LatinX Audio Lit Mag: Recent Episodes
Teresa Douglas
If you write about family that's still living, do you still get to go to the family reunions? Can you really put pomegranate seeds in tacos and retain your Mexican license? Get the answer to these hard-hitting questions in this episode of Latinx Lit Audio Mag.
Roy Conboy is a Mixed Blood Latino/Irish/Indigenous writer and teacher who’s poetic plays have been seen in the struggling black boxes on the edges of the mainstream theatre in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Francisco, San Antonio, Denver, and more; and whose musical plays for young people have toured extensively in California. His poetry has been seen in Green Hills Literary Lantern, Orphic Lute, Third Estate’s Quaranzine, Freshwater Literary Journal, New American Writing, and featured on Latinx Lit Magazine’s podcast. His poetic radio drama Hue can be heard online at Barewire Theatre Company. As an educator he taught for 35 years, including three decades as the head of the San Francisco State University playwrighting program where he created multiple programs that gave thousands of students of diverse ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds a place to find and raise their voices.
Check out his work at royconboy.net.
Roy's poem Tia Mary combines playfulness and poignancy in one beautiful punch.
Roy Conboy is a Mixed Blood Latino/Irish/Indigenous writer and teacher who’s poetic plays have been seen in the struggling black boxes on the edges of the mainstream theatre in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Francisco, San Antonio, Denver, and more; and whose musical plays for young people have toured extensively in California. His poetry has been seen in Green Hills Literary Lantern, Orphic Lute, Third Estate’s Quaranzine, Freshwater Literary Journal, New American Writing, and featured on the Latinx Lit podcast. His poetic radio drama Hue can be heard online at Barewire Theatre Company. As an educator he taught for 35 years, including three decades as the head of the San Francisco State University playwrighting program where he created multiple programs that gave thousands of students of diverse ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds a place to find and raise their voices.
You can catch his work at royconboy.net
Do the people who don't claim you have any right to decide who you are? Check out this behind the scenes with Kate Johnstun as he shares his family story and identity.
Kase Johnston is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and memoirist. He lives in Ogden, Utah, with his small family, and is on the board of Label Me Latina/o literary journal — just a writer who has been grappling with identity his whole life.
Author: 'Cast Away' (forthcoming from Torrey House Press, 2024). You can buy the new book now! https://www.torreyhouse.org/let-the-wild-grasses-grow
'Let the Wild Grasses Grow' (Torrey House Press, 2021), Finalist High Plains Book Award, Fiction, 2022, Women’s National Book Association Great Group Read 2022
And 'Beyond the Grip of Craniosynostosis (McFarland & Co, 2015), Winner of the 2015 Gold Quill, League of Utah Writers
Co author/editor: Utah Reflections: Stories from the Wasatch Front (History Press, 2014) Host, The LITerally Podcast - http://www.thebanyancollective.com/literally/
"By the time I was old enough to know, they only spoke in Spanish when they fought or when they swore. Then he would lift his hand and spin his finger around, directing me to dance while the first chords of La Cucaracha sang from his guitar. “La cucaracha y no puedo caminar.”
And he always sang the version that included “marijuana que fumar,” and he would get another side glance and laugh from grandma. Growing up, I thought this was the original and only version of the song. I had to look it up years later to learn that it has been around for decades but it’s not the version most grandfathers teach their grandchildren.
With this, for my grandpa Cordova, was par for the course on just about everything he taught us. If there was a dirty version of a song or a joke, that’s the one we heard."
Kase Johnston is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and memoirist. He lives in Ogden, Utah, with his small family, and is on the board of Label Me Latina/o literary journal — just a writer who has been grappling with identity his whole life.
Author: 'Cast Away' (forthcoming from Torrey House Press, 2024). You can buy the new book now! https://www.torreyhouse.org/let-the-wild-grasses-grow
'Let the Wild Grasses Grow' (Torrey House Press, 2021), Finalist High Plains Book Award, Fiction, 2022, Women’s National Book Association Great Group Read 2022
And 'Beyond the Grip of Craniosynostosis (McFarland & Co, 2015), Winner of the 2015 Gold Quill, League of Utah Writers
Co author/editor: Utah Reflections: Stories from the Wasatch Front (History Press, 2014)
Host, The LITerally Podcast - http://www.thebanyancollective.com/literally/
Can Alfredo Pasta really cure the blues? And is a national anthem just a cringey throwback to different times? Get the answers to these questions and more in this week's Behind the Scenes with Luna Vallejo.
Luna Vallejo is a 17-year-old writer who hails from Staten Island, New York with Mexican and Honduran roots. Luna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Neverland Lit, an international youth literary magazine that strives to amplify the voices of marginalized and emerging writers. When she’s not writing, you can find her listening to Lorde, stargazing, and re-reading Anthony Doerr novels.
"The Star-Spangled Banner
Is more than just a national anthem, it's the sanctified song millions of immigrants sing under their breath as their brittle backbones bend over strawberry fields slick with dew to convince themselves that America can still see their silhouettes even when their sandpaper skin isn't drenched in the dawn's early light..."
Luna Vallejo is a 17-year-old writer who hails from Staten Island, New York with Mexican and Honduran roots. Luna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Neverland Lit, an international youth literary magazine that strives to amplify the voices of marginalized and emerging writers. When she’s not writing, you can find her listening to Lorde, stargazing, and re-reading Anthony Doerr novels.
What is a Rodeo Queen, and does it come with a golden lasso like Wonder Woman gets? Tune in to get the answer to this hard-hitting question and more as we take a deep dive into the world of Breaking Pattern.
Buy Breaking Pattern from Inlandia Books and Barnes and Noble
BIO: Chicana Feminist and former Rodeo Queen, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera (she/her) writes so the desert landscape of her childhood can be heard as loudly as the urban chaos of her adulthood. She is obsessed with food. A former high school teacher, she earned an MFA at Antioch University Los Angeles and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Southern California. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and is spotlighted in Best Small Fictions 2022. Her short stories have been anthologized in Rural Writers of Color (EastOver Press 2023), Made in L.A. Volume 4 and 5 (Resonant Earth 2022 and 2023), Ramblings & Reflections: SouthWest Writers Winning Words Anthology, and Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century. Her play Blind Thrust Fault was featured in Center Theater Group Writers’ Workshop Festival 2022 and her young adult novel Breaking Pattern is forthcoming from Inlandia Books. She is a Macondista and works for literary equity through Women Who Submit. You can read her other work at http://tishareichle.com/
Adriana Elizabeth Herrera Bowen loves horses more than people and lives for junior rodeo competitions. For the first time, the All-Around Cowgirl saddle is within her reach. Except her old gray mare, Pearl, isn’t as fast as she used to be, and another competitor has her eye on the same prize. So Adriana needs a faster horse. Is she willing to jeopardize her friendships and vet school dreams to win? Not if her parents have anything to say about it.
Buy Breaking Pattern from Inlandia Books and Barnes and Noble
BIO: Chicana Feminist and former Rodeo Queen, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera (she/her) writes so the desert landscape of her childhood can be heard as loudly as the urban chaos of her adulthood. She is obsessed with food. A former high school teacher, she earned an MFA at Antioch University Los Angeles and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Southern California. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and is spotlighted in Best Small Fictions 2022. Her short stories have been anthologized in Rural Writers of Color (EastOver Press 2023), Made in L.A. Volume 4 and 5 (Resonant Earth 2022 and 2023), Ramblings & Reflections: SouthWest Writers Winning Words Anthology, and Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century. Her play Blind Thrust Fault was featured in Center Theater Group Writers’ Workshop Festival 2022 and her young adult novel Breaking Pattern is forthcoming from Inlandia Books. She is a Macondista and works for literary equity through Women Who Submit. You can read her other work at http://tishareichle.com/
In today's episode, Jessey Munoz shows us that you don't need a lot to have a happy childhood. And sometimes a pot of beans on the stove can be magical.
Jessey Munoz is a retired teacher. He loves poetry, writing and his Mexican-American culture. He often writes about family experiences. He lives in Texas with his wife, Patricia. You can find Jessey's books 'Circle of Twelve: Mom Commanded the Wind, Dad the Land'; 'I Saw it All: Grandma's Account of the Big Bad Wolf Story', and 'Hidden Enemy— PTSD: A Puzzle Piece that Does Not Fit' on Amazon.
Do you remember when you thought finding a quarter made you rich? In this poem, Jesse Munoz takes us back to a simpler time.
Jessey Munoz is a retired teacher. He loves poetry, writing and his Mexican-American culture. He often writes about family experiences. He lives in Texas with his wife, Patricia.
of
— PTSD: A Puzzle Piece that Does Not Fit' on Amazon.
What an amazing Fourth Season! If you haven't had a chance to listen to the beautiful stories and poems over the last four seasons, then this is the perfect time to catch up. LatinxLit will be reading and recording submissions all summer long, and come back in September ready to rock your world. We can't wait to show you the magic.
Have a great summer.
Mother's Day just passed, and we're celebrating it the Latinx Lit Audio Mag way, with a prose poem about a mother that is both beautiful and sad. Listen as David takes us through the writing of this one and how he navigated writing through grief.
David Estringel is a Xicanx writer/poet with works published in literary publications, such as The Opiate, Azahares, Cephalorpress, Lahar, Poetry Ni, DREICH, Somos En Escrito, Ethel, The Milk House, Beir Bua Journal, and The Blue Nib. His first collection of poetry and short fiction Indelible Fingerprints was published April 2019, followed Blood Honey and Cold Comfort House in 2022, little punctures in 2023, and Blind Turns in the Kitchen Sink (scheduled for publication in 2024). David has written six poetry chapbooks, Punctures, PeripherieS, Eating Pears on the Rooftop, Golden Calves Blue, and Sour Grapes. Connect with David on Twitter@The_Booky_Man and his website www.davidaestringel.com.
"Long has it been since I’ve heard...The thump…thump…thump of black stone on black stone—the molcajete—mashing cumino seeds, granos de pimiento negra, and cloves of garlic—with snaps and pops—into glorious salves that staved off hungers, deep and brash."
David Estringel is a Xicanx writer/poet with works published in literary publications, such as The Opiate, Azahares, Cephalorpress, Lahar, Poetry Ni, DREICH, Somos En Escrito, Ethel, The Milk House, Beir Bua Journal, and The Blue Nib. His first collection of poetry and short fiction Indelible Fingerprints was published April 2019, followed Blood Honey and Cold Comfort House in 2022, little punctures in 2023, and Blind Turns in the Kitchen Sink (scheduled for publication in 2024). David has written six poetry chapbooks, Punctures, PeripherieS, Eating Pears on the Rooftop, Golden Calves Blue, and Sour Grapes. Connect with David on Twitter@The_Booky_Man and his website www.davidaestringel.com.
