Deborah Paredez

Deborah Paredez is an Associate Professor of Writing at Columbia University's School of the Arts and currently chairs the Writing Program. She holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Her work bridges poetry, scholarship, and cultural critique, with a focus on Latina/o studies and performance studies. She co-founded CantoMundo, an organization supporting Latinx poets.

Her research interests include cultural memory, identity politics, and the intersection of art and activism. Key publications include American Diva (2024), Year of the Dog (2020), and Selenidad (2009), which earned multiple accolades. She is affiliated with Columbia’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race (CSER), contributing to interdisciplinary race and ethnicity studies.

• Awards: Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award (2020–21), Writers’ League of Texas Poetry Book Award (2020), and multiple book award recognitions.
• Grants/Advising: Recipient of the Lenfest Award; oversees the Writing Program’s curriculum and initiatives.

Her work appears in venues like The New York Times, Boston Review, and NPR. She actively engages with public intellectual discourse through essays and media commentary.