Rosario Ferré, a noted author who achieved literary success in Spanish and English and who was a noted critic and essayist, died in Puerto Rico at age 77.
Ferré's 1995 novel, "The House on the Lagoon," was nominated for the prestigious National Book Award. But before she published in English her work in Spanish - including the short story collection "Papeles de Pandora" and her novel "Maldito Amor," received wide acclaim. Ferré's fiction tackled sexism, racism and questions of class and she was also a prolific essayist.
On social media some people were noting that two great women of literature died on Friday - Harper Lee and Rosario Ferré.
Ferré was the daughter of the former Puerto Rican governor Luis A. Ferré, who advocated for statehood. While her father was in office, the young Ferré advocated for Puerto Rican independence. Ferré also distinguished herself as a feminist - on Twitter she was referred to as someone who 'revolucionó la literatura borícua' - someone who revolutionized Puerto Rican literature - through her insights and her piercing cultural analysis of the island's complexities.
