Born in the United States and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Gwendolyn Díaz-Ridgeway obtained a Ph.D. in Literature and Language with concentrations in Spanish, French and English from the University of Texas at Austin. She is fluent in English, Spanish and French and publishes in both English and Spanish.
Díaz-Ridgeway specializes in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory with an emphasis on Twentieth Century authors, authors of the Latin American Boom and Post-Boom and contemporary women writers. She has founded and directed the Las Americas Letters Series in Literature and the Arts, an annual series that features authors and artists of all the Americas. She has spoken at conferences throughout Europe and the Americas and has served as President of the South Central Modern Language Association and been active in the Instituto Internacional de Literatura Iberoamericana, among other associations. She is a member of the Argentine chapter of PEN International (a worldwide association of Poets, Essayists and Novelists), where she chairs the Women Writers Committee.
She served for many years as Director of the Graduate English Literature and Language Program at St. Mary’s University and has been active in international education as well as in various arts and cultural organizations. Her awards include a Fulbright Award for research and teaching at the Universidad Católica in Buenos Aires, a Carnegie-Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Rice University, three St. Mary’s University Distinguished Professor Awards, one for graduate teaching and two for undergraduate teaching, as well as Best Professor at St. Mary’s University Award based on a Statewide student poll.