Diamela Eltit

Who is Diamela Eltit?

Diamela Eltit is a writer and a Spanish professor from Chile. She currently holds a teaching appointment at New York University, where she teaches creative writing.

Eltit received a bachelor's degree in literature and works in the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana. She was culture attaché during Patricio Aylwin's government at the Chilean Embassy in Mexico. In her books, she breaks traditional novel conventions with sordid places, marginal characters and a prose marked by an ambiguous speech and exaltations to the body of the injured or hurt woman. She's one of the members of the so-called generación del 87, after Salvador Allende's administration.

Eltit is and was, especially during the junta government, a performance artist and social examiner. Her work often subverts the norm and examines the structure of oppression and repressed desire.

Eltit is married to Jorge Arrate, the communist candidate in the 2009 Chilean presidential elections. Eltit supported Arrate in his campaign.