Latina Muslims are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Islam. However, many of the conversations surrounding Latinas and Muslims often don't include the intersection of these groups. In today’s episode, Evelyn Alsultany will discuss her book Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion (2022), which was listed as one of the 10 best scholarly books of 2022 by The Chronicle of Higher Education and was a finalist for the Association of American Publishers’ Prose Award.
Evelyn Alsultany is a Professor in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College and author of Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11. She is the co-author of Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, and Belonging and Between the Middle East and the Americas: The Cultural Politics of Diaspora. As a leading expert on the history of representations of Arabs and Muslims in the US media, she co-authored the Obeidi-Alsultany Test to help Hollywood improve representations of Muslims and serves as a consultant for Hollywood studios.
In this episode, Samantha tackles the question: what can wealth mean to a creative in a capitalistic society? We also talk about the wonder of the neighborhood tamale seller. Warning: this episode might make you want tamales.
Samantha is a lesbian Chicana poet from East LA. She began writing short stories when she was six and grew to love poetry throughout her educational career. She is a current student at UC Berkeley earning her BA in Chicanx & Latinx Studies. Samantha hopes to work with teens from her community to combat violence through artistic expression, such as poetry, digital art, and photography. You can follow along Samantha's artistic journey on Instagram at @dr3aming.chicana., her personal Instagram: www.instagram.com/dr3aming.chicana, poetry Instagram: www.instagram.com/browneyezpoet, business Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebrownprideshop, and business Website: www.thebrownprideshop.bigcartel.com
"I want wealth in my spirit!
Honoring the souls of my ancestors who made la cultura what it is today;
Honoring the stories of my primos y tios y tias floating across the border;
Honoring the crisp dickies and pro clubs stuffed in my drawers because they are more than just clothes, they are our way of expression."
Samantha is a lesbian Chicana poet from East LA. She began writing short stories when she was six and grew to love poetry throughout her educational career. She is a current student at UC Berkeley earning her BA in Chicanx & Latinx Studies. Samantha hopes to work with teens from her community to combat violence through artistic expression, such as poetry, digital art, and photography. You can follow along Samantha's artistic journey on Instagram at @dr3aming.chicana., her personal Instagram: www.instagram.com/dr3aming.chicana, poetry Instagram: www.instagram.com/browneyezpoet, business Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebrownprideshop, and business Website: www.thebrownprideshop.bigcartel.com
If you enjoyed the way Tak wove the deeply personal with the natural world in her two poems, you're going to love hearing how she came to write them. And if you're looking to purchase her book Tourist, which published on April 11, 2023, you can do so at Amazon or at Sea Crow Press.
TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. Her poetry has been featured in Bien Acompañada from Cornell University, The Muse from McMaster University, River And South Review, The Welter, and more. Her debut chapbook, Found: Between The Trees was published by Grey Border Books, Canada 2019. Erzinger’s most recent poetry collection, At The Foot Of The Mountain, Floricanto Press, California 2021, has been announced by the University of Indianapolis, Etchings Press as the Whirling Prize winner for 2021 for best nature poetry book. Her first audio drama, Stella’s Constellation, was produced by Alternative Stories And Fake Realities Podcasts, out of the UK.
"Yo hablo, yo hablo así, you hablo así, en mi corozón…
When I began to speak, I parroted
Mariposas instead of butterflies
and they appeared to be tropical
but I realised I was landlocked and
it was winter with dusty snowflakes..."
Tak reads two poems from Tourist, her latest book of poetry. You can purchase a copy of Tourist at Amazon and at Sea Crow Press.
TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. Her poetry has been featured in Bien Acompañada from Cornell University, The Muse from McMaster University, River And South Review, The Welter, and more. Her debut chapbook, Found: Between The Trees was published by Grey Border Books, Canada 2019. Erzinger’s most recent poetry collection, At The Foot Of The Mountain, Floricanto Press, California 2021, has been announced by the University of Indianapolis, Etchings Press as the Whirling Prize winner for 2021 for best nature poetry book. Her first audio drama, Stella’s Constellation, was produced by Alternative Stories And Fake Realities Podcasts, out of the UK.
In which Lysz teaches Teresa about Pastelon, forever changing her life for the better. Also, there are never enough love poems about family/friend love, and Lysz walks us through how she wrote this one. Be prepared for some deep moments, like when Lyzs says "Sometimes people save you in ways that you have no words for."
Lysz Flo is an Afrolatinx, trilingual spoken word artist, author of fiction and poetry, member of The Estuary Collective, and a podcast host of Creatively Exposed, Grubstreet educator, and Voodoonauts Summer 2020 Fellow. She released her poetry novel Soliloquy of an Ice Queen, March 2020. You can find her work at:
https://www.lyszflo.com, her podcast Creatively Exposed at: https://anchor.fm/lyszflo, and the Lysz Flo Reflects Chapbook at: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780368106927?aff=LyszFlo
12 Steps is a Zine—part 1.5 to Soliloquy of an Ice Queen—a collection of poems about releasing the addiction to desire & loving someone in steps. The ugly, the difficult, heartbreaking and faltering of letting go. Go to https://simplebooklet.com/12steps1 for the audio/ebook if you want to hear Lysz read to you $7.77
You can get a limited edition, signed print copy https://astrolyszics.com/products/12-steps-of-letting-go for $11.11 plus shipping
"Wela, Vieja, who loves moons on her nails
and stars in my eyes."
Sometimes the greatest love stories have nothing to do with romance. This is one of them.
Lysz Flo is an Afrolatinx, trilingual spoken word artist, author of fiction and poetry, member of The Estuary Collective, and a podcast host of Creatively Exposed, Grubstreet educator, and Voodoonauts Summer 2020 Fellow. She released her poetry novel Soliloquy of an Ice Queen, March 2020. You can find her work at:
https://www.lyszflo.com, her podcast Creatively Exposed at: https://anchor.fm/lyszflo, and the Lysz Flo Reflects Chapbook at: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780368106927?aff=LyszFlo
12 Steps is a Zine—part 1.5 to Soliloquy of an Ice Queen—a collection of poems about releasing the addiction to desire & loving someone in steps. The ugly, the difficult, heartbreaking and faltering of letting go. Go to https://simplebooklet.com/12steps1 for the audio/ebook if you want to hear Lysz read to you $7.77
You can get a limited edition, signed print copy https://astrolyszics.com/products/12-steps-of-letting-go for $11.11 plus shipping
David talks to us about the complexity of embracing one's heritage as an adult, after a life of youthful denial.
David Estringel is a Xicanx writer/poet with works published in literary publications, such as The Opiate, Azahares, Cephalorpress, Lahar, Poetry Ni, DREICH, Rigorous, Somos en escrito, Hispanecdotes, Ethel, The Milk House, Beir Bua Journal, and The Blue Nib. David received his BA in English at the University of Texas at Brownsvile and his MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Currently, he is a graduate student, working on a PhD in English (World Literature), as well as a Graduate Instructor at Texas A&M-Commerce. His first collection of poetry and short fiction Indelible Fingerprints (Alien Buddha Press) was published in April 2019, followed his second and third poetry collections Blood Honey (Anxiety Press) and Cold Comfort House (Anxiety Press) in 2022. David has written five poetry chapbooks, Punctures (2019), PeripherieS (2020), Eating Pears on the Rooftop (2022), Golden Calves (coming March 2023), and Blue (coming September 2023). His new book of micro poetry little punctures, a collaboration with UK illustrator, Luca Bowles, will be released in 2023. David is also EIC at The Argyle Literary Magazine, as well as at Texas A&M’s literary magazine The Mayo Review (both launches scheduled for early 2023). Connect with David on Twitter @The_Booky_Man and his website www.davidaestringel.com.
"Thumbing through The Borderlands, I can’t help but feel not “brown” enough. I’m Mexican Lite. Got a case of the “coconuts”. There are no rageful battle-cries inflaming this breast. No bitterness lingering on the tip of the tongue (the back of hands and the starch of white collars taste just the same no matter the bearer’s color). No tortured soul, longing for identity and re-appropriation. Just me and this suit of rosy-beige meat that touts my value best in the dead of winter."
David Estringel is a Xicanx writer/poet with works published in literary publications, such as The Opiate, Azahares, Cephalorpress, Lahar, Poetry Ni, DREICH, Rigorous, Somos en escrito, Hispanecdotes, Ethel, The Milk House, Beir Bua Journal, and The Blue Nib. David received his BA in English at the University of Texas at Brownsvile and his MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Currently, he is a graduate student, working on a PhD in English (World Literature), as well as a Graduate Instructor at Texas A&M-Commerce. His first collection of poetry and short fiction Indelible Fingerprints (Alien Buddha Press) was published in April 2019, followed his second and third poetry collections Blood Honey (Anxiety Press) and Cold Comfort House (Anxiety Press) in 2022. David has written five poetry chapbooks, Punctures (2019), PeripherieS (2020), Eating Pears on the Rooftop (2022), Golden Calves (coming March 2023), and Blue (coming September 2023). His new book of micro poetry little punctures, a collaboration with UK illustrator, Luca Bowles, will be released in 2023. David is also EIC at The Argyle Literary Magazine, as well as at Texas A&M’s literary magazine The Mayo Review (both launches scheduled for early 2023). Connect with David on Twitter @The_Booky_Man and his website www.davidaestringel.com.
In today's episode we talk about telling people you love them while they are still here with you, the importance of grandparents, and the healing properties of a good chicken in duck sauce.
Larissa Freitas (She/Her) is a Latina poet from João Pessoa, Brazil. She writes because she believes in the transformative power of literature. Her poems have been published in English and Portuguese. You can follow her work on Instagram at @LarizFreitas
So it doesn't have to be Valentine's Day to talk about the deep love we have for people, but if you are looking for a pure ode to the love of a grandma, this week's episode is for you.
Larissa Freitas (She/Her) is a Latina poet from João Pessoa, Brazil. She writes because she believes in the transformative power of literature. Her poems have been published in English and Portuguese. You can follow her work on Instagram at @LarizFreitas
Is it a sin to eat mac and cheese and Pozole in the same sitting? Get the answer to this question and more in this hard-hitting episode. Spoiler: Teresa liked this poem so much she was pretty much incoherent in her acceptance, but tried to do better in the actual interview.
