—Excerpt from Autobiography: Carlota Caulfield (Written for Gale Research Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, (Volume 25, 1996).

Carlota Caulfield is a poet, translator and literary critic. She earned a Licenciatura in History at the University of Havana, M.A. in Spanish Literature at San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American literatures at Tulane University. Born in Havana, Cuba, she lived in Dublin, Zürich, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, Oakland and London. Since 1992 has made her home in Berkeley, while traveling frequently to London and Barcelona.

Caulfield is the author of eleven books of poems, amongst them are At the Paper Gates with Burning Desire, The Book of Giulio Camillo (a model for a theater of memory), El libro de Giulio Camillo (maqueta para un teatro de la memoria) / Il Libro de Giulio Camillo (modello per un teatro della memoria), Movimientos metálicos para juguetes abandonados (First Hispanoamerican Poetry Prize “Dulce María Loynaz”, Spain-Cuba 2002), Quincunce / Quincunx, Ticket to Ride. Essays and Poems, A Mapmaker’s Diary: Selected Poems and Fashionable. Una poeta adicta a la moda. Her poems, have appeared in literary journals in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

She has translated into Spanish selections of poems by the American writer Jack Foley, and by the Irish poets Eavan Boland, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Rita Ann Higgins, Paula Meehan, Medbh McGuckian, Sara Berkeley and Catherine Walsh. Amongst her published translations into English are poems by Regino E. Boti (Kindred Spirits), José Angel Valente (Dossier José Angel Valente. A Selection of his Poetry), and Gustavo Vega (A Fish Pierced the Moon). Her translation of Un bárbaro en Barcelona (A Barbarian in Barcelona) by Antonio Beneyto was published by HakaBooks in 2013.

Caulfield is co-translator of From the Forbidden Garden. Letters from Alejandra Pizarnik to Antonio Beneyto, Còdols in New York by Antonio Beneyto, poems by Neus Aguado, Carmen Borja, Mariana Colomer, Gemma Ferrón, Concha García, Rosa Lentini, Gemma Mañá Delgado, M. Cinta Montagut, Teresa Pascual, Teresa Shaw and Esther Zarraluki (The Other Poetry of Barcelona. Spanish and Spanish-American Women Poets)._ She is the editor of Web of Memories. Interviews with Five Cuban Poets, From the Forbidden Garden. Letters from Alejandra Pizarnik to Antonio Beneyto, Voces viajeras. Poetas cubanas de hoy. Caulfield co-edited Literary and Cultural Journeys. Selected Letters to Arturo Torres-Rioseco,The Other Poetry of Barcelona. Spanish and Spanish-American Women Poets, Alejandra Pizarnik: Dos letras, A Companion to U.S. Latino Literatures, and No soy tu musa: Poetas irlandesas contemporáneas. She is The co-editor of Barcelona: Visual Culture, Space and Power, published by the University of Wales Press in 2012 & 2014.

Amongst her awards are a Cintas Fellowship for Poetry, The International Prize “Ultimo Novecento”, Poets of the World” (Italy, 1988), Honorable Mention in the 1997 Latino Literature Prize of the Latin American Writers Institute of New York , and the First Hispanoamerican Poetry Prize “Dulce María Loynaz” (2002). Other recognitions are a Mellon Fellowship, two grants from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, a grant from the Irvine Foundation, a Quigley Fellowship from the Women’s Studies Program at Mills College, and several Summer Quigley Women’s Studies and Mills College grants for Creative Writing and Research, two Fellowships at the IGRS (Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London and a research fellowship at the University of Barcelona.

Her poem “Carta de una virgen del sol a su amante”/”Letter from a Virgin of the Sun to her Lover” from A las puertas del papel con amoroso fuego/At the Paper Gates with Burning Desire has been set to music by the Mexican composer Hilda Paredes under the title Quipú del amor, for soprano, mezzo, tenor, bass, trombone, and one percussionist. Premiered by Neue Vocal with the soloists Mike Svoboda and Boris Müller at the Pragsattel Theatre in Struggart, September 2007.

She has given poetry readings and lectures on her work at colleges, universities, Art Galleries, and Cultural Centers around the country and in Europe and Latin America, including Middlebury College, University of Colorado en Colorado Springs, Barnard College, University of New Mexico, Louisiana State University, University of Kentucky, George Washington University, University of Davis, Marquette University, University of Texas (El Paso), Mills College, Pomona College, University of Zürich, Palazzo Gambacorti (Pisa, Italy), University of Gröningen, University College London, Queen Mary and Westfield College (London), the Ateneu Científic, Literari i Artistic (Maó, Menorca), El Hijo del Cuervo (México D.F.), Centro Cultural PROMACC (Cádiz), Toynbee Studios (London), Casa de América (Madrid), Instituto Cervantes/Cervantes Institute (London and Dublin), ACEC (Associació Col. legial d’escriptors de Catalunya) (Barcelona), the Dylan Thomas Centre (Swansea, Wales), the Art Galleries Bridge Center for Contemporary Art (El Paso, Texas), EUDE and Berkoa (Barcelona), and Torre Muntadas (Prat de Llobregat), Pegasus Books (Berkeley), Palacio de Minería (México, D.F.), University of Barcelona and Ajuntament de Caldes d’Estract (Catalunya).

Caulfield is Professor and Head of the Spanish and Spanish-American Studies Program at Mills College, where she teaches courses in Iberian and Latin American culture and literature. Her research interests include the avant-garde and interdisciplinary approaches to poetry and art. Between 1998 to 2002, Caulfield was the editor of Corner, an online journal dedicated to the avant-garde.

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