Cristina Garc�a is a Cuban-born American journalist and novelist. After working for Time Magazine as a researcher, reporter, and Miami bureau chief, she turned to writing fiction. Her first novel, Dreaming in Cuban, received critical acclaim and was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has since published her novels The Ag�ero Sisters and Monkey Hunting, and has edited books of Cuban and other Latin American literature. Her fourth novel, A Handbook to Luck, was released in hardcover in 2007 and came out in paperback in April 2008. In 2009, Garcia was hired as the Visiting Affiliate Professor and Black Mountain Institute Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has other colleges including the University of Texas-Austin, Texas Tech University, and Texas State University-San Marcos, where she is the 2012-14 University Chair in Creative Writing. 

July 4th, 1958 in Havana (Age 66)