Cimientos 2023: IATI Theater's Staged Readings Series (June 8 to June 11)

Cimientos Play Development Program at IATI Theater in New York is a unique opportunity for global playwrights. Out of hundreds of submissions, only ten playwrights are selected to develop their plays with us. This program is dedicated to pushing the envelope of traditional playwriting and explore what IATI calls vanguardia. The program provides the selected playwrights with resources such as mentorship, workshop-panels, and a platform to present their work to audiences.

IATI's ultimate goal is to cultivate and support innovative and unconventional voices in the theater community. IATI believes in pushing boundaries and supporting artists who challenge the status quo.

Join IATI for the Cimientos 2023 Staged Readings Series between June 8-11, 2023. Spotlighting this exciting curation of national and cross-continental contemporary writers. For information about the plays including getting your tickets for any or all of the readings, visit here.

Location: IATI Theater Studio, 64 E. 4th St 2 Floor, New York, NY, 10003.

I am delighted that my play, Waiting for Godínez, is a featured play in Cimientos 2023 with a live reading scheduled for June 9, 8:00 p.m. (Eastern). If you are in New York, pick up a ticket and enjoy an evening of theatre.

***

May 22 was the book birthday of the Spanish translation of my short-story collection, How to Date a Flying Mexican under the title of Cómo Salir con un Mexicano Volador (University of Nevada Press). The Spanish edition was translated by Cinta García de la Rosa. Having my work available in Spanish means a lot to this old pocho. Perfect for the classroom and libraries! Get your copy now from your favorite bookstore or online seller.

“How to Date a Flying Mexican” comes to the New Short Fiction Series, August 31, in a live streamed performance

The New Short Fiction Series, Los Angeles' longest running spoken word series, presents selections from How To Date A Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press) by Daniel A. Olivas, Wednesday, August 31, on Crowdcast. This live streamed performance stars host and spoken word artist Sally Shore, with guest cast Holger Moncada Jr. (Promised Land, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels) and Jill Remez (The Neighborhood, The Bold and the Beautiful). 

Performance stream begins at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $12.00 advance purchase, $20 day of stream. For tickets and program information, visit https://www.crowdcast.io/e/how-to-date-a-flying/register.

Praise for How to Date a Flying Mexican

"How to Date a Flying Mexican is a beautifully realized work that comes out of the depths of the Mexican and Mexican American cultural experience."

    —Michael Nava, Los Angeles Review of Books

"Throughout all of his stories, there are strong Chicano characters, who embody tales that range from the laugh-out-loud funny to the heartbreaking. A timely retrospective from an important voice in Latinx literature."

    —Wendy J. Fox, BuzzFeed

"Prompted by tragedy—the death of his father and the pandemic—Olivas revisits decades of writing to produce this collection of new and previously published stories. Olivas’s work is surreal, dystopian, critical, and introspective, ultimately moving into contemporary political rhetoric."

    —Alta Journal

“Daniel Olivas loves to tell stories and his writing reflects that joy. Every story is told with a wink and a smile, encouraging you to follow along for the ride.”

    —Maceo Montoya, associate professor of Chicano/a Studies, University of California, Davis, and author of Preparatory Notes for Future Masterpieces

“From gritty realism to mythic and sci-fi speculative, Olivas dishes up an exquisite feast of short fictions filled to the brim with small and outsized everyday struggles—and failures.”

    —Frederick Luis Aldama, award winning author and Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at UT Austin 

 “This kinetic new collection of stories is exuberant and poignant, filled with the homegrown details of Latinx life as well as a kind of cheerful, saucy magic.”

     —Yxta Maya Murray, law professor, Loyola Law School and author of The World Doesn’t Work that Way, but It Could: Stories

"How to Date a Flying Mexican" comes to Los Angeles Mission College on March 26

DANIEL A. OLIVAS in conversation with DR. JOSÉ PAEZ

In a freewheeling discussion, this live event will explore Daniel A. Olivas’s newest book, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press). This short-story collection is deeply rooted in Chicano and Mexican culture and the literary worlds of magical realism, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures. The characters confront—both directly and obliquely—questions of morality, justice, and self-determination.

Praise for How to Date a Flying Mexican

"This deeply textured, sensual collection more than accomplishes Olivas’s self-proclaimed task of rendering the beauty and complexity of Mexican and Mexican American culture in its fabulist, folkloric stories." —Michael Nava, Los Angeles Review of Books

"Throughout all of his stories, there are strong Chicano characters, who embody tales that range from the laugh-out-loud funny to the heartbreaking. A timely retrospective from an important voice in Latinx literature." —Wendy J. Fox, BuzzFeed

"Prompted by tragedy—the death of his father and the pandemic—Olivas revisits decades of writing to produce this collection of new and previously published stories. Olivas’s work is surreal, dystopian, critical, and introspective, ultimately moving into contemporary political rhetoric." —Alta Journal

***

This event is sponsored by

Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore

and 

Los Angeles Mission College

The Tucson Festival of Books returns in person to the University of Arizona Campus on March 12 – 13

 

The annual Tucson Festival of Books is returning to the beautiful University of Arizona campus on Saturday, March 12, and Sunday, March 13, after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 event completely and led to an all-virtual event in 2021.

This year’s book festival will include 267 presenting authors representing over 15 different genres and 268 events throughout 31 venues during the two-day festival.

The guest authors include many La Bloga favorites including René Colato Lainez, Estella Gonzalez, Reyna Grande, Xochitl Gonzalez, Luis Alberto Urrea, Jaime Cortez, Yuyi Morales, Lilliam Rivera, David Bowles, Lizz Huerta, Zoraida Códova, Oscar Mancinas, JJ Amaworo Wilson, and many more!

I will be on two panels this year if you want to check them out:

1. Parables for Our Times 

(Saturday, March 12, 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm)

Using magic, mythic power and humor, these authors have written marvelous tales that address questions about justice, self-determination, survival and the power of collective action against tyranny. How did they craft these tales and what inspires them?

Panelists: Daniel Olivas, JJ Amaworo Wilson
Moderator: Scott Glener

2. To Live and Die en La Ciudad: Chicanx Short Fiction in the Urban Southwest

(Sunday, March 13, 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm)

Three Chicanx authors discuss questions, issues, and processes of writing short fiction from and about urban Chicanx communities. Some of these questions are: How do we create, adapt, and sustain our cultural and communal expressions within Southwestern cities? And what do authors think about when trying to render these dynamics in short fiction?

Panelists: Estella Gonzalez, Oscar Mancinas, Daniel Olivas
Moderator: Ivonne Ramirez

***

I will also be doing a book signing at University of Arizona Press Booth #238

(Saturday, March 12, 11:00 - 11:30 am)

I will be signing my University of Arizona Press titles (The Book of Want and The King of Lighting Fixtures) at the University of Arizona Press's booth #238.

We look forward to seeing you!

ᴥ

It’s a strange feeling anticipating the publication of a book for about two years and then realize the book has been born and is out in the world. My tenth book, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press), was published on February 22 and I have been so moved by the response. We’ve had several events already and, due to the pandemic, they’ve all been virtual, so many are available for watching if you missed any of them. Here are some links to a few book appearances, interviews, and reviews:

Vroman's Bookstore

Skylight Books

Chills at Will Podcast

Alta Journal

Poets & Writers

Los Angeles Review of Books

BuzzFeed

Many more events are planned throughout the year. For a complete list that is being updated as needed, visit my events page. And mil gracias for the support and well wishes for my newest literary baby!

Join us February 23 for the virtual book launch of the latest book from Daniel A. Olivas, “How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories”

 

VROMAN'S LIVE PRESENTS DANIEL A. OLIVAS,

IN CONVERSATION WITH PROFESSOR ÁLVARO HUERTA,

DISCUSSES HOW TO DATE A FLYING MEXICAN

DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2022

TIME: 6:00 P.M.

This is a virtual event and will take place on Crowdcast
Register for FREE ahead of time to save your spot and get an email reminder!

EVENT LINK FOR REGISTRATION

During the pandemic and in the wake of his father's death, Daniel A. Olivas set upon the task of reviewing almost 25 years' worth of his short stories that had been published in various collections or as parts of novels. Our strange times seemed to call for this type of introspection and examination. He found that many of his narratives fell within the world of magic, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures. This review also revealed that many of his fictions confronted—either directly or obliquely—questions of morality, justice, and self-determination while being deeply steeped in Chicano and Mexican culture. Olivas decided to choose his favorite tales from the many scores of stories that populated his published works. He added to the mix two recent stories—one dystopian, the other magical--both of which confront the last administration's anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.

The result is How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press). Though his books have been taught in colleges and high schools across the country for over two decades, this collection brings together some of his most unforgettable strange tales that will be enjoyed, again, by his fans, and anew for readers who have not, as yet, experienced Olivas's distinct—and very Chicano—fiction. A literary critic once called Olivas a "literary marvel." These stories, collectively, offer ample support for this declaration.

Praise for How to Date a Flying Mexican

Featured by Poets & Writers magazine as a new and newsworthy book.

“Prompted by tragedy—the death of his father and the pandemic—Olivas revisits decades of writing to produce this collection of new and previously published stories. Olivas’s work is surreal, dystopian, critical, and introspective, ultimately moving into contemporary political rhetoric.”
—Alta Journal

“Throughout all of his stories, there are strong Chicano characters, who embody tales that range from the laugh-out-loud funny to the heartbreaking. A timely retrospective from an important voice in Latinx literature.”

—Wendy J. Fox, BuzzFeed 

“Daniel Olivas loves to tell stories and his writing reflects that joy. Every story is told with a wink and a smile, encouraging you to follow along for the ride. His humor not only brings levity to matters of life, death, and human treachery, but it is also a stylistic choice that Olivas has mastered. These stories aren’t so much about the interiority of its characters, but about the mythical, magical mundanity of our lives—Olivas’s style perfectly expresses this contradiction.”  
—Maceo Montoya, associate professor of Chicano/a Studies, University of California, Davis, and author of Preparatory Notes for Future Masterpieces

“From gritty realism to mythic and sci-fi speculative, Olivas dishes up an exquisite feast of short fictions filled to the brim with small and outsized everyday struggles—and failures. Through it all, we feel the mischievous wink and wry smile twinkle of an author whose . . . skills clear new space for us to breathe again in the richness of Latinx ways of life.”
—Frederick Luis Aldama, award winning author and Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at University of Texas, Austin 

“This kinetic new collection of stories is exuberant and poignant, filled with the homegrown details of Latinx life as well as a kind of cheerful, saucy magic.”
—Yxta Maya Murray, law professor, Loyola Law School and author of The World Doesn’t Work that Way, but It Could: Stories

“Olivas has the voice of both an ancient and modern storyteller. He is very deft and sure with language. The stories make a significant contribute to the Latinx community and beyond.”
—David Kranes, professor emeritus of English, University of Utah, and author of Keno Runner, Abracadabra, and Performance Art: Stories

***

If you can’t make the Vroman’s Bookstore event, visit my events page for other opportunities including a virtual event at Skylight Books on February 26 where I will be in conversation with writer and educator, Lorinda Toledo. You may register for this Skylight Books event here.

Reflections on Publishing My Twelfth Book, "How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories"

 

By Daniel A. Olivas

Almost 25 years ago, I started writing fiction. My first published short story appeared in the literary journal RiverSedge in 1998. In 2000, a small, now-defunct press based in Pennsylvania published my first book, The Courtship of María Rivera Peña: A Novella. I was 41 years old, married, the father of an 11-year-old boy, and well-established in my legal career with the California Attorney General’s office. That book is now out print, but it served as the foundation for ten more books—fiction, nonfiction, poetry—including two I edited. And in writing those books, I honed my storytelling skills which, in recent years, spawned a new life in playwriting.

Now a twelfth book is on the horizon. I am a man in his early sixties facing retirement in a few years. Luckily, I am still married to my law school sweetheart as we are about to celebrate 35 years of marriage. And our son is now 31, a grown many with a career and a rich life on his own. My father was called back last September, but my mother is still running circles around her grandkids and great-grandkids.

On February 1, 2022, the University of Nevada Press will publish my latest book, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories. If you are a reviewer who is on NetGalley, I invite you to read the galleys.

How did this new book come to be? During the pandemic and in the wake of my father’s death, I set upon the task of reviewing almost 25 years’ worth of my short stories that had been published in various collections or as parts of novels. Our strange times seemed to call for this type of introspection and examination. I found that many of my narratives fell within the world of magic, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures.

This review also revealed that many of my fictions confronted—either directly or obliquely—questions of morality, justice, and self-determination while being deeply steeped in Chicano and Mexican culture. I decided to choose my favorite tales from the many scores of stories that populated my published works. I added to the mix two recent stories—one dystopian, the other magical—both of which confront the last administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. The result is How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories.

We are now setting up book appearances to help bring this new book out into the world. The book launch will be at the venerable Vroman’s Bookstore on February 3, and I will be making an appearance at Skylight Books on February 26. I will also be a guest author at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 12 and 13. Other readings are being planned including one at Tía Chucha’s in spring. I hope you will be able to attend one of them. I am updating my events page as I get confirmations.

If you are a writer who has birthed at least one book, you know about the nightmares: your book gets published and when you open a copy, the pages are blank or they are in complete disarray with pages missing and words filled with typos. I am currently having those nightmares.

But no matter. I am blessed that a wonderful press has agreed to publish my work. I will do everything I can to bring it into the world with all of my energy, hard work, and love. I hope you will come along for the ride.

The Brown Bomber

In Memory of Ernest Alderete 

By Daniel A. Olivas

Pop’s chestnut skin glistened, tight and strong as he dove into Venice Beach’s foamy waves and then shot up like a mortar and yelled, “I’m the Brown Bomber!” This was his favorite beach line.

So, for years, whenever I heard the Brown Bomber mentioned, I figured everyone just knew Pop. I mean, he was brown and he fought in Korea as a Marine. He eventually admitted that other men were known as “Brown Bomber” including one who still lived in Monterey Park not too far from us.

The Brown Bomber: A war hero, my Pop said, who couldn’t wait for his amphibious vehicle to reach the cold, dark Normandy shore. The way Pop told it, the Brown Bomber liberated dozens of death camps almost single-handedly.

But the Brown Bomber’s second life, after the war, is what made my eyes widen and my teeth click with excitement. The Brown Bomber helped make a movie! And not just any movie. He’s the one who, through celluloid trickery, made the swarming black ants in Them! look huge – bigger than a house – so they could eat everything from El Paso to L.A.

But the Brown Bomber died at the dawn of the new millennium. Killed not by a bullet or giant ant, but by the ordinary course of time at a commendable, wintry age. His daughters sprinkled his ashes along Yosemite’s dusty hiking trails. Trails he helped build under the New Deal.

So, I guess Pop could borrow that moniker now. It’s free to use. I’m sure the real Brown Bomber wouldn’t care. Not really.

[“Brown Bomber” first appeared in the literary journal Muse Apprentice Guild, and is featured in Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press).]

Birthing a New Book

 

The typewriter owned by Michael Augustine Olivas

On Sunday, I received my copy editor's redline to my manuscript, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press), coming out in February 2022. The email included a lovely letter from my copy editor, Robin DuBlanc, that began:

“Congratulations on How to Date a Flying Mexican. Your stories are by turns intriguing, funny, poignant, charming, alarming, and above all human. I had to force myself to slow down while editing because I often had a tendency to rush to see what would happen next.”

And so, the birthing of my new book truly begins. This will be the twelfth time I’ve worked with a copy editor on one of my books (I’ve written ten books, and served as anthology editor for two), and each time, I get butterflies of anticipation. But this book is particularly special to me. As I explain in my introduction to the manuscript, my late father, Michael Augustine Olivas, loved the title story which is why I chose it to lead off the book and set the tone, if you will. I also dedicate the collection to him.

My father's declining health and my weekly visits with him inspired me last year to review my published stories of the last 20-plus years and choose my favorites for this collection. I then added two newer ones to complete it. My father, who passed away September 23, 2021, never lived to hear the news that a publisher enthusiastically accepted it earlier this year. But we had an opportunity to discuss my selection process which brought him great joy.

My father never got to publish his own fiction and poetry. He worked in a factory while he and my mother raised five children. But he wrote on a little manual typewriter when I was young and completed a novel and many poems. However, publishers rejected his submissions. I think my father was ahead of his time. Very few publishers would even consider a manuscript written by a Chicano who told stories and had themes that were not "mainstream."

