Alejandro Puyana moved to the United States from Venezuela at the age of twenty-six. In 2022, he completed his MFA at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. His work has appeared in Tin House, American Short Fiction, The American Scholar, New England Review, Idaho Review, among others, and his story "The Hands of Dirty Children" was selected by Curtis Sittenfeld for Best American Short Stories 2020. He lives with his wife and daughter in Austin, Texas.

"Heart-stopping, heartbreaking, expansive, riveting: Alejandro Puyana's Freedom Is a Feast is an astonishing first novel by a writer capable of showing the sweep of history and the souls of his characters at the same time."
--Elizabeth McCracken, National Book Award finalist and author of Bowlaway

"In this vivid and arresting novel lives are lived in triage. A man is 'a sheathed knife, ' and people are 'bargaining chips' during the dangerous reign of Hugo Chávez. Stories of humanity and even love shine through brutality, while lives change--or end--in an instant. Citizens are faced with impossible choices in the quest for freedom, and the need to honor their culture. Freedom Is a Feast is a memorable debut, and Puyana is already a master storyteller."

"Spanning some fifty years and populated with unforgettable characters, Freedom Is a Feast is a debut of tremendous scope and gravity. Alejandro Puyana writes brilliantly about the ceaseless human quest to make a better world."

"Freedom Is a Feast is a rare and explosive novel about the lengths to which the human heart will go for what is just and what is right. Alejandro Puyana announces himself as a major new talent with this unflinching debut of love, revolution, and family."--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, National Book Award finalist for Sabrina & Corina

"Alejandro Puyana's debut novel, Freedom Is a Feast, sneaks up on you, ensnares you, then explodes around you. It is a tour de force. Applause for the new master."

" 'Born storyteller' gets thrown around too easily, but how else would we believe that this is a debut? Freedom Is a Feast is fearlessly ambitious, dizzyingly complex, gorgeously written, and chock full of magic, sin, loss, and enduring love. A novel like this comes with fantastic precedent--García Márquez, Allende--but seems to have arrived fully formed, all by its dazzling self."--Marlon James, Booker Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of A Brief History of Seven Killings and Black Leopard, Red Wolf

"Propulsive, pulse-quickening . . . Cinematic settings, evolving characters, and an explosive plot support a story of love and politics."--Kirkus Reviews

"Epic doesn't begin to describe this extraordinary novel. Freedom Is a Feast is as vivid and wondrous as your best dream, as unsettling and unforgettable as your worst. They say you can't fit the entire world into a novel, but Puyana comes close. What a gift he has given readers, what a profound, shattering, inspiring gift."--Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and This Is How You Lose Her

"Puyana debuts with a gripping story of a family shaped by Venezuela's tumultuous history during the Cold War and early 21st century . . . wrenching . . . Puyana's beautifully crafted narrative explores the complexity of his characters' choices and loyalties. This novel is impossible to put down."--Publishers Weekly (starred)