Sergio Troncoso's Podcasts: Recent Episodes
Sergio Troncoso
Sergio Troncoso is the author of A PECULIAR KIND OF IMMIGRANT'S SON, THE LAST TORTILLA AND OTHER STORIES, CROSSING BORDERS: PERSONAL ESSAYS, and the novels THE NATURE OF TRUTH and FROM THIS WICKED PATCH OF DUST.
Daniel Chacon interviews Sergio Troncoso about Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds (The Wittliff Literary Series and Texas A&M University Press, 2021). Troncoso talks about editing the anthology, creating the concept and encouraging great writers to submit work, and exploring the complexity of Nepantla through essays, poetry, and short stories.
Maeve Conran interviews Sergio Troncoso about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son on Colorado Public Radio. He discusses how reading expands your empathy when you read stories outside your community. Troncoso also emphasizes why this matters after so much anti-immigrant rhetoric is dividing our country and its many communities.
Daniel Chacon interviews Sergio Troncoso about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son, a collection of linked short stories on immigration and Mexican-American diaspora. Troncoso also talks about the role of a writer, especially during moments like the Wal-Mart massacre in El Paso.
Daniel Chacon interviews Sergio Troncoso, and they talk about the influence of Sergio's abuelita, the naming of the public library in Ysleta, and creating the Troncoso Reading Prizes for local students. Finally Sergio discusses "Passing Ambition," his new essay about 'trying to become a Harvard student' in Washington, D.C. in We Wear the Mask: Fifteen True Stories of Passing in America, Beacon Press.
Daniel Chacon and Benjamin Saenz sit down in the studio for a chat with author Sergio Troncoso, an El Paso native who has republished his novel The Nature of Truth, which follows a half-Mexican, half-German Yale research student who tracks down the Nazi past of one of his professors. Sergio explains what drove him to republish the work, and he reads an excerpt. Sergio also explains to us why Ysleta is his favorite part of El Paso...and in this online-exclusive extended conversation, Sergio, Ben and Daniel argue over which El Paso restaurants are the best.
(2014; mp3 audio format; 33 minutes)
WBUR's Tom Ashbrook of On Point talks with Clay Smith, Sarah Bird, Sergio Troncoso, and Philipp Meyer about "That Texas Tone in Literature." These writers discuss the mythology of Texas versus the reality of the Texas miracle, the oil boom, Latinos and immigration, cattle country, urban Texas, and the borderlands.
(2014; mp3 audio format; 46 minutes)
KCUR's Steve Kraske interviews writer Sergio Troncoso about visiting Independence, Missouri to teach at the George Caleb Bingham Academy for the Arts during the summer, with student Ashton Harris. They talk about the importance of teachers and mentors, teaching writing to high school students, immigrant values, and creating a writing community. Kraske also asks Troncoso about Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence, Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.
(2014; mp3 audio format; 32 minutes)
Host Maria Hinojosa of National Public Radio's Latino USA talks with Sergio Troncoso about his novel, The Nature of Truth and how Chicano writers should expand their work beyond 'barrio' and 'familia' stories, to create characters instead of caricatures and to challenge stereotypes of Latino writers.
Arte Publico Press published a revised and updated paperback edition in 2014.
Rigoberto Gonzalez for the El Paso Times: "Engaging the complex issues of race and identity into the battle of ideologies regarding crime and punishement, Sergio Troncoso's The Nature of Truth single-handedly redefines the Chicano novel and the literary thriller."
(2003; mp3 audio format; 4 minutes)
For his series on the U.S.-Mexico border, NPR's Steve Inskeep interviews Sergio Troncoso and his parents Rodolfo and Bertha Troncoso at their home in Ysleta. The family talks about growing up with kerosene lamps and stoves and an outhouse in the backyard, but his father’s humorous and honest responses to being a proud Mexicano steal the show.
Sergio Troncoso is the author of The Last Tortilla and Other Stories, Crossing Borders: Personal Essays, and the novels The Nature of Truth and From This Wicked Patch of Dust. He co-edited Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence.
(2014; mp3 audio format; 8 minutes)
Louie Saenz from public radio station KTEP in El Paso, Texas interviews the author Sergio Troncoso about immigrant values, education, fatherhood, and the value of working together. Troncoso reads from his novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust and his essay in Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence.
(2013; mp3 audio format; 29 minutes)
From This Wicked Patch of Dust:
"Troncoso's novel is an engaging literary achievement." ---Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence:
"A bold collection of essays." ---The El Paso Times
Angela Elam interviews author Sergio Troncoso on New Letters on the Air (2013), the longest continuously-running broadcast of a national literary radio series. Troncoso talks about growing up in Ysleta on the United States-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas and making the leap to Harvard College. He also discusses his philosophical collection of essays and using moral examples in writing to effect change and new perspectives; and why he wrote his series of essays about his wife's battle against breast cancer. Troncoso describes the joys of HTML and creating his own website. The author reads from Crossing Borders: Personal Essays and his novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust. Visit www.SergioTroncoso.com.
