LitFest Pasadena is May 20 & 21, 2017!

LitFest Pasadena, the city and Southland’s free literary arts festival, celebrates its sixth year with a weekend of events, authors’ panels and readings on May 20 and 21, 2017. LitFest Pasadena is presented by Light Bringer Project and Literature for Life.

LitFest will unfold again on the sidewalks and in the storefronts, corridors and unique venues of the highly walkable Playhouse District. Vroman’s Bookstore and the Pasadena Playhouse will serve as anchor points, as the festival continues its legacy of featuring Pulitzer Prize winners, L.A.’s most diverse and exciting authors, and eclectic discussion panels.

I am honored to be one of the guest authors at this year’s LitFest. This is my panel:

So many other wonderful authors will be sharing their work over this two-day literary festival including Lilliam Rivera, Luis J. Rodriguez, Neelanjana Banerjee, Jessica Ceballos, Naomi Hirahara, Gary Phillips, Tom Lutz, Steph Cha, Heidi Durrow, Bill Esparza, Jonathan Gold, Dana Johnson, Carolina A. Miranda, Keenan Norris, Thelma Reyna, Jervey Tervalon, David Ulin, Jesús Salvador Treviño, and so many more!

For a complete list of authors, visit here. And, for the two-day schedule of panels and readings, visit here.

IN OTHER LITERARY NEWS…

Life has been a bit busier than usual of late. Not only has my day job revved up a notch or two, I have the great fortune to have two books coming out this year. My short-story collection, The King of Lighting Fixtures, will be released by the University of Arizona Press in September. Here is the cover which incorporates a wonderfully evocative painting by the great Eloy Torrez:

And here are some lovely back-cover blurbs for my story collection:

“A sharp, smart collection punctuated with inventiveness and wit: in the ongoing effort to depict Los Angeles as lit by something other than the glare of Hollywood, Daniel Olivas reminds us that the vast topography of the entire city and its neighborhoods are vibrant with their own unique electricities.”—Manuel Muñoz, author of What You See in the Dark

“Comic, wry, very Angeleno, and essential Southern California.”—Susan Straight, author of Between Heaven and Here

“The short story is a delicate artifact and Olivas knows it: the right balance is achieved only if what is said is in harmony with what is left unmentioned. His Los Angeles is not only from bottom up but from east to west and from south to north.”—Ilan Stavans, author of On Borrowed Words

And then, in November, my debut poetry collection, Crossing the Border, will be released by Pact Press. Here is the cover:

 And again, some lovely back-cover blurbs for my book of poetry:

“The poetry of Daniel Olivas rings distinctly wise, sensitive, and true. All are welcomed here, from the woman writing to her lover in prison, to the victims of a tragic flood. Cross over and listen to those who suffer and survive, and to those who protest and persevere—each of them ‘speaking their own special language.’”—Rigoberto González, author of Other Fugitives and Other Strangers: Poems

“These haunting narrative poems by Daniel Olivas are rooted in the heart of his beloved Los Angeles. They stretch across that infinite, mythical place called the Borderlands and plant themselves firmly in the unchartered territory of a new, great American literature. In this extraordinary collection, we hear a new-old America singing.” —Himilce Novas, author of Mangos, Bananas and Coconuts: A Cuban Love Story

“Daniel Olivas’s poems are necessary things: they tell stories that need to be told, render scenes that need to be seen, isolate moments that need to be examined in all their beauty and suffering. Actor and victim, witness and innocent, all are represented in Olivas’s powerful first collection, engaging the reader in the act of crossing over via the tools that language possesses when in skillful hands.”—Patty Seyburn, author of Hilarity: Poems

More news to come as we plan the book launches. If you’d like a review copy, please visit my webpage and drop me an email through the link on the homepage. Also follow me on Twitter for updates: @olivasdan.