Mateo Omar is a writer, poet, and artist currently based in San Diego county, California. So far his writing has been published in Mixed Mag, Gypsophila Zine, and Rise Up Review. He can be found on Instagram @arachnidoll.
"In my quiet telemetry, I send
The kind of invitations I’d want to receive
And the kind of warnings I’d ignore
Embedded deep in me
Occipital, parietal, frontal
And now lacrimal
Power sources
With no twin resonance in sight"
Mateo Omar is a writer, poet, and artist currently based in San Diego county, California. So far his writing has been published in Mixed Mag, Gypsophila Zine, and Rise Up Review. He can be found on Instagram @arachnidoll.
What does a freak snow storm and a 24-hour writing contest have in common? Both were seeds that sprouted this ultra-hopeful story. And if you enjoy stories that keep Chekhov's theory about guns in mind, you're going to love this episode.
Christiane Williams-Vigil is a Xicana writer from El Paso, Texas. Nationality wise she identifies as Mexican-American. Her work has been published in various literary magazines such as Marias at Sampaguitas, Chismosa Press, Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine, and Marshall University’s Movable Project. Currently, she is a Best of the Net nominee and contributing staff writer for Alebrijes Review. This story was previously published in a local community college's annual literary anthology.
Why would you drive during a freak snowstorm in Texas? If you're Christiane Williams-Vigil, the answer is that the person did it for love.
Christiane Williams-Vigil, is a Xicana writer from El Paso, Texas. Her work has been published in various literary magazines such as Marias at Sampaguitas, Chismosa Press, Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine, and Marshall University’s Movable Project. Currently, she is a Best of the Net nominee and contributing staff writer for Alebrijes Review. This story was previously published in a local community college's annual literary anthology.
Some people just think in poetry, and Mary Teresa is one of them. In this episode, we'll hear Mary Teresa's process for writing El Pilon, and learn how to lure wild roosters into our lives.
Mary Teresa Toro an aging Puerto Rican living in the woods of North Alabama with Frank, her husband of fifty-three years, Bitsie, a crazy mix of Weiner dog and mystery, and Ki-Ki-Ri-Ki, a random rooster who wandered onto the homestead.
When is a modest pilon more than a useful kitchen tool? When it's the only thing you can touch when your loved one is gone.
Mary Teresa toro is an aging Puerto Rican living in the woods of North Alabama with Frank, her husband of fifty-three years, Bitsie, a crazy mix of Weiner dog and mystery, and Ki-Ki-Ri-Ki, a random rooster who wandered onto the homestead.
Delve into the fascinating world behind this lush poem. In more selfish news, Rene gave Teresa back a piece of her childhood. She may be listening to R.Carlos Naki's Canyon Trilogy on repeat now.
Robert René Galván, born in San Antonio of Indigenous/Mexican heritage,resides in New York City where he works as a professional musician and poet. His collections of poems are Meteors, published by Lux Nova Press and Undesirable: Race and Remembrance, Somos en Escrito Foundation Press, Standing Stones, Finishing Line Press and The Shadow of Time, Adelaide Books. His poetry has been featured in such publications as The Acentos Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Azahares Literary Magazine, Gyroscope, Hawaii Review, Hispanic Culture Review, Latino Book Review, Newtown Review, Panoply, Prachya Review, Sequestrum, Shoreline of Infinity, Somos en Escrito, Stillwater Review, West Texas Literary Review, andUU World. He is a Shortlist Winner Nominee in the 2018 Adelaide Literary Award for Best Poem. Recently, his poems are featured in Puro ChicanX Writers of the 21st Century (2nd Edition) and in Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art and Thought.His poems have been nominated for Best of Web and the Pushcart Prize. His poem, Awakening, was featured in the author’s voice on NPR as part of National Poetry Month in the Spring of 2021.
You can find Rene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
In this poem, enter a world that is at once fairytale and post-apocalyptic. And above all, don't drive through it like hell.
Robert René Galván, born in San Antonio of Indigenous/Mexican heritage,resides in New York City where he works as a professional musician and poet. His collections of poems are Meteors, published by Lux Nova Press and Undesirable: Race and Remembrance, Somos en Escrito Foundation Press, Standing Stones, Finishing Line Press and The Shadow of Time, Adelaide Books. His poetry has been featured in such publications as The Acentos Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Azahares Literary Magazine, Gyroscope, Hawaii Review, Hispanic Culture Review, Latino Book Review, Newtown Review, Panoply, Prachya Review, Sequestrum, Shoreline of Infinity, Somos en Escrito, Stillwater Review, West Texas Literary Review, andUU World. He is a Shortlist Winner Nominee in the 2018 Adelaide Literary Award for Best Poem. Recently, his poems are featured in Puro ChicanX Writers of the 21st Century (2nd Edition) and in Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art and Thought.His poems have been nominated for Best of Web and the Pushcart Prize. His poem, Awakening, was featured in the author’s voice on NPR as part of National Poetry Month in the Spring of 2021.
Brunilda couldn't make it to the podcast, so in today's episode, Teresa and her daughter discuss the wonders of grilled cheese, and whether or not you can judge someone operating outside their comfort zone. You can listen to the song Godzilla mentioned on the episode by clicking here.
Brunilda Bonia, Esquire, is a Puerto Rican and a practicing attorney for the past 25 years. She specializes in family/matrimonial law. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, three daughters and tuxedo cat, Pepper. On January 27, 2022 her first children's book, BLUE, was published by Pegasus Publishing Ltd.
A woman walks into a cafe in Italy with her boyfriend--will she walk out with him or alone? In this episode, Brunilda Bonia deftly imagines a moment of decision in a busy cafe.
Brunilda Bonia, Esquire is Puerto Rican who has been a practicing attorney for the past 25 years. She specializes in family/matrimonial law. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, three daughters and tuxedo cat, Pepper. On January 27, 2022 her first children's book, BLUE, was published by Pegasus Publishing Ltd.
Can you really put childhood on a dinner plate? How can you fictionalize a true story and still remain true to its spirit? Tune in to get the answers to all these questions and more.
Natalia Figueroa Barroso is a Uruguayan-Australian writer who lives on Dharug Country. Natalia has appeared in Sweatshop Women: Volume One, Racism: Stories on Fear, Hate & Bigotry, SBS Voices, Story Casters, Any Saturday, 2021. Running Westward, Kindling and Sage, Between Two Worlds, The Big Issue, Puentes Review, Meanjin and Overland.
"Mamá orders me to clean Abuela’s room as she tames her curly blonde hair into a tight bun and rolls up the sleeves on her black and blue flannel shirt. Mamá stands in front of me with her pale blue eyes and hands me an orange duster. She is ready to clean and pack Abuela’s belongings away. I stand at the door with my arms crossed. Mamá hits the top of my head with the duster, ‘¡Dale vos encargate del cuarto de la Abuela! Don’t make me tell you again.’"
Natalia Figueroa Barroso is a Uruguayan-Australian writer who lives on Dharug Country. Natalia has appeared in Sweatshop Women: Volume One, Racism: Stories on Fear, Hate & Bigotry, SBS Voices, Story Casters, Any Saturday, 2021. Running Westward, Kindling and Sage, Between Two Worlds, The Big Issue, Puentes Review, Meanjin and Overland.
How do you distill an immigration story into a tight, accessible piece? Tune in to this episode where Selene lets us in on her secrets. This is Selene's second piece on the audio mag. You can check out her first piece Amalgam here.
Selene Lacayo is a writer and translator living in the Greater Philadelphia Area. She was the 2018 Judge's Choice Runner-Up for the Write Michigan Short Story Contest. Her essays have been published by InCulture Magazine, Americans Resisting Overseas, and the COVID-19 Community Stories of the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Most recently, her short story Amalgam formed part of The Best Short Stories of Philadelphia published in 2021 and her interview with Silvia Moreno-Garcia on her novel Velvet Was the Night was featured in Electric Literature. She is currently working on a memoir centered around the themes of belonging, identity and motherhood. You can follow her work at SeleneLacayo.com.
"Alien: *unfamiliar and disturbing or distasteful. Similar: foreign, strange, bizarre, exotic, incompatible with, antagonistic to, unacceptable to 2 …
(Footnote 2) I hated that label –alien— stuck to my forehead upon my landing in the U.S. “Your looks are so exotic.” “Your accent is unusual for a Hispanic,” people would say. I felt belittled."
This piece first appeared in Alebrijes Review and was nominated for a Pushcart award.
Selene Lacayo is a writer and translator living in the Greater Philadelphia Area. She was the 2018 Judge's Choice Runner-Up for the Write Michigan Short Story Contest. Her essays have been published by InCulture Magazine, Americans Resisting Overseas, and the COVID-19 Community Stories of the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Most recently, her short story Amalgam formed part of The Best Short Stories of Philadelphia published in 2021 and her interview with Silvia Moreno-Garcia on her novel Velvet Was the Night was featured in Electric Literature. She is currently working on a memoir centered around the themes of belonging, identity and motherhood. You can follow her on Twitter at @LacayoSelene and on her website at SeleneLacayo.com
What do briefs (not that kind) and boxing have to do with writing great short stories? Tune in as Michael reveals all.
Michael was born in Mexico and raised in the United States. After receiving an honorable discharge from the United States Marine Corps, he enjoyed a successful career as a personal injury attorney. He is now retired and writes fiction full-time. Michael has been published in legal periodicals, but his true love is writing fiction. He’s been published in over thirty literary journals and magazines in the US, Canada, South America, and the UK. In his free time, he plays rhythm/lead guitar in a rock band, featuring 60’s and 70’s rock and roll.
In addition to his published novel, The Guadalupe Saints, Michael has completed several other manuscripts. One of those, The Pied Beauty of San Ignacio, is under active consideration for publication by Kensington Books (New York). In the meantime, he is polishing an additional manuscript, presently titled Titus of Galilee, to be sent out to potential publishers. You can find his latest anthology, Of Angels, Demons, and Chopped Chorizo, onAmazon.com.
Special Agent Varela thought he had the drug runner case in the bag. But out in the desert, where even the Yaqui didn't tread, anything can happen.
Michael was born in Mexico and raised in the United States. After receiving an honorable discharge from the United States Marine Corps, he enjoyed a successful career as a personal injury attorney. He is now retired and writes fiction full-time. Michael has been published in legal periodicals, but his true love is writing fiction. He’s been published in over thirty literary journals and magazines in the US, Canada, South America, and the UK. In his free time, he plays rhythm/lead guitar in a rock band, featuring 60’s and 70’s rock and roll.
