Born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1959, Fabiola Santiago grew up in Miami enamored of her family's nostalgic stories and their memories of the softest sands and the bluest beach in the world, Varadero. Exiled to the United States in 1969 with her parents and younger brother on one of the historic Freedom Flights, Fabiola has been a writer and editor for The Miami Herald since 1980.

Her award-winning stories and essays on arts, culture and identity have been published in several magazines and anthologies in the United States and abroad. She was the founding city editor and managing editor of the Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald from 1987 to 1993, and in 2001, shared in a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the federal government seizure of the child Elian González.

She has taught journalism at the University of Florida, Florida International University and Barry University. Fabiola is a graduate of the University of Florida and has three daughters. She lives in Miami. Her novel, Reclaiming Paris, is the story of a woman's quest for identity set in contemporary Miami to the backdrop of the city's Cuban culture and history. The book has also been published in Spanish as Siempre París and in Norwegian as Habanita. Read more about her work at www.reclaimingparis.com and www.fabiolasantiago.com.

You can contact Fabiola at fsantiago@miamiherald.com