| Emilio Díaz Valcárcel | |
| Birth Date: | 29 January 1929 |
| Birth Place: | Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico |
| Death Place: | Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico |
| Occupation: | Author |
| Notableworks: | Schemes in the Month of March Hot Soles in Harlem |
Emilio Díaz Valcárcel (January 29, 1929 – February 2, 2015) was an acclaimed Puerto Rican writer who won several awards.[1] [2] He addresses numerous social issues in his novels, short stories, and plays.[3]
Díaz Valcárcel was born in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.[4] At the age of twenty he was recruited by the United States Army and sent to the Korean War, an experience that would leave a mark on a large part of his work. He later worked as a film screenwriter in the Puerto Rican Division of Community Education and as a copywriter. He directed the cultural magazine Cupey and served as Professor of Language and Literature at the University of Puerto Rico, from where he retired in 1995. He founded the Narrative Workshop of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the Department of Spanish of the Faculty of General Studies from the University of Puerto Rico.
Díaz Valcárcel is part of a group of Puerto Rican writers that emerged with great force in the mid-twentieth century and that includes figures such as José Luis González, Pedro Juan Soto and René Marqués.[5] His literary work has been the subject of studies and doctoral theses by university students inside and outside of Puerto Rico, as well as part of his work has been translated into different languages. He received multiple tributes and recognitions by different universities and cultural organizations both in Puerto Rico and abroad. His literary work has been awarded by institutions such as the Ateneo Puertorriqueño, PEN Club de Puerto Rico, Institute of Puerto Rican Literature, and the 2002 National Prize for the Arts awarded by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture for a life dedicated to cultural endeavors. He has several books of short stories and among his novels the following stand out: Figuraciones en el mes de marzo, finalist for the 1971 Seix Barral Brief Library Award, which entered Puerto Rico in the "boom" of Spanish-American literature; Hot Soles in Harlem; My Mom Loves Me; The Man who Worked on Monday; and Laguna y Asociados.