Angie Cruz

Angie Cruz (born February 24, 1972) is an American novelist and associate professor at Columbia University, where she teaches in the MFA Writing Program and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. She previously taught in the MFA writing program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Early life and education Cruz was born on February 24, 1972, in Washington Heights, New York City. She is of Dominican descent, and regularly travelled from New York City to the Dominican Republic as a child.

Cruz attended Catholic school through eighth grade and grew interested in visual arts in high school. Publishers Weekly described the work as "Enthralling...Cruz's winning novel will linger in the reader’s mind long after the close of the story." NBC described Dominicana as "one of the most evocative and empowering immigrant stories of our time." In 2022, Cruz published her fourth novel, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, which was part of "100 Notable Books 2022," also with Flatiron Books.

Cruz is currently an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh writing program and the Editor-in-Chief, she is also officially a part of the Center For African American Poetry and Poetics, and co-founder of Aster(ix) literary journal.

Awards Cruz has received numerous grants for her teaching and writing, including the Barbara Deming Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Camargo Fellowship, Van Lier Literary Fellowship, and NALAC Fund for the Arts Fellowship. In 2020, Dominicana received the Alex Awards.

In 2021, Cruz was awarded the Gina Berriault Award. The award is given annually to a writer who has shown a love for storytelling and a commitment to helping young writers.

In 2025, Cruz won the Dos Passos Prize and received a United States Artists Fellowship.

Novels