Miami University of Ohio Writer to Appear at FIU BBC

Daisy Hernandez, an assistant professor of English for Creative Writing at Miami University in Ohio, will be speaking at the Fall 2019 Writers on the Bay event in the Barnes & Noble bookstore on the Biscayne Bay campus on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 8:00pm. Photo courtesy of Hernandez.

Guido Gonzalez/Contributing Writer

2014 Bisexual Book Award winner for best memoir, Daisy Hernandez, will be making an appearance during the Fall 2019 Writers on the Bay event at the Biscayne Bay campus on Thursday, Sept. 26.

Hernandez is currently an assistant professor for the creative writing program at Miami University in Ohio.

Hernandez grew up in New Jersey, raised by a Cuban-Colombian family.

“My family was quite large and diverse,” said Hernandez. “I grew up in the United Nations of Latinos.”

Hernandez knew she wanted to be a writer ever since she was a teenager. What influenced her decision was watching the news during the 1980s at the height of the Central American crisis.

“I was watching the news both in English and in Spanish and they would have all these different viewpoints as to what was going on,” said Hernandez.

During her mid-20s, Hernandez came out as bisexual to her family, which is elaborated in her memoir A Cup of Water Under My Bed. 

Hernandez’s work focuses on race, gender, sexual identity and spirituality. The biggest influences on her work include Cherrie Moraga, Audrey Lorde, James Baldwin and Gloria Anzaldúa.

During college, Hernandez landed her first publishing internship at Ms., a long-running feminist magazine founded in the early 1970s that is still in circulation.

At 25-years-old, Hernandez became a columnist for the magazine. She then coedited with author Bushra Rehman on an anthology of works by young women of color about their experiences growing up in modern society, called Colonize This!

Hernandez then worked for The New York Times after earning her master’s degree at the New York University Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

After that, Hernandez worked as an editor for six years at Colorlines, a daily news site centering on politics and race.

Hernandez has also done many pieces for National Geographic, Slate and The Atlantic.

While Hernandez works at Miami University in Ohio, she has a personal connection with south Florida and the University of Miami in Miami.

“From 2011 to 2013, I attended the University of Miami,” she said. “That’s where I got my [Master’s of Fine Arts] in creative writing.”

Two writers in which Hernandez greatly admires also happen to be currently teaching creative writing at FIU, Julie Marie Wade and Denise Duhamel.

Hernandez’s most recent work, A Cup of Water Under My Bed, details her early life, being raised by a Latino family and coming out as bisexual.

“Writing chose me,” Hernandez said. “It’s an essential part of who I am.”

The event will take place from 8-10 p.m. inside the Barnes & Noble bookstore at FIU BBC, where Hernandez will be discussing her coming-of-age memoir, A Cup of Water Under My Bed.

She will also talk about her upcoming non-fiction book, In Search of the Kissing Bug, which focuses on a Zika-like disease, as well as read excerpts from her own works and answer questions from the audience.

For more information about Hernandez’s work, visit daisyhernandez.com.

For more information about the event, visit https://calendar.fiu.edu/event/fall_2019_writers_on_the_bay_featuring_daisy_hernandez#.XYqpuyV7lQI

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