Marjorie Agosín is a Professor of Spanish at Wellesley College where she teaches courses in Spanish language and Latin American literature. She has been a member of the faculty since 1982.

Professor Agosín earned a B.A. degree at the University of Georgia (1976), and an M.A. at Indiana University (1977). She completed her Ph.D. at Indiana University in 1982. Recently, she received the Letras de Oro 1995 prize for poetry. Presented by Spain's Ministry of Culture and the North-South Center of the University of Miami to a writer of Hispanic heritage living in the United States, the Letras de Oro recognizes both the creativity of the recipients and the importance of Spanish language in the United States today. She also won the 1995 Latino Literature Prize for Poetry, awarded by the Latin American Writers Institute. This prestigious prize was awarded for her book Toward the Splendid City (Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingue, 1994).

Marjorie Agosín is a well-known spokesperson for the plight and priorities of women in Third World countries. Her book, Scraps of Life: Chilean Arpilleras (Red Sea Press, 1987, translated by Cola Franzen), tells of Chilean women who make their struggles known to the world through the exposition of "arpilleras," folk tapestries which tell of their bravery and hardships in the face of oppression. Money from the sale of these handicrafts aids them in supporting families in which the men have been arrested, murdered, or have simply "disappeared." Her concern for women in Chile has also been the focus feature articles in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Ms. Magazine, and the Barnard Occasional Papers on Women's Issues.

Her most recent book is A Cross and A Star (University of New Mexico Press, 1995), a memoir of her mother's childhood as a Jewish immigrant in a German community in Chile before, during and after World War II. Another manuscript, Noche Estrellada, about the life of Vincent Van Gogh, will be published by the North-South Center in 1996.

In recognition of her deep social concerns and accomplishments, Marjorie Agosín received a Good Neighbor Award in 1988 at the 31st annual awards celebration hosted by the Northeastern Region of The National Conference of Christians and Jews.

The first of her seven books of poetry to appear with English translations, Brujas y algo mas: Witches and Other Things (1984), is available from Latin American Literary Review Press in Pittsburgh.

She has also published poems in Nosotras: Latina Literature Today, (Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingue, N.Y., 1986). Marjorie Agosín is the author of a work of criticism on the Chilean author, Maria Luisa Bombal (Senda Nueva de Additions, 1983), and articles concerning Latin American women writers appearing in such publications as Cuadernos Americanos, Arbor: Ciencia, Pensamiento y Cultura, and Latin American Theater Review.

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