Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro was born on 29 October 1970 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and was raised by her grandparents, Petronila Cartagena and Saturnino Pizarro. She began writing at an early age in school newsletters and newspapers and won drawing and essay competitions at the Colegio San Vicente Ferrer in Cataño. In 1989 she won the intra-university competition of the Bayamón Central University with the story "Vimbi Botella." In 1990 she directed a play entitled ¿A dónde va el amor? based on her own script, which was staged in Barrio Amelia, a poor neighborhood in Guaynabo where the author was raised. In 2004, Arroyo published her first book of short stories Origami de letras. The following year published her first novel Los documentados which deals with migration conditions in the Caribbean, specifically from Hispaniola to Puerto Rico. This novel won the PEN Club Prize for 2006. In 2007 she published a new book of short stories, Ojos de Luna in which she explores the ways in which eviction, solidarity, and spiritual barriers marginalize people. The book was selected by El Nuevo Día as one of the best in 2007 and was a finalist in the Puerto Rican Literature National Award. That same year she was chosen as one of the most important Latin American writers under 39 years of age as part of Bogotá39, convened by UNESCO, the Hay Festival, and the Ministry of Culture in Bogotá. She was the only representative from Puerto Rico. In 2011, Salón Literario Libroamérica de Puerto Rico selected Arroyo's new book Caparazones, as the best new novel and the same year she was awarded a writer-in-residency grant by the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Latina Writers Convention recognized her short story Los cojones de una mujer in pecho at their 2012 convention. Arroyo's body of work consists of two novels, three collections of poetry, nine short story books and contributions to more than two dozen anthologies. Arroyo has broadcast as a radio host of Kooltureate for Bonita Radio and is the Chief Editor of the literary journalRevista Boreales. In addition her own publications, she regularly contributes to newspapers such as Claridad, La Expresión, El Nuevo Día, and El Vocero. She has served as a member of the jury for the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award Guadalajara International Book Fair for several years. Arroyo frequently writes about LGBT issues in her work and has participated with other writers and activists in the LGBTTIQ and African-descent communities in conferences and symposia held in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, and Venezuela. In 2014, she and her partner, Zulma Oliveras Vega joined the same-sex marriage case Conde-Vidal v. Rius-Armendariz. When the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the island's marriage ban was unconstitutional, Arroyo and Oliveras became the first same-sex couple to marry in Puerto Rico.
Publications
Arroyo Pizarro has been published in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Panama, Guatemala, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Denmark, Hungary, and France. Her work has been translated to English, Italian, French, and Hungarian.
Books
2003 Origami de letras, 2003, Publicaciones Puertorriqueñas, Puerto Rico.
2005 Los documentados, 2005, Editorial Situm, Puerto Rico.
2007 Ojos de luna, 2007, Terranova Editores, Puerto Rico.
