Scholars in the Arts
"I am fascinated by the breadth of Art History and by how painting teaches a culture about itself."
Scholars Around the World
Two JKCF Scholars organize a 15-day study tour to Bolivia to explore the country’s political economy, peoples and rural development
Ms. Esmeralda Santiago
Creative Writing Mentor
Ms. Santiago attended Harvard University with a full scholarship where she graduated magna cum laude in 1976. In 1977, she and her husband, Frank Cantor, founded CANTOMEDIA, a film and media production company. Her writing career evolved from her work as a producer/writer of documentary and educational films.
Ms. Santiago is the author of three best-selling memoirs: When I was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, The Turkish Lover; and of the novel, América's Dream. With Joie Davidow, she has edited two anthologies of Latino literature: Las Christmas: Favorite Latino Authors Share their Holiday Memories and Las Mamis: Favorite Latino Authors Remember their Mothers.
Ms. Santiago is also an award-winning screenwriter and essayist. Her adaptation of Almost a Woman for PBS Masterpiece Theatre: The American Collection won a George Foster Peabody Award. Her profiles and opinion pieces have been published in magazines like Sports Illustrated, Latina, House & Garden, and Good Housekeeping, in newspapers like The New York Times, The Boston Globe and El Nuevo Día, and as guest commentary on NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition.
In addition to her literary endeavors, Ms. Santiago is an active volunteer. She is a spokesperson on behalf of public libraries. She has designed and developed community-based programs for adolescents, and was one of the founders of a shelter for battered women and their children. She serves on the boards of organizations devoted to the arts and to literature, and speaks vehemently about the need to encourage and support the artistic development of young people. Her community activism was cited when she received a Girl Scouts of America National Woman of Distinction Award in March 2002 along with Alma Powell and Elizabeth Dole.
Ms. Santiago has earned a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and Honorary Doctor of Letters from Trinity University, from Pace University, from Metropolitan College and from Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Mayagüez.