The 1980 recipient of the University of Honduras Poetry Prize, José Quesada is one of a group of contemporary Honduran poets and artists dedicated to establishing and developing a poetics of sociopolitical concerns. Together with two other well-known poets, Rigoberto Paredes and Nelson Merren, Quesada has played an integral role in the direction of Honduran poetry since the publication of his first book in 1974. His influence has also been notable in the plastic arts, particularly through his contributions as an innovative painter.

José Luis Quesada was born in Olanchito, Yoro, in September 1948. He grew up in this town, not far from the North Coast of Honduras, and in his late teens moved to the coastal town of La Ceiba, where one of his sisters lived. In La Ceiba he became part of a group of young poets known as La Voz Convocada (The Summoned Voice), which included...