The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Manuela García Oquendo, also known as La dama roja, was born in 1985, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They are a poet, short story writer, essayist, novelist, painter, numerologist and social worker specializing in gerontology. They were raised in the Manuela A. Pérez housing project in San Juan, where they lived for 35 years. In 2014, García Oquendo obtained a BA in social work from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. They are currently studying in the psychological counseling graduate program at the Cupey Campus of Ana G. Méndez University. Their work includes Transóptica (La Casa Editora de Puerto Rico, 2020) and 33 Mensajes ocultos: interacción ängeles < + > humanos (The BookShore, 2019). Their creative work has been published in the anthologies Antología para el cambio social (La Casa Editora de Puerto Rico, 2016) and Mil almas, mil obras (Editorial Isla Negra, 2017). García Oquendo’s significant literary influences include Julia de Burgos, Luis Llorens Torres, Juan Antonio Corretjer, Gabriel García Márquez, José de Diego, Rene Márquez, and Esmeralda Santiago. 

Works Cited

García Oquendo, Manuela. Interview. Conducted by Roque Raquel Salas Rivera, 14 June 2021.

García Oquendo, Manuela. Author Questionnaire, The Puerto Rican Literature Project, 2024.