Diego Báez
{{Short description|Paraguayan-American poet, writer, and educator}}
Diego Báez is a poet, writer, educator, and abolitionist who lives in Chicago.
Early life
Báez is of Paraguayan-American descent.{{Cite web |last=M |first=J. |date=2024-02-21 |title=Ternary Rhythms: An Interview With Diego Báez - Hypertext Magazine |url=https://www.hypertextmag.com/ternary-rhythms-an-interview-with-diego-baez/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=www.hypertextmag.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Diego Báez |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/diego-baez |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=The Poetry Foundation}} He grew up in central Illinois.{{Cite web |last=Chicago |first=I. L. |date=2023-07-14 |title=Diego Báez |url=https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/diego_baez |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Poets & Writers |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=LaClaire |first=Scott |date=2021-03-04 |title=Báez, Diego - The Georgia Review |url=https://www.thegeorgiareview.com/authors/baez-diego/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |language=en-US}}
Education
He received an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University in Newark.{{Cite web |last=Chicago |first=I. L. |date=2023-07-14 |title=Diego Báez |url=https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/diego_baez |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Poets & Writers |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Báez |first=Diego |title=Diego Báez |url=https://lithub.com/author/diegobaez/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}
Career
Báez writes fiction, nonfiction, book reviews, essays, and poetry.{{Cite web |title=Diego Báez |url=https://www.polyphonylit.org/Staff/diego-b%C3%A1ez |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Polyphony Lit |language=en}} His poetry touches on many themes, including the Guaraní and American experiences, hyphenate identities, colonialism, cultural erasure, nostalgia, and music.{{Cite web |last=M |first=J. |date=2024-02-21 |title=Ternary Rhythms: An Interview With Diego Báez - Hypertext Magazine |url=https://www.hypertextmag.com/ternary-rhythms-an-interview-with-diego-baez/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=www.hypertextmag.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Chaffa |first=Mandana |date=2024-02-21 |title=A Welcome Displacement: Diego Báez On Memory, Language and Belonging |url=https://chireviewofbooks.com/2024/02/21/beyond-borders-into-roots-a-conversation-with-diego-baez/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Chicago Review of Books |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2024-01-18 |title=Five Questions for Diego Báez |url=https://uapress.arizona.edu/2024/01/five-questions-diego-baez |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=UAPress |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Diego Báez — Inheritance |url=https://onbeing.org/programs/diego-baez-inheritance/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=The On Being Project |language=en-US}} His writing has also explored "the way globalizing language flattens the interplay and overlap of capital, ethnic identity, race, place, and nation." He writes in English, Guaraní, and Spanish.{{Cite web |last=M |first=J. |date=2024-02-21 |title=Ternary Rhythms: An Interview With Diego Báez - Hypertext Magazine |url=https://www.hypertextmag.com/ternary-rhythms-an-interview-with-diego-baez/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=www.hypertextmag.com |language=en-US}}
His work has been published in the Boston Globe, Granta, Georgia Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others.{{Cite web |date=2009-09-16 |title=Midnight on Lake Michigan |url=https://granta.com/Midnight-on-Lake-Michigan/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Granta |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Diego Báez 2024 |url=https://www.litluz.org/participants/diego-baez-2024 |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Lit & Luz |language=en-US}} Báez published Yaguareté White, a collection of poems, in 2024.
He was the inaugural fellow at CantoMundo in 2010 and has received fellowships at the Surge Institute, as well as the Poetry Foundation's Incubator for Community-Engaged Poet.{{Cite web |title=The Citizen Newspaper Group |url=https://citizennewspapergroup.com/news/2024/jan/24/chicago-poet-and-professor-diego-baez-debuts-yagua/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=citizennewspapergroup.com}}{{Cite web |title=Diego Báez Archives |url=https://www.writersdigest.com/author/diego-baez |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Writer's Digest |language=en}}
He teaches at the City Colleges in Chicago in interdisciplinary studies.{{Cite web |last=Olivas |first=Daniel A. |date=2024-02-19 |title=The Tightrope Walk between Authenticity and Fraudulence: A Conversation with Diego Báez |url=https://therumpus.net/2024/02/19/diego-baez/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=The Rumpus |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Báez identifies as an abolitionist.{{Cite web |date=2023-08-24 |title=Abolition, Anarchism, and a Question of Action |url=https://www.altaonline.com/california-book-club/a44853536/kelly-lytle-hernandez-bad-mexicans-diego-baez/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Alta Online |language=en-US}} He also has an interest in Formula One racing.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-19 |title=Interview: Diego Báez Debuts New Poetry Collection, Yaguarete White |url=https://thirdcoastreview.com/2024/02/19/lit-interview-diego-baez-debuts-new-poetrycollection-yaguarete-white |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Third Coast Review |language=en}}