Poet, novelist, essayist and children's book author Rosario Ferré, a "formidable figure in Puerto Rican letters who wrote novels in both Spanish and English, and who was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1995 for the family epic A House on the Lagoon [La casa de la laguna]," died February 18, the New York Times reported. She was 77. Her books include The Youngest Doll (Papeles de Pandora) and Sweet Diamond Dust: And Other Stories (Maldito amor y otros cuentos).
Ferré "wrote about Puerto Rican identity, often in a historical context, often from a feminist perspective and often satirically. She depicted the mixture, that its people often express, of the exaggerated pride in the beauty and culture of the island and the exasperation with its patriarchal traditions and geographical and physical limitations," the Times wrote.