José Ramón Torres

José Ramón Torres was born and raised in Cuba, where he spent 32 years of his life. He completed his university studies in English Language and Literature at University of Havana and a PhD in Education (Language Teaching) at University of Barcelona. In Havana, Vancouver, Barcelona and Cambridge, UK (where he is currently based with his wife and two children), he has worked as a language teacher, translator, interpreter, TV presenter, proofreader, localisation project and language manager, telephone operator, doorman and street seller.His first novel, of around 63,000 words and entitled Waves, draws a parallel between three major Cuban migration episodes (Camarioca, Mariel, Rafters) and to some extent describes the political wrangling between Fidel Castro and various US administrations. But above all it follows three members of a Cuban family as they emigrate to the US.Before this first foray into fiction, he had published several academic articles, mostly on phonetics and language teaching.He is now embarked on the writing of a second novel: a trip in the opposite direction of Waves, from the First to the Third World.