In addition to his published novel, The Guadalupe Saints, Michael has completed several other manuscripts. One of those, The Pied Beauty of San Ignacio, is under active consideration for publication by Kensington Books (New York). In the meantime, he is polishing an additional manuscript, presently titled Titus of Galilee, to be sent out to potential publishers. You can find his latest anthology, Of Angels, Demons, and Chopped Chorizo, onAmazon.com.
On the border between Mexico and Texas, where Yara grew up, the air is filled with a little light magic. In this episode, Yara talks about how this environment produced this gentle spooky tale.
Born in México and raised on the border, Yara is drawn to darker tales and is an aficionado of Mexican folklore. She attributes this to her own mother and abuela who told the best spooky stories around. Yara is a Latina dual language educator, mother and author who is passionate about representation and advocacy in all realms. As an elementary dual language (Spanish) educator of nearly a decade, she has been fortunate enough to gain a window into the exact type of literature that children are drawn to, and, also, what is missing within the current selection of literature for children. She has had short stories published in LatineLit magazine. Yara currently lives in Austin with my two daughters, husband and rescued Blue Heeler pup. You can follow her writing on Twitter at @Yariwrites.
"As the dementia accelerated, she claimed to see people at the window at night, including her beloved husband who had passed 5 years prior...Other, perhaps most sinister, nightly visitors, abuelita said, would whistle and try to convince her to unlatch the windows."
Born in México and raised on the border, Yara is drawn to darker tales and is an aficionado of Mexican folklore. She attributes this to her own mother and abuela who told the best spooky stories around. Yara is a Latina dual language educator, mother and author who is passionate about representation and advocacy in all realms. As an elementary dual language (Spanish) educator of nearly a decade, she has been fortunate enough to gain a window into the exact type of literature that children are drawn to, and, also, what is missing within the current selection of literature for children. She has had short stories published in LatineLit magazine. Yara currently lives in Austin with my two daughters, husband and rescued Blue Heeler pup. You can follow her writing on Twitter at @Yariwrites.
Is Flash Fiction the potato chip of the literary universe? Is there any difference between genre fiction and literary fiction? Tune in to this week's behind-the-scenes episode to find out.
Kevin is a gay, Latino fiction writer, and cardiovascular research scientist. He is a second-generation immigrant born in Miami, Florida to Cuban and Colombian parents. For more about him, please see his website: https://kevinmcasin.wordpress.com/. Or follow his Twitter: @kevinthedruid.
"Manuel heard the rattle of the seed curtain. He unfurled, cloaked in black, and looked up from his chair. Without a word–Seers never speak for themselves–he held out his hand over the table to welcome his guest and to accept payment for the card reading.
“Señor, me llamo Daniel. Please, mi family, will they survive the storm?” The man asked as he took a seat and offered a small, linen bag of coins."
Kevin is a gay, Latino fiction writer, and cardiovascular research scientist. He is a second-generation immigrant born in Miami, Florida to Cuban and Colombian parents. For more about him, please see his website: https://kevinmcasin.wordpress.com/. Or follow his Twitter: @kevinthedruid.
Did Teresa really name a skin tag, a queta, Jabba the Queta? Can a story with body horror be hopeful? Tune in to find out the answer to these questions and more in this week's episode.
Toni Margarita Plummer was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant mother and white father. She is the author of the story collection The Bolero of Andi Rowe and winner of Somos En Escrito's 2021 Extra Fiction Contest. A Macondo Fellow, her short fiction has been published in Aster(ix), Kweli, The Acentos Review, Hispanecdotes, and Hinchas de Poesía, among others. Plummer works in book publishing and serves on the board of Latinx in Publishing. She lives in the Hudson Valley. You can find her work at https://tonimargaritaplummer.wordpress.com and on Twitter at @tmargaritaplum. You can also find out more about the mentorship programs from Latinx in Publishing at https://latinxinpublishing.com
On the one hand, family can be ultra-irritating; on the other, sometimes they're the only ones that have your back. In Toni Margarita Plummer's story, Attack of Las Quetas, family is there for the main character for better AND for worse. You'll never look at a crochet hook the same way again.
Toni Margarita Plummer was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant mother and white father. She is the author of the story collection The Bolero of Andi Rowe and winner of Somos En Escrito's 2021 Extra Fiction Contest. A Macondo Fellow, her short fiction has been published in Aster(ix), Kweli, The Acentos Review, Hispanecdotes, and Hinchas de Poesía, among others. Plummer works in book publishing and serves on the board of Latinx in Publishing. She lives in the Hudson Valley. You can find her work at https://tonimargaritaplummer.wordpress.com and on Twitter at @tmargaritaplum
Are panderias the gateway to heaven? Can you agree to write monthly columns for multiple literary magazines and still have a personal life? Find out the answers to these hard-hitting questions and more in this week's episode.
Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays and poetry have appeared in Sledgehammer Lit, Yellow Arrow Journal, Susurrus, and others. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review and The Daily Drunk. Her writing is inspired by observation of the natural world, the dynamics of relationships, and the question of belonging. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez or visit her website www.melissknunez.com.
In this week's story, Melissa Nunez takes the familiar song 'Vie en Rose' and turns it on its head. You may never listen to that song the same way again.
Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays and poetry have appeared in Sledgehammer Lit, Yellow Arrow Journal, Susurrus, and others. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review and The Daily Drunk. Her writing is inspired by observation of the natural world, the dynamics of relationships, and the question of belonging. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez or visit her website www.melissknunez.com.
Someone once claimed that the answer to life, the universe, and everything was 42. But really, the answer is tortillas. Especially the ones freshly made by the family of your heart. Listen as Mayte Castro walks us through the magic of tortillas.
Mayte C. Castro's poetry focuses on immigration, culture and travel, and self-expression as a road to sharing the realities of living in the United States as a daughter of immigrants. Mayte's cultural background is Mexican. Additional published poetry can be found in braveexpressions.com, https://wapoetlaureate.org/poetry-to-lean-on/, Ice Colony, The Under Review, Arte Latino Now, and Azahares. You can follow her on Instagram at Mexi_Ginger.
In Mayte's poem, tortillas are more than a vehicle for tasty fillings.
"Soft, crunchy, malleable, torn
Tortillas take on many forms and shapes.
In the eagerness of listening
The melodies of language
Reclining on Mother’s chest…"
Mayte C. Castro's poetry focuses on immigration, culture and travel, and self-expression as a road to sharing the realities of living in the United States as a daughter of immigrants. Mayte's cultural background is Mexican. Additional published poetry can be found in braveexpressions.com, https://wapoetlaureate.org/poetry-to-lean-on/, Ice Colony, The Under Review, Arte Latino Now, and Azahares. You can follow her on Instagram at Mexi_Ginger.
Reyna Grande takes us behind the scenes and under the hood of her latest novel 'A Ballad of Love and Glory.' Tune in to find out what Irish immigrants and Latino immigrants to the US had in common. And if you didn't know that the US-Mexico border started just below Oregon as late as 1821, this is the episode for you.
Reyne Grande is an award-winning author who released her latest novel, A Ballad of Love and Glory, in March. She's also written the memoirs The Distance Between Usand A Dream Called Home, the novels Across a Hundred Mountains (Atria, 2006) and Dancing with Butterflies (Washington Square Press, 2009). Reyna has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards. In 2015 she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature and a Latino Spirit Award in 2021. The young reader’s version of The Distance Between Us received a 2017 Honor Book Award for the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature and a 2016 Eureka! Honor Awards from the California Reading Association and an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award 2017.
A Ballad of Love and Glory is historical fiction inspired by true events and real-life figures and also illuminates a little-known chapter of the Mexican-American War: An Irish soldier in the Saint Patrick’s Battalion, a regiment of foreign-born soldiers that deserted the U.S. Army to fight for Mexico, falls in love with a widowed nurse in the Mexican Army, and together they must fight for their love and survival. ( Available in Spanish in October and available in paperback in January 2023.)
Reyne Grande is an award-winning author who released her latest novel, A Ballad of Love and Glory, in March. She's also written the memoirs The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home, the novels Across a Hundred Mountains (Atria, 2006) and Dancing with Butterflies (Washington Square Press, 2009). Reyna has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards. In 2015 she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature and a Latino Spirit Award in 2021. The young reader’s version of The Distance Between Us received a 2017 Honor Book Award for the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature and a 2016 Eureka! Honor Awards from the California Reading Association and an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award 2017.
If you've ever had an idea (or a story) that only you believed in, then this is the episode for you. Stop what you're doing and have a listen.
Margo Candela was born and raised in Los Angeles and began her writing career when she joined Glendale Community College’s student newspaper. She transferred to San Francisco State University as a journalism major, and upon graduation began writing for websites and magazines before writing her first two novels, Underneath It All and Life Over Easy. She returned to Los Angeles to raise her son and wrote More Than This and Good-bye to All That. The Neapolitan Sisters is her fifth novel and her first after a decade-long hiatus from writing. She now lives in San Francisco.
"When we were little, our dad would sit one of us on his lap as he drove to The Boys supermarket in Highland Park. He’d leave us in the car with the motor running while he ran in to pick up a six-pack or two and pork rinds for himself, and a bag of Ruffles chips, and a bottle of Mexican Coke for me and my sisters to share on the drive back to Boyle Heights."
Margo Candela's novel 'The Neapolitan Sisters' covers some serious topics, but at its core, it’s about the strong bonds of sisterhood. Told in alternating points of view, Candela's funny and entertaining novel is about the weeks leading up to the wedding of the youngest of three very different sisters who reunite at their East L.A. childhood home, and are faced with secrets from their past.
Margo Candela was born and raised in Los Angeles and began her writing career when she joined Glendale Community College’s student newspaper. She transferred to San Francisco State University as a journalism major, and upon graduation began writing for websites and magazines before writing her first two novels, Underneath It All and Life Over Easy. She returned to Los Angeles to raise her son and wrote More Than This and Good-bye to All That. The Neapolitan Sisters is her fifth novel and her first after a decade-long hiatus from writing. She now lives in San Francisco.
There is the age-old question of whether an artist's personal life should impact your perception of their work. In this episode Martha walks us through how she came to focus on Pablo Neruda.
Featured in Latinos Magazine among the Top Ten Most Successful Mexicans in Canada, and named also one of the Top Ten Most Influential Hispanic-Canadians, Martha Bátiz was born and raised in Mexico City, but has been living in Toronto since 2003. Her articles, chronicles, reviews and short stories have appeared in diverse newspapers and magazines not only in her homeland, but also in Spain, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Peru, Ireland, England, the United States and Canada.
