Ruben Navarrette

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group and appears in nearly 200 papers including The Chicago Tribune and The San Francisco Chronicle. The second-generation Mexican American is one of only a dozen Latino syndicated columnists in the US, and one of the country's youngest syndicated columnists overall. A frequent spokesperson and commentator on Latino issues, his twice-weekly column offers new thinking on many of the major issues of the day, especially regarding thorny questions involving ethnicity and national origin.

The Harvard graduate is also editor-at-large of Austin-based Latino Magazine, an editorial writer and board member for The San Diego Union-Tribune, a regular contributor of commentary to CNN.com, a member of the USA Today Board of Contributors, a monthly commentator for the Latino website Latino Briefing Room, a weekly commentator for the San Diego edition of Patch.com, and a monthly commentator for The Americano. A former radio talk show host in three markets (Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Fresno), he regularly offers analysis on NPR's "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin, and is a weekly contributor to (and guest host for) "The Michael Eric Dyson Radio Show." He often discusses current affairs on CNN, CNBC, NPR, and The Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. He has also appeared on Now with Bill Moyers, The Chris Matthews Show, and The O'Reilly Factor. Most recently, Navarrette served as a panelist on the PBS's All-American Presidential Forum in June 2007, a primetime event where he joined NPR's Michel Martin & USA Today's DeWayne Wickham in asking questions of eight Democratic presidential candidates.

Navarrette's first book, A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano, was published in 1993, when the author was just 26 years old. He returned to Harvard in the fall of 1999 to earn a Masters degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government. In 2000, his essay, "Vindication," about the difficulties encountered in attempting to launch his writing career, was selected from over 5,000 entries as one of the 101 contributions to Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul, an installment of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Navarrette began his career writing freelance articles in publications such as The Los Angeles Times, The Fresno Bee, The Chicago Tribune, and The Arizona Republic. He supported his writing by public speaking on Latino affairs, substitute teaching in classes from kindergarten to high school, and hosting radio talk shows, including a daily stint on a show targeted toward Generation X listeners in Los Angeles.