Even though Achy Obejas’s family left Cuba when she was very young, the island nation has an enormous influence on her work. Obejas is a writer, translator and journalist whose novels include Memory Mambo , Days of Awe and Ruins . She has also written collections of stories and poems. Obejas told KGOU’s World Views that Cuba is the subject of her work because she often focuses on rupture. “If it hadn't been for forces outside of our family, my family would have remained in Cuba,” Obejas said.