It is with great sadness we share this news as we honor Latinx alum Hache G. Carrillo '07 MFA, Department of English at Cornell University.
"Earlier today I learned of the passing of my friend Hache Carrillo from Covid-19. The world mourns the loss of another great figure taken before his time.
Hache was an amazing & talented writer and chronicler of our queer Latinx diaspora. His novel, “Loosing My Espanish” (Knopf Doubleday, 2004) about Afro- Cuban immigrants in Chicago portrayed the complicated exiled Cuban diaspora amongst the multiple and yet fractured communities of our US Latinidad — sometimes separated by uneasy colonial and post colonial differences reinforced by an uncaring system we call late stage capitalism.
The first personal anecdote Hache shared with me back in fall 1999, when he was enrolled in the prestigious MFA/Ph.D. English program at Cornell, was of his own nuanced Cuban identity as a proud Black gay Cuban man. Echoing our discussion of Cuban American literature, Hache told me how a renowned figure in our field who had met him in person recently was surprised Hache was both Cuban and Black, as if those identities were mutually exclusive and not part of our community. To say nothing of his sexuality, we joked.
I find myself remembering Hache’s humor amidst adversity, his caring nature, his love for people and most importantly, his love for our people — be they of color, queer, Latinx, or just human.
Hache Carrillo, we miss you!" - Nohemy Solórzano-Thompson, B.A. '96 Spanish Literature, M.A. '02, Ph.D. '03 Hispanic Literatures.
Currently Nohemy Solórzano-Thompson is Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Film Studies at Westminster College in Salt Lake City and Chair of the Film Studies Program.