(2013; mp3 audio format; 29 minutes)
Benjamin Alire Saenz and Daniel Chacon talk with Sergio Troncoso, author of From This Wicked Patch of Dust and Crossing Borders: Personal Essays. Troncoso co-edited Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence. The collection features essays from writers on both sides of the United States-Mexico border who share personal essays about how life, culture, and families have been affected by the escalating violence spawned by the 2008 drug war. Troncoso also talks about his return home to El Paso to receive the Literary Legacy Award on November 9, 2013. See www.SergioTroncoso.com.
(2013; mp3 audio format; 29 minutes)
For today's Poem of the Week, Daniel Chacon reads Sheryl Luna's "Seven" from the collection of the same name.
And in today's Poetic License, El Pasoan Paul Pedroza reads an excerpt from the essay he contributed to Our Lost Border. The essay is entitled "The Bridge to an Alien Nation."
C.M. Mayo talks with Sergio Troncoso, author of the novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust and Crossing Borders: Personal Essays. They discuss the fragmentation of our country and culture, connecting to recreate new groups and families, and the Librotraficante movement against the banning of books in Arizona.
Troncoso is also the author of the novel The Nature of Truth, and the short story collection The Last Tortilla, which won the Premio Aztlan. In 2012, he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. His website is www.SergioTroncoso.com.
C.M. Mayo is the author of the novel The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, which was named a Library Journal Best Book of 2009, and the collection Sky Over El Nido, which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. She is also the author of a travel memoir Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico. Her website is www.cmmayo.com.
This conversation was recorded on Skype during the summer of 2012.
Sergio Troncoso talks with Ted Wanner in a preview of Troncoso's appearance at the Texas Library Association's annual conference in Houston, Texas in April 17-20, 2012. Troncoso discusses his panel, "Latino Literature: Then and Now," as well as his two recent books, Crossing Borders: Personal Essays and the novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust. His website is www.SergioTroncoso.com.
From This Wicked Patch of Dust:
"Nuanced and authentic....The real beauty of this book is that it mines the rich diversity of tradition and culture among Latinos, as well as the commonalities they share with other Americans- love of family, faith, and country." ---The Dallas Morning News
Crossing Borders: Personal Essays:
"Troncoso's book is a piece of artwork and a piece of heritage that everyone, not just Latinos, should take the time to read." ---Portland Book Review
Writer Daniel Chacon of Words on a Wire, a radio program of El Paso's KTEP, talks with Sergio Troncoso about being a writer in New York City with roots in El Paso, his wife’s battle against breast cancer, and his relationship to Judaism.
(2011; mp3 audio format; 11 minutes)
Sergio Troncoso is the author of From This Wicked Patch of Dust, Crossing Borders: Personal Essays, The Nature of Truth, and The Last Tortilla and Other Stories. His website is www.SergioTroncoso.com.
From This Wicked Patch of Dust:
"Troncoso is clearly adept at his craft, telling a story filled with rich language and the realities of family life....Troncoso's novel is an engaging literary achievement." ---Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Crossing Borders: Personal Essays:
"These very personal essays cross several borders: cultural, historical, and self-imposed....We owe it to ourselves to read, savor and read them again." ---The El Paso Times
Eric Ladau, host of Houston Public Radio's 91.7 FM, talks with Sergio Troncoso about his novel, From This Wicked Patch of Dust, and book of essays, Crossing Borders: Personal Essays, the importance of teachers, his experiences at Harvard, his relationship to Judaism, and the politics of Latino literature in Texas and New York. In 2012, Troncoso was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. Troncoso's website is www.SergioTroncoso.com.
(2011; mp3 audio format; 82 minutes)
From This Wicked Patch of Dust:
"What's fascinating about From This Wicked Patch of Dust is that we have not one hero, but a whole family's worth....Bravo, Sergio, Bravo." ---The LatinaBookClub.com
Crossing Borders: Personal Essays:
"A champion for the rights of immigrants who have come to this country for a better, more propsperous life." ---NewPages.com
Louie Saenz, host of KTEP's Perspectives, interviews Sergio Troncoso about his family and Ysleta, the struggle to become a writer, and the influence of his maternal grandmother, Dolores Rivero, and his paternal grandfather, Santiago Troncoso. The Last Tortilla and Other Stories won the Premio Aztlan and the Southwest Book Award. Troncoso's website is www.SergioTroncoso.com.
(2000; mp3 audio format; 32 minutes)
The Last Tortilla and Other Stories:
"These stories are richly satisfying." ---Publishers Weekly
"Enthusiastically recommended." ---Booklist
"Troncoso really shines when he writes about El Paso and the life of Mexican-Americans there. He has the gift for writing from his heart outward into his reader's heart." ---Bloomsbury Review