Roberto Tejada

Roberto Tejada is the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Houston, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the School of Art's Program in Art History. His academic roles span creative writing, art history, and cultural studies. He holds a Ph.D. in English (2004) from SUNY Buffalo and a B.A. in Comparative Literature (1986) from NYU.

Tejada’s research bridges Latinx poetics, art history, and photography studies. His work examines colonial legacies, cultural counter-conquest narratives, and transnational cultural production. He has authored poetry collections like Why the Assembly Disbanded (2022) and art-historical texts such as National Camera (2009). His translations and edited volumes include Mandorla: New Writing of the Americas and Modern Art in Global Contexts.

He served as executive editor of Artes de México (1988–1995) and founded Mandorla. His awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship (2021), NEH grants, and the Andy Warhol Creative Capital Grant (2009). He has curated exhibitions on artists like Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Luis Gispert, and his teaching spans Dartmouth, UCSD, UT Austin, and SMU.

• Research Interests: Colonial histories, visual culture, Latinx art/poetry, transnational cultural production.
• Awards: Guggenheim, NEH, NEA, Fulbright, Clark Art Institute Fellowship.
• Key Publications: Over 15 books across poetry, art criticism, and edited volumes.