Local writer Sueños wins Chicana & Chicano studies poetry award
San Marcos writer Juania Sueños received the 2026 Tejas Foco Poetry Award – selected for her recently released hybrid poetry collection – presented by the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies at a Houston ceremony on Feb. 28.
The Tejas Foco Poetry Award honors outstanding books that contribute to the Tejas, Chicanx and Latinx literary canon, recognizing work that engages the state’s cultural and political landscapes.
Her winning book is titled, “topography of a border / line bird.”
Her publisher Mouthfeel Press said: ”Sueños’ manuscript was selected for its lyrical and experimental precision, emotional depth, and exploration of borders, immigration, memory, queerness, and belonging.
“‘topography of a border / line bird’ maps the art of putting oneself together after being torn open by immigration, familial abuse, a government intent on negating one’s existence, grief and mental illness. Haunted, layered and luminous, this collection is a kaleidoscope of dreams detailing queer love, selfdestruction, and an iridescent mother-daughter relationship full of warmth and a volatile yet unyielding strength familiar to Mexican women who transcend the blows dealt by the forced borders of the land and mind,” according to Mouthfeel Press.
Sueños, a graduate of the Masters of Fine Arts program at Texas State University, is Executive Director for the literary nonprofit “Infrarrealista Review,” and organizer of the Hays Youth Poet Laureate program.
Sueños’ group will announce the new 2026 Hays Youth Poet Laureate alongside a book launch on Saturday April 4, at 6 p.m. at the Price Center. The event, underwritten by the Burdine Johnson Foundation, will feature in-person readings from Texas Poet Laureates Carrie Fountain and ire’ne lara silva.
Juania Sueños receiving 2026 Tejas Foco Poetry Award. Photo courtesy of C/H Education Fund
