Deborah Paredez

Deborah Paredez is the author of two award-winning books: the critical study, Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory (Duke 2009) and the poetry collection, This Side of Skin (Wings Press 2002).  Her recent publications include, "About My (Absent) Mother: Latina Aspirations in Real Women Have Curves and Ugly Betty," Beyond El Barrio: Everyday Life in Latina/o America (NYU Press 2010) and poems appearing in Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, Poet Lore, and Mandorla: New Writings from the Americas.  She is currently at work on a poetry collection called After the Light and a critical study about Black and Latina divas in American culture.  She is the co-founder of CantoMundo, a national organization dedicated to Latina/o poets and poetry.  On campus, she has served as Director of Arts and Community Engagement (2007-2010) and Associate Director (2009-2010) and Interim Director (2011) of the Center for Mexican American Studies.