Words on a Wire

In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Tim Z. Hernandez speaks with poet Yaccaira Salvatierra. Yaccaira’s poems have appeared in POETRY Magazine, The Nation, Prairie Schooner, and Rattle among others. Her collection, Sons of Salt, was published with BOA Editions September 2024. She has been an organizer for the San Francisco International Flor y Canto Literary Festival and is currently translating Estancias de Emilia Tangoa, a poetry collection by Peruvian poet Ana Varela Tafur. Some of her translations can be found in About Place Journal and Plume. She lives in Oakland, California, where she is a dedicated educator.

Host Daniel Chacón talks with mystery writer Teresa Dovalpage about her thirteenth novel, Last Seen in Havana (Soho Press, 2014).

In this engaging podcast episode, host Daniel Chacon sits down with poet Gabriel Dozal to discuss Dozal’s book The Border Simulator and explore themes of identity, technology, and the concept of borders. Their conversation dives into Dozal's inspirations, blending personal experiences of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border with an imagined digital landscape where borders feel like a "simulation." The two delve into how technology, from language models to social media, shapes both personal expression and public interaction, and they explore Dozal’s playful poetic experiments with language. This candid talk covers everything from the influence of AI in writing to Dozal’s unique approach to navigating and representing the border experience.

On this episode of Words on a Wire, host Tim Z. Hernandez talks with poets ire'ne lara silva and Jen Yáñez-Alaniz.ire’ne lara silva, 2023 Texas State Poet Laureate, is the author of five poetry collections, furia, Blood Sugar Canto, CUICACALLI/House of Song, FirstPoems, and the eaters of flowers, two chapbooks, Enduring Azucares and Hibiscus Tacos, a comic book, VENDAVAL, and a short story collection, flesh to bone, which won the Premio Aztlán. ire’ne is the recipient of a 2021 Tasajillo Writers Grant, a 2017 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant, the final Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Award, and was the Fiction Finalist for AROHO’s 2013 Gift of Freedom Award. Most recently, ire’ne was awarded the 2021 Texas Institute of Letters Shrake Award for Best Short Nonfiction. Her second short story collection, the light of your body, will be published by Arte Publico Press in Spring 2025. http://www.irenelarasilva.wordpress.comJen Yáñez-Alaniz is a poetactivist, community organizer,and  a third-year PhD Fellow at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Culture Literacy and Language Program, and a Mexican American Studies Graduate Certificate Student. Her research interests include cultural preservation and decolonial praxis. Exploring themes of sensuality, surrogacy, and consumption, Jen blends creative and academic expression using Gloria Anzaldúa’s autohistoria-teoría to honor embodied experiences that are often confined within linguistic boundaries. Jennifer’s literary contributions include "Matrilineal Poetics: Toward an Understanding of Corporeality and Identity," featured in Latinas in Hollywood Herstories. She has published widely in journals and anthologies, including an extensive critical biography of Carmen Tafolla in Chicana Portraits: Critical Biographies of Twelve Chicana Writers (University of Arizona Press), and her poetry chapbook Surrogate Eater (Alabrava Press) was launched in 2023.

Host Daniel Chacón talks with Dr. Tara López, author of Chuco Punk: Sonic Insurgency in El Paso (University of Texas Press, 2024).

In this episode of Technically, Literate, host Leah O'Daniel speaks with author Joesph Lezza.Joseph Lezza is a writer in New York, NY with an MFA in creative writing from The University of Texas at El Paso. His debut memoir in essays, I'm Never Fine: Scenes and Spasms on Loss (Vine Leaves Press), was a finalist for the 2021 Prize Americana in Prose and was named by Buzzfeed LGBTQ and Lambda Literary as a "Most Anticipated 2023 Release." 

Host Will Rose talks with fiction writer and essayist Dagoberto Gilb about his two new books, New Testament: Stories (City Lights, 2024) and A Passing West: Essays from the Borderlands (University of New Mexico Press, 2024).

In this episode of Technically, Literate, host Leah O'Daniel speaks with accomplished poet and UTEP professor Andrea Cote Botero.

On this episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón talks with author Lucrecia Guerrero about her new book, On the Mad River (Mouthfeel Press, 2024).Lucrecia Guerrero grew up in Nogales, Arizona in a bilingual and bicultural home--her mother is from Kentucky, her father from Mexico. Both parents held a fierce pride in their perspective cultures and shared stories with their children. Guerrero is proud to say that she was raised on biscuits and gravy with a jalapeno on the side. Her stories inevitably involve cultural clashes between experience and tradition; and explore themes such as the abuse of power, both political and personal, and the strength and beauty of the human spirit.Guerrero has lived in the Midwest for years where she teaches creative writing.

