Ruben Quesada

Ruben Quesada holds an M.F.A. in creative writing and writing for the performing arts from the University of California, Riverside, and a Ph.D. in English from Texas Tech University. Currently, he teaches literature and creative writing at Columbia College Chicago.

"[I]n recent years there’s been a growing awareness of the marginalization of certain individuals in publishing, and I hope that people look back on this time as a moment when there was a greater awareness of the desire and need to include people who have been historically marginalized in literature. I think that a lot of our contemporary political and social upheavals have made people much more aware of the way the systems, the institutions that exist around us have informed our way of life and our view of the world and have defined who we are as communities and our relationship to one another and to the structures that guide our daily lives."

— Excerpt from Oral Memoirs of Ruben Quesada,
Baylor University Institute for Oral History

Quesada received the Gold Medal IPPY Award for his anthology Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry (2022), a collection of original essays from poets of Latin American descent. His collection of poetry Brutal Companion (2024) earned the 2023 Editor’s Choice in the Barrow Street Poetry Book Prize.

Quesada is the founder of the Latinx Writers Caucus, which meets annually at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference and serves to connect and advocate Latinx and Latin American poets and writers from around the world. A recipient of numerous fellowships, including those from the Santa Fe Art Institute, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Jentel, Quesada has also been recognized with a grant from the City of Chicago.