Ana Lyia Vega, (b. 1946, Santurce, Puerto Rico) is one of Puerto Rico's most celebrated contemporary authors. She is the recipient of both the Premio Juan Rulfo (1982) and the Premio Casa de las Américas (1981). Vega belongs to a generation of Puerto Rican writers that has integrated into their writing mordant reflections on the ambiguous status of their island nation, one that is not fully independent yet not fully a member of the US federation (See Political Activity, below). Ana Lydia Vega pursued an academic career as a professor of both French literature and Caribbean studies (retiring from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras) at the same time that she became an accomplished author,