Carolina de Robertis

Caro De Robertis (born 1975) is an Uruguayan–American author and professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University. They are the author of six novels and a nonfiction book, and the editor of an award-winning anthology, Radical Hope, which include essays by such writers as Junot Díaz and Jane Smiley. They are also well known for their translation work, frequently translating Spanish pieces.

Early life Caro De Robertis was born in England in 1975 to Uruguayan parents. Their father, Edward De Robertis, is a noted embryologist. At the time of their birth, Edward was studying postdoctoral training at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology under Sir John Gurdon after completing his undergraduate and graduate studies in Uruguay and Argentina, whereas their grandfather, Eduardo De Robertis, was an Argentine physician and biologist. De Robertis is of paternal Italian descent, with their great–grandfather (Eduardo's father) hailing from Prepezzano [ it], a hamlet in Giffoni Sei Casali, located in the province of Salerno of the Campania region.

During their childhood, De Robertis moved across the world on several occasions following Edward's scientific career, starting in England, then moving to Basel, until finally settling in the United States, first in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles where they graduated from Palisades High School , and eventually to Oakland.

At the age of 19, De Robertis came out as bisexual, which they have described as the beginning of the process of their parents disowning them, which was complete by the time they were 25. Describing their relationship with their parents, they said that "they actually dug in their heels and tried to turn my siblings against my first child when I was pregnant with the first child. I use that example to say, it's not true that everybody comes around." They received a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Mills College in 2007.

Career De Robertis released their first book, The Invisible Mountain, in 2009. The novel was an international best-seller, and was translated into 17 languages. It was selected as one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Booklist. It was a finalist for a California Book Award, an International Latino Book Award, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.

De Robertis' 2019 novel, Cantoras, is set in 1970s Uruguay. Its five protagonists are lesbians. The book was selected as a New York Times Editors' Choice. It won a Stonewall Book Award and a Reading Women Award, and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. In 2021, their novel The President and the Frog was published. The character of the President in the book is heavily influenced by José Mujica, the former President of Uruguay. Writing in The Nation, Lily Meyer said that the book, "asks its readers to think seriously about the weight of taking political action, then suggests that they take it."

Their sixth novel, The Palace of Eros, was a finalist for the 2025 Lambda Literary Award for Speculative Fiction.

Their non-fiction oral history, So Many Stars, was released in May 2025. That same year, they published the essay "Gender Euphoria is a Power Source" for the anthology Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color, edited by Denne Michele Norris with Electric Literature. The collection became a finalist for the 2026 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction.

Personal life De Robertis currently resides with their two children in Oakland, California. They identify as queer and genderqueer.

Works

Novels The Invisible Mountain (2009) Perla (2012) The Gods of Tango (2015) Cantoras (2019) The President and the Frog (2021) The Palace of Eros (2024)

Non-fiction

So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color (2025)

Essays "42 Poorly Kept Secrets About Montevideo" (2006) for the Indiana Review

"Translating a Pablo Neruda Mystery" (2012) for Publishers Weekly "We Need the Real, Racist Atticus Finch" (2015) for the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Why We Must Listen to Women" (2017) for the East Bay Express

Short fiction "The Askers" (2009) for the Virginia Quarterly Review "On the Brink of Words" (2009) for the 580 Split "For Orlando" (2016) for the San Francisco Chronicle "The Tango Police" (2017) for CNET's Technically Literate Series

Edited works Radical Hope (2017)

Translated works "Trans: A Love Story" by Gabriela Wiener (2007) Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra (2008) "I Never Went to Blanes" by Diego Trelles Paz (2010) The Neruda Case by Roberto Ampuero (2012) "Tripych" by Raquel Lubartowski (2017)

Honors and awards

Honors and scholarships

2012 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts

Literary Awards