An associate editor for The Afro-Hispanic Review, she is the author of five books of fiction and editor or coeditor of two essay collections. Her short story collection, Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories was a Finalist for the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Prize. Her short story collection, Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories (Curbstone, 2002) won the inaugural Miguel Marmól prize for fiction.