Host Daniel Chacón travels to Las Cruces, New Mexico to sit with legendary Chicanx writer Denise Chávez. They discuss her career, her Las Cruces bookstore, and her new book, Street of Too Many Stories (Conocimientos Press, 2024).

Host Will Rose talks with Bloomberg opinion columnist Parmy Olson about the arms race to build the next generation of artificial intelligence -- and her new book, Supremecy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World.

On this episode of Words on a Wire, Host Tim Z. Hernande speaks with Cassie Holguin-Pettinato, a Chicana poet, collage artist, and theremin musician from the El Paso/Juárez frontera. A fourth-generation resident of La Calavera, the last historic neighborhood of Smeltertown, she channels her rich cultural background into her work. Cassie is the author of The Lamb’s Tail (Bottlecap Press, 2022) and The Five Stages of Stuttering (Flowersong Press, 2024). She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from The University of Texas at El Paso. In 2024, she was honored with the Poet and Author Fellowship at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Currently, she serves as an academic writing tutor at El Paso Community College.

[Listener note: This episode's conversation is conducted in Spanish] Ricardo Pohlenz es un escritor iconoclasta, ha atravesado la poesía concreta, la crítica cinematográfica y la literatura como acto de irreverencia. En este episodio iniciamos una nueva temporada de Patos Salvajes con esta entrevista sorprendente que tuvimos en persona en la Ciudad de México. Patos Salvajes es el espacio radiofónico de los estudiantes del M.F.A. en Escritura Creativa Bilingüe en la Universidad de Texas en El Paso. [Description translation] Ricardo Pohlenz is an iconoclastic writer, he has traversed concrete poetry, film criticism and literature in general as an act of irreverence. In this episode we start a new season of Patos Salvajes with this astonishing interview we had in person in Mexico City. Patos Salvajes is the radio program of the students of the M.F.A. in Bilingual Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Host Daniel Chacon speaks with author, playwright, and theater director Octavio Solis.

Host Tim Z. Hernandez speaks with author and historian David Dorado Romo about "the true story of America, from the Mexican American perspective."

Host Daniel Chacón speaks with author and attorney Daniel A. Olivas about his latest novel, Chicano Frankenstein (Forest Avenue Press, 2024).

Longtime hosts Daniel Chacón and Tim Z. Hernandez kick off season 16 of Words on a Wire. They discuss season 16 guests, forthcoming projects, addiction, and the honor of being invited to the Texas Book Festival.

In this special episode of Words on a Wire, join host Daniel Chacon as he brings you an extraordinary collaboration with the renowned Spanish podcast Todo Empieza con Una Palabra. Recorded in Madrid, this episode features a rich, bilingual discussion with students and faculty from the University of Texas, El Paso, and the Escuela de Escritores. Hear diverse perspectives on the craft of writing, and experience the vibrant synergy between writers from different cultures. 

On this special episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón invites writers from the Macondo community, a writing workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros. Guests include writers Carla Trujillo, Miguel Angel Ramirez, and Erasmo Guerra.

Patos Salvajes es el espacio radiofónico de los estudiantes del M.F.A. en Escritura Creativa Bilingüe en la Universidad de Texas en El Paso. Hoy tendremos un encuentro muy especial con dos maravillosas poetas locales. Nancy Lorenza Green es una una voz imprescindible en la frontera, su cultura de origen combina la rama materna mexicana con la raíz paterna afroamericana, escritora absolutamente bilingüe que además es un músico sorprendente. Se define como Afro-Chicana y todas las fronteras confluyen en ella. Toni Beatriz Fuentes, en tanto, es una poeta de raíces originarias Apaches y, como lo dice ella misma, un alma mexicana, expresión de esta sensibilidad que no reconoce fronteras.Patos Salvajes is the radio program of the students of the M.F.A. in Bilingual Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso. Today we will have a very special encounter with two wonderful local poets. Nancy Lorenza Green is an indispensable voice on the border, her culture of origin combines the Mexican maternal branch with the Afro-American paternal root, an absolutely bilingual writer who is also an amazing musician. She defines herself as Afro-Chicana and all borders converge in her. Toni Beatriz Fuentes, meanwhile, is a poet of native Apache roots and, as she herself says, a Mexican soul, an expression of this sensibility that recognizes no borders.