Among the most prolific of women historians, Lavrin writes about the church, sexuality, spirituality, gender, convents and monasteries. Born in Havana, Cuba, she came to study in the United States in 1956 and never returned to her native country. She received her master’s degree from Radcliffe College and a doctorate from Harvard University. The author of over seventy book chapters and articles, Lavrin has presented more than a hundred lectures throughout the United States, in South and Central America, and in Europe. Among her many awards she received the Congress of Latin American Historians’ Distinguished Service Award in 2008, and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship 2002-2003. She publishes in English and Spanish. Her prodigious scholarly production include Latin American Women: Historical Perspectives, Women, Feminism and Social Change: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, 1890-1940, and Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin America. Her most recent publication is Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico.