Violeta Lorenzo Feliciano, an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures and a faculty member of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program, has won the 2024 PEN de Puerto Rico Internacional's National Essay Prize for her book A Base de Palos: Modernidad, Aprendizaje y Formación en Cinco Bildungsromane Puertorriqueños (Ediciones Katatay, 2023).

Lorenzo Feliciano's work was selected by the jury for "contributing to the cultural knowledge of the country by providing an efficient way to understand literary production. [Her] analysis of the ideological foundations on which the Puerto Rican Bildungsroman was developed reveals the threads intertwining concepts such as nation, citizenship, individuality, and community."

PEN de Puerto Rico Internacional, originally known as the PEN Club of Puerto Rico International, was founded in 1965 by Puerto Rican professor, attorney, journalist, civic leader and writer Nilita Vientós Gastón, following an invitation from Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes. The institution is dedicated to promoting literature and defending human rights, particularly freedom of expression.

Lorenzo Feliciano was honored at the PEN de Puerto Rico Internacional's award ceremony on Dec. 17 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She teaches courses on Latin American, U.S. Latino/a, and Caribbean literary and cultural production. Her current research explores discourses of racial formation as articulated in the essays of Caribbean intellectuals.