Born in Havana, Cuba, Gisela Norat focuses on a lot of Latina and Latin American issues and authors which are very relatable to her. She grew up with her only sister in Union City after leaving communist Cuba via Spain. At first, she arrived in Manhattan where her father was working. His boss offered him an equal partnership in the business which required the family to move to Union City. She had very hard working immigrant parents and she herself went on to be hard working in school, completing many degrees at different universities and colleges. Currently, Gisela Norat lives in Decatur, Georgia and is a professor at Agnes Scott College. She also raises a daughter in Georgia which has had a great influence over Gisela Norat. She writes about the different lives each has experienced growing up and writes about the complications of her daughter growing up. Her daughter had great difficulty with learning Spanish and this frustrated Gisela Norat enough to write about it. Much of Norat’s writing is academic and focuses on Latina and Latin American women writers. Her non-academic writing has been inspired by a desire to leave her daughter a legacy of her heritage and family history.