Ruben Reyes Jr.

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Ruben Reyes Jr. is an American author. He is the author of the short story collection There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven (2024) [1] and the novel Archive of Unknown Universes (2025). [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Reyes was born in Fontana, California, to Salvadoran immigrant parents. [3] He grew up in Diamond Bar, California. [3]

He studied History and Literature at Harvard College, where he founded the Latinx literary magazine Palabritas as an undergraduate. [4] He subsequently received his Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. [1]

Career

Reyes's writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, AGNI, BOMB Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, and LitHub. [1]

There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven

His debut short story collection, There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, was published by Mariner Books on August 6, 2024. [5] The collection features twelve stories that blend speculative fiction, magical realism, and science fiction with themes of Central American identity and migration. [6] Notable formal innovations in the collection include a choose-your-own-adventure-style story titled "Variations on Your Migrant Life." [6]

Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, [5] as did Kirkus Reviews. [7] Manuel Gonzales reviewed the collection for The Washington Post. [6]

Archive of Unknown Universes

Reyes's debut novel, Archive of Unknown Universes, was published by Mariner Books on July 1, 2025. [8] The novel follows two Salvadoran American Harvard students who investigate their families' histories during the Salvadoran Civil War using an experimental device called "The Defractor" that allows users to view alternate timelines. [8] The narrative alternates between contemporary Cambridge in 2018 and parallel timelines set during the 1970s and 1980s civil war. [2]

The novel was reviewed in Publishers Weekly, [8] The Washington Post, [2] and other publications.

Awards and honors

There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven was a finalist for The Story Prize for books published in 2024. [9] The collection was also longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the New American Voices Award, and was a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction, the California Book Awards, and the Aspen Words Literary Prize. [10]

Personal life

Reyes lives in Queens, New York. [3]

Bibliography

Short story collections

Novels

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Ruben Reyes Jr". Literary Hub. 19 August 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Qureshi, Bilal (20 July 2025). "'Archive of Unknown Universes' by Ruben Reyes Jr. book review". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 "Ruben Reyes Jr.'s 'Archive of Unknown Universes' explores love, war, trauma". Orange County Register. 22 July 2025. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  4. ↑ "PALABRITAS Latinx Literary Publication: An Interview with Ruben Reyes, Jr". Letras Latinas Blog. Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame. August 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  5. 1 2 "There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes Jr". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 Gonzales, Manuel (15 August 2024). ""There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven," by Ruben Reyes Jr., is wildly imaginative". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  7. ↑ "There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven". Kirkus Reviews. 13 September 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 "Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes Jr". Publishers Weekly. 23 April 2025. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  9. ↑ "2025 Story Prize Winner Announced". The Story Prize. 25 March 2025. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  10. ↑ "Ruben Reyes Jr". Lutyens & Rubinstein Literary Agency. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
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