Deborah is the author of American Diva (Norton 2024) which combines memoir and criticism to explore the impact of divas on her life and on American culture. Her other books include the critical study, Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory (Duke 2009) and the poetry collections, This Side of Skin (Wings Press 2002) and Year of the Dog (BOA 2020), winner of the 2020 Writers’ League of Texas Poetry Book Award and a New York Times "New and Notable Poetry Book." Her poetry, essays, and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, National Public Radio, Boston Review, The Georgia Review, Feminist Studies, and elsewhere.

She earned a PhD in Interdisciplinary Theatre and Performance from Northwestern University and a BA in English from Trinity University. Her honors include a Latina/o Studies Book Award Honorable Mention, Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Writing Award, and fellowships from Hedgebrook Center for Women Writers, Blue Mountain Center, and the American Academy in Rome. She is the chair of the creative writing program at Columbia University and the Co-Founder of CantoMundo, a national organization for Latinx poets.