Empire of Dreams

Giannina Braschi explores the cultural and political journey of nearly 50 million Hispanic Americans living in the United States in this explosive new work of fiction, her first written in originally in English. United States of Banana takes place at the Statue of Liberty in post-9/11 New York City, where Hamlet, Zarathustra, and Giannina are on a quest to free the Puerto Rican prisoner Segismundo. Segismundo has been imprisoned for more than one hundred years, hidden away by his father, the king of the United States of Banana, for the crime of having been born. But when the king remarries, he frees his son, and for the sake of reconciliation, makes Puerto Rico the fifty-first state and grants American passports to all Latin American citizens. This staggering show of benevolence rocks the global community, causing an unexpected power shift with far-reaching implications. In a world struggling to realign itself in favor of liberty, United States of Banana is a force to be reckoned with in literature, art, and politics.

Giannina Braschi is Puerto Rico s most influential and versatile writer of poetry, fiction, and essays. She was a tennis champion and fashion model during her teen years before discovering writing. She lived in Madrid, Paris, Rome, and London before settling in New York where she taught at Colgate, Rutgers, and City University. With a Ph.D. in Golden Age Spanish literature, she has written on Cervantes, Garcilaso, Lorca, Machado, Vallejo, and Becquer. Author of Empire of Dreams and Yo-Yo Boing!, Braschi s cutting-edge work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the NY Foundation for the Arts, El Diario, PEN American Center, Ford Foundation, Danforth Scholarship, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, and Reed Foundation. She writes in three languages Spanish, Spanglish, and English to express the enculturation process of Hispanic immigrants and to explore the three political options of her island Nation, Colony, or State. Braschi dedicates her life s work to inspiring liberation. Her previous publications have been praised by the New York Daily News, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Rain Taxi, DiverseCity Magazine, and the Boston Globe.

Adriana Sananes was a leading actress at New York's Repertorio Espanol for ten years, performing works from the golden age of Spain to Lorca to contemporary theatre. Her awards while there include a Theatre Fellowship Grant from The Princess Grace Foundation, Best Actress, XIII Chamizal International Festival, El Paso, in The Trickster of Seville and ACE award for Eduardo Machado's Revoltillo. More recently she was seen in Sophia Romma's "Cabaret Emigre" at Theatre Row, and in Carmen Rivera's "The Fall of Trujillo" at Teatro Circulo, winning a Best Actress award from ATI, The Independent Theatre Artists Organization. Adriana is a voice over artist and narrator and has recorded over 100 audiobooks, including the Spanish version of Pulitzer Prize winner Enrique's Journey, for which she won an Audie, Una Palabra Tuya, (AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award), and the Spanish tracks for the Grammy nominated Brown Bear Series by Eric Carle. She narrated the documentary Children of Fate, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and nominated for an Academy Award.