Justin Torres

Justin Torres is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of English, specializing in American Literature & Culture, Creative Writing, Latinx Literature, and Sexuality & Gender Studies. He earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has received prestigious fellowships from Stanford University (Wallace Stegner Fellowship), Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute, and the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center.

• Key Affiliations: UCLA Department of English, Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate
• Research Focus: Intersection of queer narratives, Latinx identity, and experimental storytelling

His work explores erased histories and marginalized voices, blending personal and collective memory through innovative literary techniques. Torres is celebrated for his novel We the Animals and the upcoming Blackouts, which recontextualizes early 20th-century queer research.

Scientific Awards

• National Book Foundation '5 Under 35' (2012)
• NEA Grant
• Rolón Fellowship
• VCU Cabell First Novelist Award