Fellowships, Grants & Awards
Harvard University, Nieman Fellow (2010)
Center for Fiction, Roger Shattuck Award for Criticism (2010)
The Nation Institute, Investigative Fund Grant (2008)
Selected Publications
Book
Introduction to "Roberto Bolaño: The Last Interview & Other Conversations" Last interview by Mónica Maristain. Translation by Sybil Perez. Annotations by Tom McCartan. Melville House, 2009.
Newspapers & Magazines
The Fight to Win Latino Voters for the G.O.P. The New York Times Magazine. Cover Story. November 29, 2020. (en español)
Rosalía’s Incredible Journey From Flamenco to Megastardom. A profile of Grammy-winning musician Rosalía. The New York Times Magazine. Cover story. October 13, 2019. (en español)
The Revisionary. A profile of Oscar Award-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón. The New York Times Magazine. December 16, 2018. (en español)
The Last Titan. A profile of Noble Prize winning author Mario Vargas Llosa. The New York Times Magazine. February 25, 2018. (en español)
Staying Power: Is It Possible to Resist Deportation in Trump’s America? The New York Times Magazine. May 23, 2017.
‘We’re Looking at a New Divide Within the Hispanic Community’ The New York Times Magazine. November 15, 2016.
27 Million Potential Hispanic Votes. But What Will They Really Add Up To? The New York Times Magazine. Cover story. September 18, 2016. (en español)
When Doctors Took ‘Family Planning’ Into Their Own Hands The New York Times Magazine “Notebook.” February 1, 2016.
Jorge Ramos's Long Game The New York Times Magazine "Notebook." September 25, 2015. Also printed as "The Crossover" in The New York Times "Business Day," page B1. Monday, September 28, 2015.
Jorge Ramos Is Not Walter Cronkite The New York Times Magazine "Notebook." August 31, 2015.
An immigrant’s path to success The Washington Post. August 7, 2015.
Mario Vargas Llosa’s delicious melodrama of sex, love and revenge The Washington Post. July 16, 2015.
Immigrant Dreams: The Enduring Power of David Riker's "La Ciudad" The Intercept. June 6, 2015.
Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel Prize-winning explorer of myth and reality, dies at 87 The Washington Post. Page One. April 17, 2014.
Lethal Immigration Columbia Journalism Review. March 4, 2014. Review of Mirta Ojito's "Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town"
Benjamins or Bullets: How Mexico Became a Narco-Democracy Columbia Journalism Review. November 1, 2013.
What Did You Do in the Dirty War? New York Times Book Review. July 5, 2013. Review of Patricio Pron's novel "My Fathers’ Ghost Is Climbing in the Rain"
Oil, Chavez And Telenovelas: The Rise Of The Venezuelan Novel NPR.org. April 11, 2013.
Unmanageable Realities: On César Aira The Nation. April 10, 2012.
Seed Projects The Nation. July 6, 2009. Review of Alejandro Zambra’s novels “Bonsai” & “La vida privada de los árboles.”
Alone Among the Ghosts The Nation. December 8, 2008. Investigative essay on Roberto Bolaño’s masterful novel “2666.”
Windows Into the Night The Nation. March 31, 2008. Review of Roberto Bolaño’s posthumous collection of essays, “Entre paréntesis.”
His Stupid Heart: Roberto Bolaño’s Novels Were a Love Letter to His Generation, But What He Had to Say Many Chileans Didn’t Want to Hear Virginia Quarterly Review. Winter 2008. Investigative essay on Roberto Bolaño’s short novels “Distant Star” and “By Night in Chile.”
Rules of the Game The Nation. December 3, 2007. Review of José Maria de Eça de Queirós’s 19th-century masterpiece, “The Maias.”
Spanglish Fly Bookforum. Sept/Oct/Nov 2007. Review of Junot Diaz’s award-winning novel, “The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.”
Campaign Tools The Washington Post Book World. November 5, 2006. Book World column on the rise of the book as political tool.
Embargoed The Washington Post Book World. October 22, 2006. Book World column on history and mechanics of the book embargo.
The Old–Fashioned Way The Washington Post Magazine. September 3, 2006. Cover story on the marriage of two devout Catholics immigrants.
Some Stories Have to Be Told by Me: A Literary History of Alice Munro Virginia Quarterly Review. Summer 2006. Essay on the life and fiction of Alice Munro
Yukio Mishima and the Dream of the Holy Explosion The Believer. February 2004. Essay on the Japanese author Yukio Mishima and the psychology behind suicide bombs.