FRANCISCO COTA FAGUNDES is Professor of Portuguese at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has taught Portuguese and Spanish since 1976. In addition to his research on contemporary Portuguese literature, he has translated several works and produced an autobiography. His most recent publications include, Metamorfoses do Amor: Estudos sobre a ficção breve de Jorge de Sena (1999), Desta e da Outra Margem do Atlntico: Estudos de literatura Açoriana e da diáspora (2004), and Um Passo Mais no Português Moderno: Gramática Avançada, Leituras, Composição e Conversação (2004). Among his translations is Stormy Isles: An Azorean Tale (1998), a translation of Vitorino Nemésio's Mau Tempo no Canal. In 2001 Francisco Cota Fagundes was awarded the rank of Grande-Oficial da Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique by the president of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio.