Carina del Valle Schorske is a writer, translator, and independent scholar exploring intimate histories of empire, migration, and creative survival in the Caribbean and beyond. Her essays have been published in many venues including The New Yorker, The Believer, the Virginia Quarterly Review, and the New York Times Magazine, where she is a contributing writer. She has recently published profiles on the Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña, the reggaeton star Bad Bunny, and the salsa icon Eddie Palmieri.
She is the recipient of a National Magazine Award, a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant, and fellowships from Yaddo, Yale, and the Mellon Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia University, and her first book, The Other Island, is forthcoming from Riverhead.
At MacDowell in 2014, Schorske completed her translation of Climax Road, a book of poetry by the Spanish poet Vanesa Perez-Sauquillo. She also made progress on her own manuscript, then entitled Viewfinder. During her 2017 residency, she finished the manuscript of her translation of the Puerto Rican poet Marigloria Palma. Early work from this collection won Gulf Coast's 2016 Prize in Translation. She also wrote two essays: "The Uses of Beauty," for the Los Angeles Review of Books and "Gold, History, and My Body" for New York Magazine. Finally, she drafted new work for her slow-burning poetry manuscript. In 2020, she worked on her first book, The Other Island. During her 2025 residency, Schorske continued work on The Other Island and translated a short story by the Puerto Rican writer Manuel Ramos Otero.
