I’ve been obsessing lately over what to call the book I’m finishing. Not just in the practical publishing sense, though that’s part of it. I mean in the deeper craft sense. What is this thing I’ve made? Is it a novel-in-stories? A composite novel? A short story cycle? Or is it simply a book of stories thatContinue reading “On Roughness, Recurrence, and the Book That Refuses to Behave”
Tag Archives: latino literature
Reading Álvaro Enrigue’s Now I Surrender
Álvaro Enrigue’s Now I Surrender struck a deep chord with me. As someone who grew up in Southern Colorado and the San Luis Valley and who has long been drawn to the history of the Southwest, I felt pulled in almost immediately by the novel’s powerful sense of buried historical memory. This is not simply a workContinue reading “Reading Álvaro Enrigue’s Now I Surrender”
date night with ten min plays–the cary grant of san luis–jan 25 (video)
cultural conversations with john paul jaramillo at lincoln land community college library–wed oct 9 (video)
reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 14
Join us this month as we talk about Good Night, Irene: A Novel, Luis Alberto Urrea’s fictionalized account of his mother’s WWII service with the American Red Cross. It is clear Urrea is a poet at heart and his rich descriptions help anchor the reader into Irene and Dorothy’s world and what it takes toContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 14”
reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers & john Paul jaramillo episode 4
Reading Books Together: A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears John Paul Jaramillo and Deborah Brothers sit for a 40 minute discussion of 2022’s novel Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. The August “Reading Books Together” podcast discusses young people and reading, historical fiction and ColoradoContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers & john Paul jaramillo episode 4”
a visual history of chicano/a/x literature site
So pleased to be included in A VISUAL HISTORY OF CHICANO/A/X LITERATURE site https://faculty.ucmerced.edu/mmart…/index_files/vh2017.htm
father fragments
A quick nonfiction excerpt from a project I’m working on: The dark haired boy, bare footed and tired takes the reins of the mare and throws his leg over with a kick. He’s been waiting for hours to ride. His lips widen and then he nearly lets himself giggle as the mount kicks and stridesContinue reading “father fragments”
quick review of junot díaz’ this is how you lose her
I’ve long read and admired Junot Diaz‘ style of prose. I’m almost embarrassed to say how much I’ve modeled my own work after his. This latest collection of work contains all the themes of trouble and failure at its heart. And also the redemption. I continue to admire how the work follows a consistent universeContinue reading “quick review of junot díaz’ this is how you lose her”
quick review of daniel chacon’s hotel juarez
A few months back I wrote a quick review of Daniel Chacon’s book Unending Rooms. I admire Chacon’s aesthetic and overall writerly choices. I look forward to picking up his novel and his other work Chicano Chicanery. His work at times is surreal and also thought provoking. I find his work here playful and intelligent. AndContinue reading “quick review of daniel chacon’s hotel juarez”
a book and a labyrinth
Rereading Borges’ The Garden of Forking Paths this morning. And the idea of a chaotic novel or a novel with confounding paths of time consoles me as I’ve been thinking Semi-Orphaned is a mess of vignettes and scene/organization that spirals. Hopeful that I have found a plan for the chaos. “No one realized that the bookContinue reading “a book and a labyrinth”
quick review: luis alberto urrea’s the hummingbird’s daughter and queen of america
I first read the short fiction of Luis Alberto Urrea in graduate school. The discovery of a prolific Latino author whose work moves so adeptly from English to Spanish was important to my development as a writer. I enjoyed his collection of short stories Six Kinds of Sky and the keen worlds and characters drawn,Continue reading “quick review: luis alberto urrea’s the hummingbird’s daughter and queen of america”
ernesto galarza’s barrio boy
Reading Galarza’s book Barrio Boy I was amazed at the brilliant memoir of Galarza’s boyhood experience of the Mexican Revolution and segregation in American neighborhoods. I was interested to find a different definition of the term chicano and also I was interested to read about the struggle for work and how that struggle for workContinue reading “ernesto galarza’s barrio boy”
quick note on troncoso’s from this wicked patch of dust
Last week–despite mountains of grading and student conferences–I spent time with Troncoso’s sweeping novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust and found so much to admire. I admired the form as well as the content. Told in a third person limited omniscient narration the story drops into the thoughts, feelings and questions of each member of a MexicanContinue reading “quick note on troncoso’s from this wicked patch of dust”