H. G. Carrillo

Herman "H. G." Carrillo (born Herman Glenn Carroll, 1960 – April 20, 2020)[3] was an American[4] writer and Assistant Professor of English at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.[5] In the 1990s, he began writing as "H. G. Carrillo", and he eventually adopted that identity in his private life as well, claiming to have been a Cuban immigrant who had left Cuba with his family at the age of 7. Carrillo wrote frequently about the Cuban immigrant experience in the United States, including in his only novel, Loosing My Espanish (2004).

H. G. Carrillo
Born
Herman Glenn Caroll

1960 (1960)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died (aged 59)[1]
Washington, D.C., U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesH. G. Carrillo
Hache[2]
Alma materCornell University, Bachelor of Arts (2004) and Master of Fine Arts (2007)
Occupationnovelist
Years active2004–2020

Carrillo kept his true identity hidden from even close acquaintances, including his husband, whom he married in 2015. Only after his death did the true details of his life become publicly known, after several members of his family revealed them.[1]

Early life and education

Carrillo was born Herman Glenn Carroll in 1960, in Detroit, to African-American parents who had themselves been born and raised in Michigan, and who made a living as teachers. By the 1980s he had moved to Chicago, and after his partner died of complications related to AIDS in 1988, he began writing and devoted his life to it.[1] During this period he began going by the name "Hermán G. Carrillo" and eventually "Hache" ("H" in Spanish); in his public persona he was supposedly born in Havana, Cuba in 1960,[6] and emigrated with his family at the age of 7.

Carrillo received his BA in Spanish and English from DePaul University in Chicago in 2000 and an MFA from Cornell in 2007.[7]

Career

Carrillo was an assistant professor of English at George Washington University.[7] He started teaching at the university level after 2007.[8]

Publications

Several publications have included his work, including The Kenyon Review, Conjunctions, The Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, Ninth Letter, and Slice.[9] Areas of interest include fiction writing, U.S. Latino literature and visual culture, literature and culture of the 1960s, 20th- and 21st-century US literature, and gender studies.[5]

Loosing My Espanish

Carrillo's first full-length novel, Loosing My Espanish (Pantheon, 2004) addresses the complexities of Latino immigration, religiously associated education, homosexuality, and lower class struggles from a Cuban immigrant's perspective.

Wendy Gimbel at The Washington Post wrote a lengthy review of this novel, saying this about Carrillo's interesting writing style:

In this complexly structured novel, Oscar's narrative moves backward and forward, alternating between the present and historical time. If one considers the present moment as a force field that holds together all the disparate elements in the book, a cohesive tale emerges from a seemingly disorderly series of scenes.

— Gimbel, 2005[10]

Synopsis: "Oscar Delossantos is about to lose his job as a teacher at a Jesuit high school in Chicago. Rather than go quietly, he embarks on a valiant last history lesson that chronicles the flight from Cuba of his makeshift extended family. Evoking the struggle between nostalgia and the realities of the Cuban Revolution with both grit and lyricism, he inspires his students with an altogether dazzling reinterpretation of the Cuban-American experience." (Random House, Inc. 2005)[11]

Awards

Carrillo received the Arthur Lynn Andrew Prize for Best Fiction in 2001 and 2003 as well as the Iowa Award in 2004. He has received several fellowships and grants, including a Sage Fellowship, a Provost's Fellowship, and a Newberry Library Research Grant. He earned the 2001 Glimmer Train Fiction Open Prize and was named the 2002 Alan Collins Scholar for Fiction.[12]

Published work

Books
  • Loosing My Espanish (2004)

Short stories
  • Andalúcia" Conjunctions (2008/2009)
  • Co-Sleeper (2008)
  • Who Knew Desi Arnaz Wasn't White?" An Essay. (2007)
  • ¿Quién se hubiera imaginado que Desi Arnaz no era blanco? (2007)
  • Pornografía (2007)
  • Elizabeth (2006)
  • The Santiago Boy (2006)
  • Caridad (2005)
  • Cosas (2004)
  • Abejas Rubias (2004)

References
  1. Duggan, Paul. "Cuban American author H.G. Carrillo, who explored themes of cultural alienation, dies after developing covid-19". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  2. "Aanmelden bij Facebook".
  3. "Obituary, PEN/Faulkner Foundation". Retrieved 23 April 2020 – via Twitter.
  4. Unbecoming Blackness: The Diaspora Cultures of Afro-Cuban America by Antonio M. López
  5. "Carrillo | English Department - The George Washington University". Departments.columbian.gwu.edu. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  6. "30 seconds with h.g. carrillo". Orlando Sentinel. 2005-11-11. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  7. http://english.columbian.gwu.edu/herman-carrillo Archived 2015-02-12 at the Wayback Machine Herman Carrillo, English Department, The George Washington University. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  8. "News from Trinity University". Trinity.edu. 2005-11-01. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  9. "H G Carrillo". Stuartbernstein.com. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  10. "Dreaming in Cuban". washingtonpost.com. 2005-01-16. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  11. "loosing my espanish - Random House". Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  12. "H.G. Carrillo Author Bookshelf - Random House - Books - Audiobooks - Ebooks". Random House. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
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