaac Goldemberg is one of Peru’s and Latin America’s most important writers. The numerous books and articles written about his work are sufficient testimony to the high esteem in which he is held in the Americas, especially when one observes that among those critics who have acclaimed him in recent years are some of the most important Latin American critics, poets and fiction writers, such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Oscar Hijuelos, Carlos Fuentes, Angelina Muñiz-Huberman, José Emilio Pacheco, Margo Glantz, Ariel Dorfman, Severo Sarduy, Luisa Valenzuela, Julio Ortega, Mempo Giardinelli, Raúl Zurita, Carlos Germán Belli, and others. We can think of no other contemporary first-rate Latin American author who has been so successful in different genres.”
Goldemberg has been with Hostos since 1992. He currently teaches in the Humanities Department and is the director of the Latin American Writers Institute.
"I am particularly happy to have been chosen for this award by the PEN Club of Peru and wish to share it with our College's faculty and staff,” Goldemberg said. “As a young boy, I dreamed of becoming a writer and making a contribution to the literary world. I have been very fortunate and am grateful to have received wide recognition for my efforts. I feel especially honored, since this award comes from one of Peru's foremost literary organizations and because it recognizes my work as a writer over a period of more than 40 years.”
Goldemberg also credited Hostos for helping to support both himself and other Latin writers.
“Since the award is also in recognition of my contribution to Peruvian letters, I feel that the Latin American Writers Institute (LAWI) at Hostos deserves recognition because, as its director, I have promoted the work of Peruvian writers residing in the United States by publishing their work under our imprint The Latino Press and in our journal Hostos Review,” Goldemberg said. “This is an indication that LAWI is fulfilling a very important aspect of its mission, which is to build bridges between Latino writers in the U.S. with their counterparts in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world. So I would like to think that in a way this prize has also been awarded to our College."
Hostos President Dr. David Gómez said having Professor Goldemberg in the classroom at Hostos says a lot about the professor and the College.
“Hostos Community College is extremely proud to have Distinguished Professor Isaac Goldemberg as an exemplary member of our excellent faculty,” President Gómez said. “To have someone of his standing in the literary world teaching our students proves that Hostos remains a champion of quality and diverse higher education.”
The award also noted several of Goldemberg’s past accomplishments, including:
*The selection of his novel The Fragmented Life of Don Jacobo Lerner as one of the 100 greatest Jewish works of the last 150 years.
*The international prizes awarded to his books: The Nuestro Award in Fiction (U.S.A., 1977), the Nathaniel Judah Jacobson Award (U.S.A., 1995), the Lluvia Editores Short Story Award (Peru, 2000), the Luis Alberto Sánchez Award for Literary Essays (Peru, 2002), the Estival Theater Award (Venezuela, 2003), and the Orden de Don Quijote (U.S.A., 2005).
*The published books regarding his literary work: El transnacionalismo y la identidad judía en la obra de Isaac Goldemberg, Ann Arbor, MI, 2015; El canto del shofar y de la quena: La poesía de Isaac Goldemberg, Maracay, 2012; Señas y contraseñas de identidad. La narrativa de Isaac Goldemberg, New York, 2012; Isaac Goldemberg ante la crítica: Una visión múltiple, Lima, 2004; Isaac Goldemberg: El hombre del libro, Lima, 2003; Crossing Cultures in Isaac Goldemberg’s Works, Hanover, NH, 2003; Isaac Goldemberg: The Aesthetics of Fragmentation, Culver City, CA, 2003; Luces de la memoria: Conversaciones con Isaac Goldemberg, Maracay, 2003; Isaac Goldemberg: A Bibliography and Six Critical Studies, Hanover, NH, 2003; Isaac Goldemberg ou L’homme du Livre, Paris, 2002; Identidad cultural y memoria colectiva en la obra de Isaac Goldemberg, Lima, 2001.
*His inclusion in the list of the “Most Studied Hispanic Authors in American Universities,” compiled by the Gale Research Center of the United States.
The award also recognizes the continued high praise he has received by The New York Times Book Review, Newsweek and The New Yorker (U.S.A.); Excélsior and La Jornada (Mexico); El Mercurio (Chile); El Mundo (Spain); Clarín (Argentina); La voce d’Italia (Italy); El Tiempo (Colombia); El Día (Uruguay); Ariel (Israel), and many others.
About Hostos Community College
Eugenio María de Hostos Community College is an educational agent for change that has been transforming and improving the quality of life in the South Bronx and neighboring communities since 1968. It serves as a gateway to intellectual growth and socioeconomic mobility, as well as a point of departure for lifelong learning, success in professional careers, and transfer to advanced higher education programs. The College’s unique Student Success Coaching Unit provides students with individualized guidance and exemplifies its emphasis on student support services.
Named one of the top 10 finalists for the 2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, Hostos offers 27 associate degree programs and two certificate programs that facilitate easy transfer to The City University of New York’s (CUNY) four-year colleges or baccalaureate studies at other institutions. The College has an award-winning Division of Continuing Education & Workforce Development that offers professional development courses and certificate-bearing workforce training programs. Hostos is part of CUNY, the nation’s leading urban public university, which serves more than 500,000 students at 24 colleges.