Martha has penned two short-story collections in Spanish: A todos los voy a matar (I’m Going To Kill Them All, Castillo Press, Mexico, 2000), and De tránsito (In Transit, Terranova Editores, Puerto Rico, 2014). Her award-winning novella Boca de lobo was originally published in Spanish both in the Dominican Republic and in Mexico (in 2007 and 2008, respectively), and released in its first English translation as The Wolf’s Mouth (Exile Editions, 2009). In 2018 it appeared in its French version as La Gueule du Loup (Lugar Común Editorial), and in a new English edition under the title Damiana’s Reprieve (Exile Editions). Boca de lobo is also available through Audible as an Audiobook in Spanish since 2021.
Editor of the anthology Desde el norte: Narrativa canadiense contemporánea (UAM, 2015), Martha is also part of the editorial committee of the successful books Historias de Toronto and Historias de Montreal (Lugar Común, 2016 and 2019, respectively). She holds a PhD in Latin American Literature and is an ATA-certified literary translator. Besides being the founder and instructor of the Creative Writing in Spanish course currently offered by the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto, she is a part-time professor at three universities in the GTA where she teaches Spanish language and literature as well as translation.
Martha is also the author of two short-story collections in English, the first one titled Plaza Requiem: Stories at the Edge of Ordinary Lives (Exile Editions, 2017), winner of the 2018 International Latino Book Award in the category of “Best Popular Fiction: English.” The second and most recent is No Stars in the Sky, published by House of Anansi Press in May 2022.
What kind of person refers to their disabled infant daughter as a semi-colon? Listen to this episode and find out.
This story is part of the story collection 'No Stars in the Sky,' which came out in May, and is published by House of Anansi Press.
Featured in Latinos Magazine among the Top Ten Most Successful Mexicans in Canada, and named also one of the Top Ten Most Influential Hispanic-Canadians, Martha Bátiz was born and raised in Mexico City, but has been living in Toronto since 2003. Her articles, chronicles, reviews and short stories have appeared in diverse newspapers and magazines not only in her homeland, but also in Spain, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Peru, Ireland, England, the United States and Canada.
Martha has penned two short-story collections in Spanish: A todos los voy a matar (I’m Going To Kill Them All, Castillo Press, Mexico, 2000), and De tránsito (In Transit, Terranova Editores, Puerto Rico, 2014). Her award-winning novella Boca de lobo was originally published in Spanish both in the Dominican Republic and in Mexico (in 2007 and 2008, respectively), and released in its first English translation as The Wolf’s Mouth (Exile Editions, 2009). In 2018 it appeared in its French version as La Gueule du Loup (Lugar Común Editorial), and in a new English edition under the title Damiana’s Reprieve (Exile Editions). Boca de lobo is also available through Audible as an Audiobook in Spanish since 2021.
Editor of the anthology Desde el norte: Narrativa canadiense contemporánea (UAM, 2015), Martha is also part of the editorial committee of the successful books Historias de Toronto and Historias de Montreal (Lugar Común, 2016 and 2019, respectively). She holds a PhD in Latin American Literature and is an ATA-certified literary translator. Besides being the founder and instructor of the Creative Writing in Spanish course currently offered by the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto, she is a part-time professor at three universities in the GTA where she teaches Spanish language and literature as well as translation.
Martha is also the author of two short-story collections in English, the first one titled Plaza Requiem: Stories at the Edge of Ordinary Lives (Exile Editions, 2017), winner of the 2018 International Latino Book Award in the category of “Best Popular Fiction: English.” The second and most recent is No Stars in the Sky, published by House of Anansi Press in May 2022.
Are donuts the most perfect food on earth? Is it weird to thank them for their service to the human race? Get the answers to these questions and more on this behind-the-scenes episode. We do manage to talk about Lin's awesome poem. Eventually.
Lin Flores (she/they) lives and works in SLC, UT as a full-time poet and creative writing student. They are enrolled in the online Creative Writing Masters Program at the University of New Orleans. Lin published her first chapbook, Reflections While Living in Utah, in 2020. This work quickly became a local best seller, making it the most sold book at Utah’s first LBGTQ bookstore—Under The Umbrella. When Flores isn’t coaching high school poetry slam, she is volunteering her time at Encircle, an LGBTQ resource center in SLC. Flores loves art, music, history, donuts, and God. You can follow her at lincpoetry.com and on Insta at @lincpoetry.
"A dad and a dog, delirious as tío.
Unreliable like a rainstorm, he’d go years without a call."
Check out this moving piece from Lin Flores, a poem about family, inconsistent parenting, and the aftermath it leaves behind.
Lin Flores (she/they) lives and works in SLC, UT as a full-time poet and creative writing student. They are enrolled in the online Creative Writing Masters Program at the University of New Orleans. Lin published her first chapbook, Reflections While Living in Utah, in 2020. This work quickly became a local best seller, making it the most sold book at Utah’s first LBGTQ bookstore—Under The Umbrella. When Flores isn’t coaching high school poetry slam, she is volunteering her time at Encircle, an LGBTQ resource center in SLC. Flores loves art, music, history, donuts, and God.
You can follow Lin at Lincpoetry.com and on Insta at @LincPoetry.
Sometimes a story isn't hopeful because everything turned out right. Sometimes it's hopeful because the person stood up for themselves and demanded what they deserved. Mary Jo walks us through 'Insignificant,' explaining the subtler aspects of this quietly provocative story.
Mary Jo Garrido is a Dominican-Canadian fiction author who lives in Toronto, Canada. Her stories have appeared in English in Raconteur literary magazine and Dreamers Creative Writing. In Spanish, her work appears in “Nostalgia bajo cero,” an anthology awarded Best Multi-author Fiction Book 2021 by the International Latino Book Award and in “La casa en el race,” a collection of short stories by seven Latin American writers, published in June 2022 by Editorial Lugar Común. Currently, she's working on a collection of interrelated short stories as her final project for the Creative Writing certificate at the University of Toronto. You can follow Mary Jo at @maryjogarrido.
In this dreamy story, Mary Jo takes us to a cafe in sun-drenched Santo Domingo, and a transcendent moment with an unfaithful ex.
Mary Jo Garrido is a Dominican-Canadian fiction author who lives in Toronto, Canada. Her stories have appeared in English in Raconteur literary magazine and Dreamers Creative Writing. In Spanish, her work appears in “Nostalgia bajo cero,” an anthology awarded Best Multi-author Fiction Book 2021 by the International Latino Book Award and in “La casa en el race,” a collection of short stories by seven Latin American writers, published in June 2022 by Editorial Lugar Común. Currently, she's working on a collection of interrelated short stories as her final project for the Creative Writing certificate at the University of Toronto. You can follow Mary Jo at @maryjogarrido.
Roy talks about the way he crafts his poetry to showcase the layers of his identity--Indigenous/Latino/Irish. He says (to paraphrase) that we're often like a car speeding down the road, dropping things to lighten the load. Often, one of the things we drop is culture. His job as a writer and a teacher involves stopping the car and picking up the things that shouldn't have been dropped.
Roy Conboy is a Latino/Irish/Indigenous writer and teacher whose poetic plays have been seen in the struggling black boxes on the edges of the mainstream theatre in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Francisco, San Antonio, Denver, and more; and whose musical plays for young people have toured extensively in California. His poetry has been seen in Green Hills Literary Lantern, Orphic Lute, Third Estate’s Quaranzine, and Freshwater Literary Journal. His poetic radio drama Hue can be heard online at Barewire Theatre Company. He recently retired from 35 years of teaching, including three decades as the head of the San Francisco State University playwrighting program, where he created multiple programs that gave thousands of students a place to find and raise their voices.
'“Who are you?”
she cried,
voice cracking
and shrieking.
“Where is the river,
the night sky?"'
Roy Conboy is a Latino/Irish/Indigenous writer and teacher whose poetic plays have been seen in the struggling black boxes on the edges of the mainstream theatre in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Francisco, San Antonio, Denver, and more; and whose musical plays for young people have toured extensively in California. His poetry has been seen in Green Hills Literary Lantern, Orphic Lute, Third Estate’s Quaranzine, and Freshwater Literary Journal. His poetic radio drama Hue can be heard online at Barewire Theatre Company. He recently retired from 35 years of teaching, including three decades as the head of the San Francisco State University playwrighting program, where he created multiple programs that gave thousands of students a place to find and raise their voices.
In this episode, we learn vital information such as: Does Sonia have a plant named Shmoney? And what research went into deciding that succulents would talk smack?
Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez is a Mexican writer and educator living in Queens, New York. Her stories have been published in Strange Horizons, Acentos Review, Longreads, Okay Donkey, Reckon Review, Mixed Mag, Hobart After Dark, and elsewhere. Sonia's writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fiction, and Best Microfiction. When she wants to avoid working, she makes paper flowers. You can follow her across all social media at @RodriguezSoniaA
If you've ever wondered what your plants think of you, this is the episode to listen to. In 'Lily,' Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez delves deep into the life of a Peace Lily and its human companion known only as 'they.' This story first appeared in the pages of Hispanecdotes in May of 2020.
Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez is a Mexican writer and educator living in Queens, New York. Her stories have been published in Strange Horizons, Acentos Review, Longreads, Okay Donkey, Reckon Review, Mixed Mag, Hobart After Dark, and elsewhere. Sonia's writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fiction, and Best Microfiction. When she wants to avoid working, she makes paper flowers. You can follow her across all social media at @RodriguezSoniaA
Some of the best fiction comes from lived experience. Listen to Ramon discuss how his personal history informed his short story 'Not Catholic Anymore.'
Ramon Jimenez is a member of the Mexican Diaspora who is from LA but is now lost in the city of Seattle. He teaches at The Boot and writes poetry and short stories. You can follow him on Insta at @RamonLovesWriting and @InfiniteCookingAddict.
What do you do when you love your family, but don't vibe with Catholicism? In this short story, Jose grapples with his quest to be his own person within the context of his family, friends, and culture.
Ramon Jimenez is a member of the Mexican Diaspora who is from LA, but now is lost in the city of Seattle. He teaches, and writes poetry and short stories. You can follow him on Instagram at @RamonLovesWriting for writing and @infinitecookingaddict.
Is the food Tax makes magical? Did she really use the dark arts to find herself a husband? Find the answer to these questions and more in this episode of Latinx Lit Mag.
The transcript for this episode will be up at Latinx Lit Mag starting Saturday July 23rd.
TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. Her poetry has been featured in Bien Acompañada from Cornell University, The Muse from McMaster University, River and South Review, The Welter and more. Her debut chapbook entitled, “Found: Between the Trees” was published by Grey Border Books, Canada 2019. Erzinger’s most recent poetry collection “At the Foot of the Mountain,” Floricanto Press, California 2021, has been announced by the University of Indianapolis, Etchings Press as the Whirling Prize winner for 2021 for best nature poetry book. She lives in a Swiss valley with her husband and cats.
You can find Tak on Twitter and Instagram at @ErzTak, and on her website https://takerzinger.wixsite.com/poet
This is, hands down, the most sensual (in the most literal meaning of that word) piece on the podcast. Listen to Talk as she talks about family, memory, and the foods that bind then together.
The transcript (with bonus recipes!) of this episode will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Saturday July 23rd.
TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. Her poetry has been featured in Bien Acompañada from Cornell University, The Muse from McMaster University, River and South Review, The Welter and more. Her debut chapbook entitled, “Found: Between the Trees” was published by Grey Border Books, Canada 2019. Erzinger’s most recent poetry collection “At the Foot of the Mountain,” Floricanto Press, California 2021, has been announced by the University of Indianapolis, Etchings Press as the Whirling Prize winner for 2021 for best nature poetry book. She lives in a Swiss valley with her husband and cats.
You can find Tak on Twitter and Instagram at @ErzTak, and on her website https://takerzinger.wixsite.com/poet
Warning: This episode might leave you hungry for tacos. This is probably the first time Teresa has ever heard a sonnet described as a meditation, but once you hear what Rodrigo has to say, you might never look at a sonnet the same way again.
Rodrigo Toscano is a poet and essayist based in New Orleans. He is the author of ten books of poetry. His newest book is The Charm & The Dread (Fence Books, 2022). His Collapsible Poetics Theater was a National Poetry Series selection. He has appeared in over 20 anthologies, including Best American Poetry and Best American Experimental Poetry (BAX). Toscano has received a New York State Fellowship in Poetry. He won the Edwin Markham 2019 prize for poetry. rodrigotoscano.com @Toscano200
Stuck at the airport? Enjoy this meditative sonnet while you're waiting to see where your personal flight plan will take you.
You can find a full transcript of this episode on LatinxLitMag.com starting Saturday, July 16th.
Rodrigo Toscano is a poet and essayist based in New Orleans. He is the author of ten books of poetry. His newest book is The Charm & The Dread (Fence Books, 2022). His Collapsible Poetics Theater was a National Poetry Series selection. He has appeared in over 20 anthologies, including Best American Poetry and Best American Experimental Poetry (BAX). Toscano has received a New York State Fellowship in Poetry. He won the Edwin Markham 2019 prize for poetry. rodrigotoscano.com @Toscano200
This episode first appeared in January 2022. Is this piece based on Victoria's actual life? Can you eat a Hermit crab essay, and if so, does it taste like chicken?
Victoria Buitron is a writer and translator who hails from Ecuador and resides in Connecticut. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. She writes about the intersection of identity and place, family history, and the moments her hippocampus refuses to forget. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lost Balloon, XRAY Lit Mag, Revolute Lit, Bending Genres, and other literary magazines. Her debut memoir-in-essays, A Body Across Two Hemispheres, is the 2021 Fairfield Book Prize winner and will be available in Spring 2022 by Woodhall Press.
This episode first appeared in January of 2022. It seemed appropriate to share it again on the 4th of July, as the main character frees a chainsaw to follow its own bliss...far, far away from her.
Victoria Buitron is a writer and translator who hails from Ecuador and resides in Connecticut. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. She writes about the intersection of identity and place, family history, and the moments her hippocampus refuses to forget. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lost Balloon, XRAY Lit Mag, Revolute Lit, Bending Genres, and other literary magazines. Her debut memoir-in-essays, A Body Across Two Hemispheres, is the 2021 Fairfield Book Prize winner and will be available in Spring 2022 by Woodhall Press.
Somehow, we keep talking about food on this show. In this episode, we cover vegan Puerto Rican food, spirit animals, and an old tale of an escaped slave named Carabali.
A complete transcript of this episode will be available on latinxlitmag.com on Friday July 1.
Kim Vasquez grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to New York to study Dramatic Writing at Tisch School of the Arts NYU. The lack of representation and diversity in children's books drove her to write a middle-grade Latinx mystery that she's currently querying while working on another. She's had various articles curated and published on Medium among them, “Green Plantains and Memories of mi Isla” and “An Afternoon in la Plaza del Mercado". She also had a short story, "The Lady in White" published by The Acentos Review. You can follow Kim on Twitter at @KimVwriter
Sometimes, the universe sends you help right when you need it. In this story, Kim shares the tale of a cat in old San Juan.
A complete transcript of this episode will be available on latinxlitmag.com on Friday July 1.
Kim Vasquez grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to New York to study Dramatic Writing at Tisch School of the Arts NYU. The lack of representation and diversity in children's books drove her to write a middle-grade Latinx mystery that she's currently querying while working on another. She's had various articles curated and published on Medium among them, “Green Plantains and Memories of mi Isla” and “An Afternoon in la Plaza del Mercado". She also had a short story, "The Lady in White" published by The Acentos Review. You can follow Kim on Twitter at @KimVwriter
How do you add social issues into your writing without coming off as preachy or too heavy? And is brunch the answer to everything? Get the answer to these questions and more during this episode.
A full transcript of this episode will be available on LatinxLitMag.com beginning Friday, June 25th.
TOMAS MONIZ’s debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway, the LAMBDA, and the Foreward Indies Awards. He edited the popular Rad Dad and Rad Families anthologies. He’s a 2020 Artist Affiliate for Headlands Center for Arts. He has stuff on the internet but loves penpals: PO Box 3555, Berkeley, CA 94703. He promises to write back.
Want to read Tomas' Catapult story 'Every Homie Needs a Nickname,' mentioned in this episode? You can find it here.
Ray has a lot of items on his bucket list. He wants those items to come off, not add another. But he might make an exception if it means bagging the cigarette butt bandit.
A full transcript of this episode will be available to read on LatinxLitMag.com starting Friday, June 25th.
TOMAS MONIZ’s debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway, the LAMBDA, and the Foreward Indies Awards. He edited the popular Rad Dad and Rad Families anthologies. He’s a 2020 Artist Affiliate for Headlands Center for Arts. He has stuff on the internet but loves penpals: PO Box 3555, Berkeley, CA 94703. He promises to write back.
In this episode, we ponder the age-old question 'how many tortillas are too many?' Is that even a thing? Tune in as we (eventually) discuss Keagan's writing process, and the power of small acts of kindness to make a big difference in a person's life.
Keagan Wheat writes poetry focused on FTM identity and congenital heart disease. He is Mexican-American. His work appears in Anti-Heroin Chic, Houston Review of Books, The Acentos Review, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, and more. Living in Houston, Texas, he enjoys collecting odd dinosaur facts and listening to many hours of podcasts. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter at @KWheat09.
Sometimes the smallest of actions have a huge impact. In this flash nonfiction piece, Keagan takes us to a public swimming pool and the friends who welcomed him into their space.
Keagan Wheat writes poetry focused on FTM identity and congenital heart disease. He is Mexican-American. His work appears in Anti-Heroin Chic, Houston Review of Books, The Acentos Review, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, and more. Living in Houston, Texas, he enjoys collecting odd dinosaur facts and listening to many hours of podcasts. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter at @KWheat09.
If you're writing about a life-skiing event, how do you know what details to put in and which to leave out? And how does a person go about telling a non-linear true story anyway? Tune in as we discuss these questions and more. Warning: This episode might make you hungry, so brink your own snack.
This episode (and it's transcript) will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Friday April 22nd.
Aubrey Lozano-Cofield graduated recently with her MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She's been published in NPR's Worth Repeating, Southern Review of Books, and The Motley Few, among others. She's currently working on a memoir that pushes structural boundaries and is always looking for an intriguing true story. Aubrey is a proud Mexican American. You can follow her on Twitter at @Aubswrites.
There are moments in time just before our lives are changed forever. In Pyramid of the Sun, Aubrey shares her moment cast in amber, the moment before her whole life changed. And not to be click-bait-y, but that last sentence might get to you in the best possible way.
A transcript of this episode will be on Latinxlitmag.com by Friday, April 22nd.
Aubrey Lozano-Cofield graduated recently with her MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She's been published in NPR's Worth Repeating, Southern Review of Books, and The Motley Few, among others. She's currently working on a memoir that pushes structural boundaries and is always looking for an intriguing true story. Aubrey is a proud Mexican American. You can follow her work on Twitter at @aubswrites.
The Latinx label covers a multitude of cultures and histories, but we as a people are united in the way we use humour to dance through the seasons of life. In this episode you will hear straight up comedy from Carlos Greaves, and literary fiction with a humorous twist from Abram Valdez.
What do Van Gogh, Space, Grief, Mothers and Russian storytellers have to do with each other? And why are they on a Latinx-centric lit mag? Find the answers to these questions and more in this second instalment of story pairings.
A complete transcript of this episode will be available on Latinxlitmag by Friday April 8th.
This week, we'll listen to two stories that first played in Season One, and share a common theme—hidden history. A transcript of the episode will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Friday April 1st.
Julieta Corpus, author of 'The Midwife,' is a bilingual poet from Mexico whose work has been included in The Thing Itself, and the Texas Poetry Calendar. Her latest literary contribution is a collaboration with poet Katie Hoerth and visual artist Corinne McCorkmack Whittenmore: Borderland Mujeres, published by Texas A&M Press. It will be available in the Fall 2021. Julieta's first poetry collection, Of Love And Departures / De Amor Y Despedidas published in June 2021 by EM Editoriales is now available through Amazon. Of Love And Departures / De Amor Y Despedidas is a bilingual poetry collection about grief and lamentation after losing a spouse to cancer. The book is written in English and in Spanish because the man and woman who laugh, dance and love within its pages, fell in love reading poems to each other, and speaking to each other from hearts which had been molded, weathered, broken, and made whole again in both tongues. Julieta currently works as a bilingual translator, editor, and a South Texas Community College adjunct with the English Department.
Camila Santos, author of 'It's Just Dancing,' was named a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer Fellow in 2020. Her work has appeared or is upcoming in Newtown Literary, Columbia Journal, Minola Review and the New York Times. Her work in Portuguese can be found in Ruído Manifesto and is forthcoming in Coletânea de Poesia - Mulherio das Letras, EUA. She is currently working on her first novel and a collection of short stories.
