2012 Education & Literature Awardee

Yanitzia Canetti

Author

Yanitzia Canetti is an author, editor, and translator with a Bachelor's in Journalism, a Master's in Linguistics, and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature. She has published over 100 books in various genres, including novels, poetry, short stories, theatre and children's literature. She has written fiction and nonfiction series, teachers' guides, student editions,and other educational materials for the bilingual educational system. She has also written over 2,000 specialized articles, catalogues, and literary reviews for newspapers and magazines in the United States, Cuba, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and other countries.

Fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian. she has translated over 200 books, principally for young readers. Her translations include several English literature classics, like Dr. Seuss’s books, Curious George, Berenstain Bears, Amelia Bedelia, Mike Mulligan, between others.

She has participated in 15 national and international photography exhibitions in Mexico, Italy, Spain and Denmark. Her work is included in the permanent collections of various galleries of the world. Yanitzia has received many awards for her work, including the National Literature Award (Ministry of Education, Cuba) 1984, 1985, 1986; the White Rose Literature Award (Best Literature of the Year, Cuba) 1994; Honorable Mention (National Association of Hispanic Publications, California) 1997.

At present, Yanitzia lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and works as an editorial director and literary assessor. Her publications include: “Había OTRA vez” [Once Upon ANOTHER time] (Everest, 2010), “La muerte nuestra de cada vida” [Dear Death] (2011), "La vida es color de Rosa" [Through Rose-Colored Lenses] (Cambridge BH, 2010), "Al otro lado" [On the Other Side] (Seix Barral, 1998; Planeta de Agostini, 2000), "Completamente diferente" [Completely Different] (Everest, 2000) and "Doña Flautina Resuelvelotodo" [Miss Flautina Fixit] (Edebé, 2002), among others.

People Magazine (Spanish edition) selected her as a one of the “25 Most Powerful Hispanic Women of the World”, with Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, among others.