Ruben Quesada

Ruben Quesada is an American poet and critic. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.[1]

Ruben Quesada sits facing front flipping through pages of an open book. His gaze is down obscuring his eyes.
Ruben Quesada, Art Institute of Chicago

In 2022, Quesada published an edited collection of essays, Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry was be published by University of New Mexico Press. It "explores the ways in which a people's history and language are vital to the development of a poet's imagination and insists that the meaning and value of poetry are necessary to understand the history and future of a people."[2]

His poetry appears in The Best American Poetry[3] and has earned multiple Pushcart Prize nominations; his writing and criticism appear in The New York Times,[4] Harvard Review, Guernica, The American Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, Ploughshares,[5] Kirkus Reviews and Cimarron Review.

Education

Quesada obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts from the University of California, Riverside. He later earned a Doctorate in English (specializing in Poetry and Poetics) at Texas Tech University in 2012.

Career

Quesada relocated to Illinois in 2012. Soon after, he founded the Latinx Writers Caucus at the Association of Writing & Writing Programs (AWP) with guidance from founding members of CantoMundo Poetry, Macondo Writers, and Letras Latinas. The caucus is dedicated to supporting Latinx and Latin American writers throughout their careers.

Quesada has taught Latinx literature, literary translation, editing, and creative writing[6] at several institutions, including Northwestern University,[7] The School of the Art Institute,[8] Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Columbia College Chicago.

In 2018, Quesada published a chapbook of original poetry and literary translations of Spanish poet Luis Cernuda titled Revelations,[9] inspired by the medieval book by Christian mystic Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love. He is also author of Next Extinct Mammal (Greenhouse Review Press, 2011), and translator of Luis Cernuda: Exiled from the Throne of Night (Aureole Press, 2008).[10]

In 2023, The Offending Adam published a digital chapbook of poems titled Jane / La Segua. The poems reinvent La Segua, a colonial myth rooted in racism and class from Costa Rica.

Quesada has been involved in various literary organizations and initiatives, including serving as an advisor for Maps to the Next World, a literary initiative from the Smithsonian Institution. He serves on the board of the National Book Critics Circle and as VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) [11] from 2021 - 2023. He was also the Chair of the award in nonfiction for the 2022 publishing year. In 2021, he launched and served as the host of the Mercy Street Reading Series, a live literary broadcast featuring contemporary poets and writers.

He is currently an editorial advisor for Jack Leg Press and teaches as an Associate Teaching Fellow at the Attic Institute of Arts & Letters, and the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. Additionally, he is faculty in the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Antioch University-Los Angeles.[12]

Works
  • Exiled from the Throne of Night (Aureole Press, 2008)
  • Next Extinct Mammal (Greenhouse Review Press, 2011) ISBN 0-9655239-9-3
  • Revelations (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018) ISBN 1-943977-54-2
  • Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry (University of New Mexico Press, 2022) ISBN 0-8263-6438-1
  • Jane / La Segua (The Offending Adam, 2023)

References
  1. Ruben Quesada, Poetry Foundation, 2015, retrieved 3 December 2015
  2. "Latinx Poetics". University of New Mexico Press. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  3. Lehman, David; Gioia, Dana (2018-09-18). Best American Poetry 2018. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781501127809.
  4. Quesada, Ruben; Chang, Victoria (2022-08-11). "Poem: Oath Keeper". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  5. "Ruben Quesada". blog.pshares.org. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  6. "Ruben Quesada". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  7. "Ruben Quesada: Department of English - Northwestern University". Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  8. "rquesa". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  9. Quesada, Ruben (2018-05-29). "Ruben Quesada". Ruben Quesada. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  10. Calderwood, Brent (4 January 2012), 'Next Extinct Mammal' by Ruben Quesada, Lambda Literary, retrieved 3 December 2015
  11. "NBCC Plans Virtual Fundraiser".
  12. "Ruben Quesada, MFA, Ph.D. › Antioch University". 2022-07-25. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
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