Are udon noodles a magical superfood? And how did Angela come up with the perfect metaphor of an identity height chart? Get the answers to these and other pulse-pounding questions in this episode.
A full transcript will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday March 22.
Angela Acosta is an emerging bilingual Mexican-American poet and scholar. She won the 2015 Rhina P. Espaillat Award from West Chester University and her work has appeared in Panochazine, Pluma, MacroMicroCosm, and Eye to the Telescope. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Iberian Studies at The Ohio State University and resides in Columbus, Ohio. You can find her on Instagram at aaperiquito
"She didn’t know there were words
for all the peoples she descended from,
always took care to fill out the scantron sheet
to select the right (white) demographic bubbles,"
In this empowering piece, Angela Acosta takes us through the journey of a woman coming into herself. A full transcript will be available to read on Latinxlitmag.com on Tuesday March 22.
Angela Acosta is an emerging bilingual Mexican-American poet and scholar. She won the 2015 Rhina P. Espaillat Award from West Chester University and her work has appeared in Panochazine, Pluma, MacroMicroCosm, and Eye to the Telescope. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Iberian Studies at The Ohio State University and resides in Columbus, Ohio.
Are Sphinx Katherine's secret talisman? Can two people share chocolate chip cookies without getting into a fist fight? Tune in for the answers this test, and other ground-breaking questions.
A complete transcript of this episode will be available on LatinxLitMag.com starting Tuesday March 15th.
Katherine Quevedo was born and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Fireside Magazine, Coffin Bell, Triangulation: Habitats, Factor Four Magazine, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Best Indie Speculative Fiction Vol. III and IV, and elsewhere. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching movies, singing, playing old-school video games, belly dancing, and making spreadsheets. Find her at www.katherinequevedo.com.
What would a Sphinx look like if it came from South America? Listen to this speculative poem as Katherine answers that question.
A complete transcript of this poem will be available on Latinxlitmag.com on Tuesday, March 15th.
Katherine Quevedo was born and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Fireside Magazine, Coffin Bell, Triangulation: Habitats, Factor Four Magazine, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Best Indie Speculative Fiction Vol. III and IV, and elsewhere. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching movies, singing, playing old-school video games, belly dancing, and making spreadsheets. Find her at www.katherinequevedo.com.
A wise poet once said that poetry can be a time capsule. In this episode Melody takes us through a captured moment in her Abuela's kitchen.
A full transcript of this episode will appear on Latinxlitmag.com by Tuesday March 8th.
Melody’s passion is teaching and empowering others by sharing what she has learned. She helped launch an arts and crafts program at a children's hospital and also taught at San Quentin State Prison. Melody hopes to inspire youth to explore and expand their creativity through web development, writing, and art. You can find Melody at @MelRSerra and https://www.melodyserra.com.
"Your workspace, like an artist’s studio
The kitchen where you find refuge from a long day’s work
where your hands follow a sort of intuition…"
Come share a glimpse into Melody's abuela's kitchen, where we learn the secreto to delicious food.
A complete transcript of this episode will be up on Latinxlitmag.com by Tuesday March 8th.
Bio: Melody’s passion is teaching and empowering others by sharing what she has learned. She helped launch an arts and crafts program at a children's hospital and also taught at San Quentin State Prison. Melody hopes to inspire youth to explore and expand their creativity through web development, writing, and art. You can find Melody at @MelRSerra and https://www.melodyserra.com.
In this episode we dive deep into this intensely personal piece about identity when no one in your new country can tell where you're from. We also deliver completely uneducated nutrition advice, and expose what writers really mean when they tell you about their "process." The last one will SHOCK you. (Not really. This is how you click bait, right?)
A full transcript of this episode will be available on LatinxLitMag.com by Tuesday March 1st.
Constance Mello (she/her) is a Brazilian scholar, writer, and teacher. She graduated with a degree in Cultural Studies and Gender Studies from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, and is currently pursuing a dual Master’s Degree in English and Creative Writing. Her writing has been published in The Ilanot Review, Fearless She Wrote, and The Ascent, and was a finalist in the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards.
"My brother accused me of running away
And I did – ran to the United States, like deep down
I always knew I would, someday…"
A full transcript of this episode will be up on Latinxlitmag.com by Tuesday March 1st.
Constance Mello (she/her) is a Brazilian scholar, writer, and teacher. She graduated with a degree in Cultural Studies and Gender Studies from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, and is currently pursuing a dual Master’s Degree in English and Creative Writing. Her writing has been published in The Ilanot Review, Fearless She Wrote, and The Ascent, and was a finalist in the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards.
Can you really call it Menudo if it's vegan, or is it just sad hominy soup? What can a walk through a nature preserve tell you about identity? Get the answers to these questions and more in this behind the scenes with Melissa Nunez, author of Nopales.
A full transcript of this episode will be available starting Tuesday February 22nd on Latinxlitmag.com.
Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays and poetry have appeared in Sledgehammer Lit, Yellow Arrow Journal, Susurrus, and others. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review. Her writing is inspired by observation of the natural world, the dynamics of relationships, and the question of belonging. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez or visit her website www.melissknunez.com.
"I often bring my children to Quinta Mazatlán—a private property turned birding center in McAllen, not far from our home…" Join Melissa on a walk through ancestral identity and the culture we give to future generations in this meditative piece.
This piece first appeared in Acentos Review. A full transcript of the episode will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday February 22nd.
Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays and poetry have appeared in Sledgehammer Lit, Yellow Arrow Journal, Susurrus, and others. She is also a staff writer for Alebrijes Review. Her writing is inspired by observation of the natural world, the dynamics of relationships, and the question of belonging. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez or visit her website www.melissknunez.com.
In this episode, Ruth discusses the singular moment on a train that birthed this piece. And she and Teresa bond over a shared pressure cooker history.
A full transcript of this episode will be available on Latinx Lit Mag starting Tuesday February 15th.
Ruth Hernandez is an Emmy winning sound editor for film and television, a screenwriting instructor and an avid soccer fan. She wrote this story when she returned from the World Cup in Brazil. Her parents are Colombian.
There comes a moment in every poor child's life where they realize that others have more than they do. This is episode, Camila navigates her blossoming class-consciousness.
A full transcript will be available on Latinx Lit Mag starting Tuesday February 15th.
Ruth Hernandez is an emmy winning sound editor for film and television, a screenwriting instructor and an avid soccer fan. She wrote this story when she returned from the World Cup in Brazil. Her parents are Colombian.
"You can deal with any issue if you first face it on the page." In this episode, we learn of the muse behind 'Starry Starry Light,' and the book of poetry he had to write first before he could write his latest work. Also, if you don't know the real story behind the song 'Killing Me Softly,' Adrian will drop some knowledge on ya.
A full transcript of this episode will be available on http://latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday February 8th.
You can follow Adrian at https://www.adrianernestocepeda.com and across all social media at @poetnotarockstar
Adrian Ernesto is the author of Flashes & Verses… Becoming Attractions from Unsolicited Press, Between the Spine from Picture Show Press and La Belle Ajar & We Are the Ones Possessed from CLASH Books and Speaking con su Sombra with Alegría Publishing.
Adrian is a Colombian-American Poet who lives with his wife in Los Angeles with their adorably spoiled cat Woody Gold.
In this poem, Don McLean and the love of a mother swirl like the luminous paint in Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night.
A full transcript of this poem will be available on http://latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday February 8th.
Adrian Ernesto is the author of Flashes & Verses… Becoming Attractions from Unsolicited Press, Between the Spine from Picture Show Press and La Belle Ajar & We Are the Ones Possessed from CLASH Books and Speaking con su Sombra with Alegría Publishing.
Adrian is a Colombian-American Poet who lives with his wife in Los Angeles with their adorably spoiled cat Woody Gold.
How did Victoria come up with the idea of telling this tale of (humorous) marital woe in a review? And what is Hermit Crab writing? Can you eat it? Does it go well with lemon butter sauce? Tune in to get the answers to all these questions and more!
Victoria Buitron is a writer and translator who hails from Ecuador and resides in Connecticut. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. She writes about the intersection of identity and place, family history, and the moments her hippocampus refuses to forget. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lost Balloon, XRAY Lit Mag, Revolute Lit, Bending Genres, and other literary magazines. Her debut memoir-in-essays, A Body Across Two Hemispheres, is the 2021 Fairfield Book Prize winner and will be available in Spring 2022 by Woodhall Press.
You can find all the info on Victoria's forthcoming memoir at https://victoriabuitron.com.
A complete transcript of this episode will be available on http://latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday February 1st, 2022.
Ordinarily, dumping a troublemaker into the river is wrong, but maybe we should make an exception in this case. Join Victoria Buitron as she shows us how her character deals with the Albatros around her neck.
Victoria Buitron is a writer and translator who hails from Ecuador and resides in Connecticut. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. She writes about the intersection of identity and place, family history, and the moments her hippocampus refuses to forget. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lost Balloon, XRAY Lit Mag, Revolute Lit, Bending Genres, and other literary magazines. Her debut memoir-in-essays, A Body Across Two Hemispheres, is the 2021 Fairfield Book Prize winner and will be available in Spring 2022 by Woodhall Press.
You can find her work at https://victoriabuitron.com. A full transcript of her reading will be on http://latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday February 1st.
Full Transcript is below:
Teresa Douglas 0:10
Welcome listeners to Season Two of Latin X lit audio mag. I'm your host, Teresa Douglas. Starting January 31, you'll hear a new story every Monday. We have poetry:
Adrian Ernesto 0:23
Every time you would take us to el mueso when mis hermanos and I would run off...
Teresa Douglas 0:29
Fiction:
Victoria Buitron 0:30
My husband would give it five stars, but I can only give it a one because it has swallowed my life like a Florida sinkhole...
Teresa Douglas 0:38
--and much much more packaged up in small bites for your listening pleasure. We're like your corner bodega. But instead of selling chicle and beer, we serve up hopeful stories from the Latinx diaspora. Tune in next week. You'll be so glad you did.
Will Rosie's mother ever figure out why she had to go to Havana, despite the very real danger of never returning home? And is it possible that Rosie's mother is, in fact, the female James Bond? Tune in to get the answers to these questions and more. You can find a complete transcript of this episode on latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday November 16th.
