I started winning recognition and awards for my writing in my early school years and through college.  I studied creative writing with Alan Lelchuk, writer in residence at Amherst in the 1980s and who now teaches at Dartmouth.  After graduating from Amherst, I tried my hand at short fiction and received several encouraging notes, including one from the late Rust Hills, former fiction editor at Esquire.  But without income from this vocation, I entered law school and became an attorney.  After 22 years of practicing law and finally with time and a complete story to tell, I wrote my first novel, Puerto Rico City in 2012. 

Corbin Prize from Amherst College English Department

Puerto Rico City - A Novel
Lino Mendoza rises from the streets of Puerto Rico and leads a crusade to build Puerto Rico City, a new city to rival Las Vegas, Macau, Dubai and all the rest.