Patricia Engel is a highly acclaimed literary fiction author, best known for her New York Times Notable Book of the Year, "Vida." She was born to Colombian parents and raised in New Jersey. Engel has received numerous awards for her work, including an Independent Publisher Book Award, a Young Lions Fiction Award by the New York Public Library, an International Latino Book Award, a Florida Book Award, and the Paterson Fiction Award. Her writings have been translated into several languages and featured in various publications, such as The New York Times, Harvard Review, The Atlantic, Boston Review, and A Public Space.
Engel has authored five books, including "The Faraway World," "Infinite Country," "The Veins of the Ocean," "It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris," and "Vida." Her book "The Veins of the Ocean" won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, while "It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris" won the International Latino Book Award. "Vida" was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway and Young Lions Fiction Awards, as well as a New York Times Notable Book. It also won Colombia’s national book award, the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana. Engel has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, and Key West Literary Seminar.
In addition to her accolades, Engel's stories have been included in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. She has also received an O. Henry Award. Engel earned her MFA at Florida International University and currently teaches creative writing at the University of Miami. She is a graduate of New York University and has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Engel's books have been translated into many languages, and her short fiction has appeared in various publications, including The Atlantic, A Public Space, Ploughshares, and The Sun. Her criticism and essays have also been featured in The New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, Catapult, and numerous anthologies.