Rosie Prohías Driscoll is a Cuban-American educator and poet. She teaches high school English in Alexandria, Virginia, where she lives with her husband and a host of ancestral spirits who keep her rooted and grateful. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including the Acentos Review, Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art, SWWIM Every Day, Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts, Sin Fronteras/ Writers Without Borders, and No Tender Fences: An Anthology of Immigrant and First-Generation American Poetry. "Havana 1974" is included in her forthcoming debut poetry collection, Poised for Flight, which will be published by Finishing Line Press in August 2022.
You can follow Rosie on Facebook at Rosie Prohias Driscoll, poet and on Instagram at @RosiepDriscoll.poet
In 1974 Rosie Prohias Driscol's mother felt called to visit Havana, a place her family fled because of Castro. They almost didn't get back home. Listen to Rosie recount a tale of memory, mystery, and familial love.
You can find a full transcript of this reading at latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday November 16th.
Rosie Prohías Driscoll is a Cuban-American educator and poet. She teaches high school English in Alexandria, Virginia, where she lives with her husband and a host of ancestral spirits who keep her rooted and grateful. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including the Acentos Review, Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art, SWWIM Every Day, Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts, Sin Fronteras/ Writers Without Borders, and No Tender Fences: An Anthology of Immigrant and First-Generation American Poetry. "Havana 1974" is included in her forthcoming debut poetry collection, Poised for Flight, which will be published by Finishing Line Press in August 2022.
Abram's piece is based on a true-to-life experience. Did a relative actually come over to a house in mourning and tell a story about the runs? Will Abram's family ever speak to him again if he tells us what really happened? And does anyone eating a last meal ever ask for kale? Tune in this week to get the answers to these questions, and more.
A complete transcript of this episode will be on Latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday November 9th.
You can follow Abram at AbramValdez.com and on Twitter at @AbramValzedCS
Two days after Gloria’s father Roberto passed, every tangled branch of the family tree came to visit Gloria and her mother Teresa. And one of them brought a side story about diarrhea. This week's story is about coping with loss with grace, despite the cluelessness of some of la familia.
A complete transcript of this reading will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday November 9th.
Abram Valdez is a Chicano author from Denton County, Texas, where he and his partner Marissa are raising four children. As a first-generation college graduate, his father was both proud and horrified at Abram's plans to attend graduate school at the University of Arkansas's MFA program for Creative Writing with an emphasis in poetry (he would have preferred Abram go into computer sciences and not "write for greeting cards"). Abram's work has been featured in HAD, Eunoia Review, 14 Hills, Complete Sentence, Bridge Eight, and The Daily Drunk.
Is Alisha really a 40 year-old intern? Can chocolate chips really fix everything? Tune into this week's behind the scenes to get all of the scoop. A complete transcript of this interview will be on LatinxLitMag.com starting Tuesday November 2nd.
You can follow Alisha's writing on her website AlishaFMiranda.com, and on Instagram at @40yointern
Was Alisha's marriage a love match or an arranged match? Yes! Tune into this week's episode to find out two life-long friends orchestrated Alisha's meet-cute. A transcript of this episode will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday, November 2nd.
Alisha is a Miami-born, Scotland-based, Cuban-American CEO, writer, entrepreneur and mother of twins. Her writing has been featured in Moms Don’t Have Time to Write, Grazia, Metro and Herstry, among others, and she's working on a book, The 40-Year-Old Intern.
Who owns family memories? How do you delicately unravel who your relatives really are? Join Gina and Teresa as they tackle these questions and more. A full transcript of this episode will be available on LatinxLitMag.com starting Tuesday October 26th.
You can follow Gina Fuchs on Instagram at Gina by Gina and on Twitter at Gina's Opinion 24/7
Gina Fuchs is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park. At Maryland, she received her BA in Communication Studies and minored in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry. Gina's poetry has appeared in the University of Maryland's literary magazine 'Stylus,' Northern University's literary magazine 'Polaris,' as well as the online publication 'Palette Poetry.' Her writing primarily explores the function of memory in our lives; how memories shape relationships, experiences, the ways we view our families, and of course: the ways in which we pass down stories. Gina is a Puerto Rican New Yorker (AKA Nuyorican) who is still working on her Spanish. She loves coffee, ribs and the color yellow.
"Even before you died I was afraid to lose it/ the perfectly burnt rice caked/into the soul of your pot." Come with Gina as she explores family memory, and the missing spaces in between.
A full transcript of this poem will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting October 26th.
Gina Fuchs is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park. At Maryland, she received her BA in Communication Studies and minored in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry. Gina's poetry has appeared in the University of Maryland's literary magazine 'Stylus,' Northern University's literary magazine 'Polaris,' as well as the online publication 'Palette Poetry.' Her writing primarily explores the function of memory in our lives; how memories shape relationships, experiences, the ways we view our families, and of course: the ways in which we pass down stories. Gina is a Puerto Rican New Yorker (AKA Nuyorican) who is still working on her Spanish. She loves coffee, ribs and the color yellow.
Did Carlos' abuela really use VapoRub on him? Is Teresa continuing the intergenerational Vick's trauma? All these questions and more get answered in this hard-hitting behind the scenes episode.
A full transcript of this episode will be available on Latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday October 19th.
You can found out more about Carlos at his website Carlos Greaves.com, and check out his upcoming (October 23rd) Finding the Humor in the Holidays workshop at Writing Workshops.com.
"In addition to regular Vicks, your abuela has an extra jar of Vicks specifically for rubbing all up under your nose whenever you have a really bad cold even though the label clearly says not to do this."
Latinx people might be incapable of agreeing on the proper colour of rice (red? yellow? white with peas?), but we're united by the shared experience of Vick's.
This comedy piece first appeared in Flexx magazine. A transcript of this episode will be available on LatinxLitMag.com starting Tuesday October 19th.
Carlos Greaves is an Afro-Latino engineer, writer and filmmaker based in Boston. He teaches online satire writing at The Second City and writes for Netflix’s Con Todo social channel. His writing has been featured in The New Yorker and he is a frequent contributor to the humor site McSweeney’s.
The characters in Amalgam come to Albert Street Tacos y Desayunos from different immigrant experiences. Listen to Selene talk about why she chose the characters she did, but be warned, you might leave hungry. You can find a full transcript of this interview at http://latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday October 12th.
Selene Lacayo is a writer and translator living in the Greater Philadelphia Area. She was the 2018 Judge's Choice Runner-Up for the Write Michigan Short Story Contest. Her essays have been published by InCulture Magazine, Americans Resisting Overseas, and the COVID-19 Community Stories of the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Most recently, her short story Amalgam formed part of The Best Short Stories of Philadelphia published in 2021 and her interview with Silvia Moreno-Garcia on her novel Velvet Was the Night was featured in Electric Literature. She is currently working on a memoir centered around the themes of belonging, identity and motherhood.
You can follow her work at https://www.selenelacayo.com
"The solitude was something that Andrés liked most about his job at the parking garage. Is not that he wasn’t grateful to have a place to live but sharing a two-bedroom apartment with nine other men never allowed time for his thoughts to grow." Listen to Selene Lacayo read her story of food, family, and the immigrant experience in Philadelphia.
Camila delves into the historical roots for this piece, talking about dollar dances, taxi dancers, and the immigrant women behind it all. You can follow Camila on Instagram at @camilawrites, and on her website at camilamsantos.com. You can find a full transcript of this episode at latinxxlitmag.com starting Tuesday October 5th.
"...you have to help me. You just have to. They’ll ask a million questions. My mom won’t let me speak, even after I explain that I’m all covered up." Familial expectations and personal ambitions collide in this intense story by Camila Santos. You can find a full transcript of the story on latinxlitmag.com starting Tuesday October 5th.
Camila Santos was named a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer Fellow in 2020. Her work has appeared or is upcoming in Newtown Literary, Columbia Journal, Minola Review and the New York Times. Her work in Portuguese can be found in Ruído Manifesto and is forthcoming in Coletânea de Poesia - Mulherio das Letras, EUA. She is currently working on her first novel and a collection of short stories.
"My name is Cielo Salas, and I am writing to say that I am not sorry." So begins Nancy's story of love, loss, and finding hope on the other side of grief.
Nancy talks about not holding back, working for NASA, and how a tale by Vladimir Nabokov ended up in a story of hope and grief. You can find the full transcript for this interview on Latinxlitmag.com starting Wednesday September 29th. Follow Nancy at estapluma.com.
Julieta takes us to Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, 1967. Find out more about Julieta on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/julie.corpus.7. The full transcript of the story is below:
La Partera (The Midwife)
Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, 1967
by Julieta Corpus
They come for me at dusk: Two
Impatient-looking women who need me
To deliver Julia’s third child.
I go unwillingly, feeling exhausted
After performing a ritual for the
Recently departed.
It has been a long day of physical &
Mental fatigue. Traces of dried sage still
Emanate from skin and clothes. All day,
Sinners and saints wanting something
From me: Good luck spells, cleansing rituals,
Love potions, and healing herbs.
My lips can almost taste the strong
Shot of tequila I just poured, but
They’ve come for me.
I have pulled Julia's previous two children
Into existence. Sadly, her second child’s stay
On this plane was too brief. Ever since,
Julia’s heart has been an open
Wound.
Tonight, following her sisters through
Darkened streets, beneath a thundering
September sky, I pray this baby is not
Cursed. The spirits have warned me
About a terrible storm bearing a
Woman’s name, Beulah.
When we arrive, Julia is making tea.
“Baby’s taking her time," She says. After a
Thorough examination, I agree with her.
Somewhere around her second
Cup of chamomile, Julia goes into labor.
Heavy rain pounds the tin roof, drowning
Her screams. A few minutes before midnight,
A baby girl lies in her arms, her hungry lips
Seek sustenance.
“Will her name be Beulah?” I ask.
“No,” Julia, replies, “Her name will be
Julieta.”
Under my breath, a blessing of protection.
In this episode we hear Julieta talk about how she created The Midwife/La Partera, and get a glimpse at some of her other work. A full transcript of the episode will be available on latinxxlitmag.com starting Wednesday September 22.
Julieta Corpus is a bilingual poet from Mexico whose work has been included in The Thing Itself, and the Texas Poetry Calendar. Her latest literary contribution, Borderland Mujeres, is a collaboration with poet Katie Hoerth and visual artist Corinne McCorkmack Whittenmore. It will be available in the Fall 2021 from Texas A&M Press. You can find news about Julieta's poetry and classes at https://www.facebook.com/julie.corpus.7.
Introducing LatinX Audio Lit Mag! First full episode drops September 20th with a poem by Julieta Corpus.