Nathan Xavier Osorio
Nathan Xavier Osorio | |
|---|---|
Osorio at LA Book Fest 2025 | |
| Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Poet, educator |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | University of California, Santa Cruz Columbia University School of the Arts |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Employer | Texas Tech University |
| Notable works | Querida The Last Town Before the Mojave |
| Notable awards | Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize (2024) |
Nathan Xavier Osorio is an American poet and educator from Los Angeles, California.[1] He is the author of Querida, which won the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.[2][3] His chapbook The Last Town Before the Mojave was selected by Oliver de la Paz for the Poetry Society of America’s 2020 Chapbook Fellowship.[4] In 2025, Osorio was selected as the 46th resident poet of the Dartmouth poet-in-residence at Frost Place.[5]
Osorio’s poetry, translations, and essays have appeared in BOMB, The Offing, Boston Review, Public Books, and Notre Dame Review.[6]
Early life and education
Osorio was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.[1] He is of Mexican and Nicaraguan descent and is the son of a grocer and a nurse.[5] He earned a PhD in Literature from University of California, Santa Cruz, with a concentration in Latin American and Latino Studies and Visual Studies, and has an MFA in Poetry and Literary Translation from Columbia University School of the Arts.[5]
Career
Osorio is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Texas Tech University.[7] In 2023, he served as a Humanities Institute Public Fellow at the University of California Press, and in 2024 he was selected as a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California, Irvine, where he worked with Héctor Tobar on a poetry project, Tierra Madre.[7]
Poetry
Osorio’s poetry engages with themes of migration and family history, particularly the experience of growing up in Los Angeles as the child of immigrants. In an essay accompanying his poem “English as a Second Language,” he has described his work as shaped by his parents’ migration from Nicaragua and Mexico and by recurring travel between Southern California and Baja California.[8]
He has characterized his debut collection, Querida, as a reflection of his family and home life.[9] He has also explained using literary devices like ekphrasis and non-Western cosmologies as part of his poetics.[10] In an interview with poet Eduardo Martínez-Leyva, Osorio described his work as an attempt to create new rituals and forms that make room for vulnerability while challenging inherited structures of power. [11]
Books
| Title | Year | Type | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Querida[12] | 2024 | Poetry collection | University of Pittsburgh Press | Winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize[3] |
| The Last Town Before the Mojave[13] | 2022 | Chapbook | Poetry Society of America | Selected for the Poetry Society of America’s 2020 Chapbook Fellowship[4] |
Selected poems
- "English as a Second Language," Poetry Society of America[8]
- “Overtime,” and "13 More American Landscapes,
a View-Master Reel," Frozen Sea[14]
- "Hymn for the Last Town," Poetry Society of America[15]
- "Shelf Life," The Slowdown[16]
- "Empty Stadiums," "How to Cook a Wolf," and "Come, Little Hunger," Shō Poetry Journal[17]
Awards and honors
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize (2024), for Querida[3]
- Dartmouth Poet-in-Residence, The Frost Place (2025)[5]
- Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship (2020), for The Last Town Before the Mojave[4]
- Finalist, California Book Award in Poetry, for Querida (2025)[18]
- Finalist, Poetry Society of America Norma Faber First Book Award, for Querida (2025)[19]
References
- ^ a b "Nathan Xavier Osorio". University of Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Nathan Xavier Osorio". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ a b c "Nathan Osorio Named Winner of the 2024 Starrett Poetry Prize". University of Pittsburgh Press. 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ a b c "Nathan Xavier Osorio". Poetry Society of America. 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ a b c d "Nathan Xavier Osorio, 2025 Dartmouth Poet-in-Residence". The Frost Place. The Frost Place. 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Nathan Osorio Reading and Lecture". Hollins University. Hollins University. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ a b "Nathan Xavier Osorio". Department of English, Texas Tech University. Texas Tech University. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ a b "Nathan Xavier Osorio on "English as a Second Language"". Poetry Society of America. 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "A Conversation with Nathan Xavier Osorio". SHŌ Poetry Journal. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Voiced Heirloom, Sensed Home: Dialoging with Our Personal Archives as Poetic Method". Poetry Foundation. 21 November 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Eduardo Martínez-Leyva and Nathan Xavier Osorio". BOMB Magazine. New Art Publications, Inc. 19 November 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Querida: Poems". Strand Book Store. Strand Book Store. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "The Last Town Before the Mojave by Nathan Xavier Osorio". Poetry Society of America. Poetry Society of America. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Overtime". Frozen Sea. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Hymn for the Last Town". Poetry Society of America. Poetry Society of America. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Shelf Life by Nathan Xavier Osorio". The Slowdown. The Slowdown. 30 October 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "SHŌ Poetry Journal No. 4". SHŌ Poetry Journal. ISBN 9781942493969. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Finalists for the 94th Annual California Book Awards Competition Announced". The Commonwealth Club of California. The Commonwealth Club of California. 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ "Norma Farber First Book Award". Poetry Society of America. Poetry Society of America. 2025. Retrieved 2 February 2026.