Faculty

Cristina de la Torre,
Senior Lecturer in Spanish

503N Callaway Center
404-727-6435
cdelato@emory.edu

Professor de la Torre was born in Cuba and moved to the United States as a child. She received her BA from the University of Miami, Florida, and her PhD in Spanish from Emory University. Dr. de la Torre also studied in Madrid, Spain, where she began her dual career as professor of Spanish and translator. Her teaching has been recognized by Phi Beta Kappa and she was nominated by students to be included in Who´s Who Among America´s Teachers.

Her main areas of interest are as follows:

·        Literary Translation. Interdisciplinary thinking about the relationship between language, history and culture, as well as between different languages. She has lectured and published widely on the topic and has translated/published texts by Rosa Montero,Carme Riera, Nora Strejilevich, Leonardo Padura, Alejandro Aguilar, Bernardo Atxaga, Angeles Mastretta, Soledad Puértolas, Eduardo Mendoza, and Jorge Volpi among others. De la Torre has received various grants (from the, Generalitat de Catalunya, Ministry of Culture of Spain) and fellowships (from the Howard Foundation, NEH, and the Banff International Centre for the Arts) and has served as a panelist for translation grants for NEA, and for translation awards for ALTA (American Literary Translators Association). Dr. de la Torre was also head of the Spanish translation team for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, 1996.

·        Cultural Studies. Especially contrasts between cultures, and  changing values. Co-author, with Victoria García Serrano and Annette Cash, of a culture/conversation textbook used widely in Spanish departments throughout the United States. !A que sí! (Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1993, 1999, 2005) 

·        Contemporary Cuban Literature. After going back to Cuba in 2000 as participant in the First US/Cuba Writers Conference, she has focused on translating contemporary Cuban writers and also developed a course on the literature of exile called Narratives of Displacement. 

·        Mentoring. Original sponsor of the Spanish House, a theme dorm that provides a forum for Hispanic activities at Emory (guest speakers, discussions of current topics, videos, cooking and dancing lessons, etc). She also started, and for a long time directed, the Taller de Teatro, a theater workshop that has been presenting plays in Spanish for almost two decades.