, assistant professor of English, unexpectedly died Wednesday (May 6). He was 36.
An acclaimed novelist and beloved teacher, mentor and colleague, Navarro Aquino was a member of the and a faculty fellow of the and the .
“Xavier’s writing and artwork communicate with absolute clarity his humane and painterly care for the world in all its damage and beauty,” said , chair of the and former director of the Creative Writing Program. “His evident joy and commitment as a teacher inspired joy and commitment in his students, and his immediate legacy will be as an artist whose sense of beauty will be carried outwards to his readers, and to his students, and to their future readers. His loss is immeasurable.”
Navarro Aquino’s debut novel, “Velorio,” takes place in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s devastation in Puerto Rico. The novel earned high praise from a range of media outlets, with the New York Times Book Review calling Aquino “an incredibly talented young writer,” and the Chicago Review of Books describing it as a “complex, politically engaged work and deeply human story.”
“‘Velorio’ is a beautiful, poetic novel — reminiscent of William Faulkner’s classic ‘The Sound and the Fury,’” said , a professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program. “His attention to language is the kind of writing we might associate with a poet.”
Navarro Aquino was awarded a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Tennessee Williams scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, a MacDowell Fellowship and an American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices Fellowship at Dartmouth College. He was named a Fall 2021 Writer to Watch by Publishers Weekly. His fiction also appeared in Tin House magazine, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and Guernica.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Navarro Aquino earned his bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, a master’s degree in English and Caribbean studies from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras and his Ph.D. in literature and creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2021.
“Despite all of the early acclaim, Xavier was very humble and self-effacing. Our conversations were more often about soccer, or running or tattoos than his writing,” said , a professor of English, professor and chair of the and director of IRR at the time Navarro Aquino was hired. “Xavier was a dedicated teacher, an enormously talented writer and a warm and caring human being. His fiction reflected his care for the world, as ‘Velorio’ can be read as a cautionary tale about how not to treat one another under the most trying conditions. He was dedicated to representing Puerto Rico and to supporting universal human rights.”
A devoted and enthusiastic presence in the classroom, Navarro Aquino taught courses on fiction writing, the American short story, literary debuts and the role of storytelling in addressing modern, pressing issues. He directed both MFA and undergraduate honors theses. In recent years, he had become exceptionally passionate about painting.
, a professor of American studies and director of the Institute for Latino 91Ƶ, fondly recalls a visit Navarro Aquino made this semester to his course, The Cutting Edge in Latino 91Ƶ Research. Amidst a lively conversation about his life and work, Navarro Aquino also shared his short story, “Two Young Kings,” which Ruiz described as “brilliant and devastating.”
“I already admired Xavier as a writer and teacher, but the class session really floored me, as he showed a wonderfully open, honest and intelligent approach to his work and his vision for Latino literature,” Ruiz said. “He was the kind of professor who elevated our ongoing conversations around Latinidad and inspired the students and me to be ever more thoughtful in our approach to a complex subject matter that touches the very cores of our identities.
“He was not in any way precious about his work but embraced just about anything that we, the readers, could find in it. Xavier was an irreplaceable member of our community and his loss will be felt for a long time to come.”
Navarro Aquino is survived by his wife, Jayleen Santiago Diaz.
A memorial Mass will be held at 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 18, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, with University President , presiding.
Condolences may be sent to the Department of English, 233 Decio Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556.