Rhina Polonia Espaillat (born January 20, 1932, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a bilingual Dominican-American poet and translator who is affiliated with the literary movement known as New Formalism in American poetry. She has published eleven collections of poetry. Her work has been included in many popular anthologies, including The Heath Introduction to Poetry (Heath 2000); The Muse Strikes Back (Story Line Press 1997); and In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the U.S. (Arte Publico Press 1994). Espaillat's original poetry contains many sonnets describing her family in domestic settings, which she calls "snapshots". She is also well-known for writing poetry that captures the beauty of daily routine, as well as poems which ironically and humorously retell stories from both the Christian Bible and Classical mythology. Espaillat is also known for her literary translations of the Christian poetry of St. John of the Cross (1542–1591) from Castilian Spanish into American English and which appeared in the literary journal First Things, and of similarly translating the greatest works from the literary canon of both Spanish and Latin American poetry. Espaillat has also produced acclaimed translations from American English into Spanish of the poems of both Robert Frost and Richard Wilbur. Furthermore, even though Espaillat grew up in a time when, "the expectation that one should overcome any non-British ancestral origins, still held sway as a prerequisite to entering the sphere of genuine Americanness", Espaillat's poetry also expresses pride in being a Latina, in her identity as a feminist who is also a wife and a mother, and her status as an immigrant to the United States. Life Family background Espaillat is of mixed Afro-Dominican, Spanish, French, and Arawak descent. She is the daughter of Carlos Manuel Homero Espaillat Brache, a Dominican diplomatic attaché, and Dulce María Batista. Her aunt Rhina Espaillat Brache founded the first ballet institute of La Vega. Espaillat is also the grandniece and god-daughter of Dominican diplomat Rafael Brache. Through her great-uncle, Espaillat is second-cousin of Democratic Party chairman Tom Perez. Espaillat is fourth-cousin once-removed of Adriano Espaillat and great-great-great-grand-niece of Dominican President Ulises Espaillat, and is descended from the French immigrant François Espeillac. Early life Rhina Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic's capital of Santo Domingo, which Caudillo Rafael Trujillo had recently renamed Cuidad Trujillo, on January 20, 1932. Shortly after her birth, Espaillat's parents returned with their infant daughter to their hometown of La Vega,