Lidia Santos
Adjunct Professor
Brazilian and Latin American Literature

email: LSantos@gc.cuny.edu

Lidia Santos was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she received a B.A. in Literatures of Portuguese Language from the University of Rio de Janeiro –UFRJ. Her Ph.D in Spanish American Literature was received from the University of São Paulo –USP. Before arriving at the Graduate Center, Prof. Santos taught at Yale University and at the Federal Fluminense University –UFF, in Brazil.

She specializes in Brazilian and Latin American Literatures. Her research is mainly attached to contemporary issues, stressing the relationship between literature and other arts and contexts. Her enduring research on the intersection of literature and mass media in Brazil and Latin America was condensed in her book Tropical Kitsch. Mass Media in Latin American Art and Literature. Recently translated into English after two Spanish editions, Tropical Kitsch was named the best book in Brazilian Studies in a Comparative Perspective by the Latin American Studies Association. Professor Santos is also a RFI / Guimarães Rosa Prize recipient and author of two books of short stories and numerous scholarly works.

Currently, Professor Santos is finishing a book, which deals with the presence of soap operas' techniques in contemporary literatures of Latin America. She is also working on the new trends of cosmopolitanism in Brazil.