He eventually destroyed his manuscripts and focused on getting his college degree and master's. So, when I became a published writer over 20 years ago, my father was so proud. Writing was our special bond. I miss him dearly.

Pico Boulevard, October 1972

 

By Daniel A. Olivas

 

On Pico Boulevard it is hot, too hot, and smoggy

for October as bodies, large and small, stream out

of St. Thomas the Apostle Church.

 

¡Ay Dios mío! That priest, that priest! says Mrs.

Fonseca. He cannot speak Spanish worth a damn!

When are we going to get a Mexicano to say mass?

 

The stray, yellow dog barks near the votive candles

looking for attention and the children laugh as

they run to the empty lot three blocks down and

two over. Shit, Alfredo! Stay away from me, you

pendejo! I’m gonna’kick yo’ ass, you pinche pendejo!

Alfredo throws a stone anyway and laughs hard.

 

Adriana, I understand your pain! My first grandbaby

came before the wedding, too! But it will be fine.

 

The siren shrieks as the gleaming red fire engine

streaks down the bustling street towards black smoke.

 

Come on, Mirabel. I love you, es la verdad! You can’t

question that. But I’ve waited long enough, haven’t I?

 

The siren is far now, at its destination, firemen

helping the helpless, another tragedy confronted.

 

Fifteen thousand dollars! Can you believe it!

in one fucking year! Selling this shit will keep

me in dinero better than any pinche college

degree. Hear me, Simón? Better than any pinche

Harvard. What? Shit, man. Don’t give me that!

I’ve got it wired, man. Wired. Hear me? Wired!

 

Feet hurt, too much perfume, rattling noise: honks,

laughter, coughing, cussing, cooing, church bells.

 

Mi amor, what do you mean? You have my heart,

you know that! My heart! Believe me. I am not

lying to you. You are a wonderful husband, mi amor,

the best, es la verdad. I love you, mi amor. I do.

 

On Pico Boulevard it is hot, too hot, and smoggy

for October as bodies, large and small, stream out

of St. Thomas the Apostle Church.

 

[“Pico Boulevard, October 1972” first appeared in Perihelion, and is featured in Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press, 2017).]

Book launch, cover art, meeting Eloy Torrez, and #LatinoHeritageMonth

By Daniel A. Olivas

As shown by the beautiful flyer that heads this post, my latest short-story collection, The King of Lighting Fixtures (University of Arizona Press), will officially enter this world on Mexican Independence Day at Other Books in Boyle Heights. And as I’ve also noted before, as a lifelong Angeleno who grew up in Koreatown and whose father lived in Boyle Heights for a portion of his childhood, the venue for the launch is particularly special.

The book launch is co-presented by The New Short Fiction Series which is run by the talented Sally Shore. In other words, actors (Alex Di Dio and Daniel Vasquez) will be reading a few selections from my collection, so this will make the evening that much more special. And the event is FREE! Visit the Facebook page for more information.

In November, I will be launching my debut poetry collection, Crossing the Border (Pact Press), which Melinda Palacio wrote about a couple of weeks ago in a thoughtful review. More on that birthday later.

So far, we’ve received two wonderful pre-publication reviews (click the links to read the entire reviews):

"Assured and perceptive, offering a view of another Southland from Chandler’s and Didion’s."

—Kirkus Reviews

Olivas's "bold insistence on leaving a few seams visible, a few threads frayed—even on pulling the rug away entirely—makes the book resound as a fascinating exploration of both the art of storytelling and the ways in which fiction echoes the messiness of life."

—Foreword Reviews

As they say, you can't judge a book by its cover. But in this case, I wonder if that's true. Last Friday, I got to meet the great artist, Eloy Torrez, at the retrospective of his work that just started at Plaza de la Raza. The exhibition will run September 8 to October 21, 2017. Eloy’s wonderful painting ("El rey de la risa") adorns the cover of my book, so it was that much more special to meet him (and that painting) in person. We also got to meet his wife and documentary filmmaker, Juliane Backmann.

Daniel Olivas and Eloy Torrez

"El rey de risa" by Eloy Torrez adorns
the cover of "The King of Lighting Fixtures"

Eloy Torrez and Juliane Blackmann

And here is a small sampling of some of the remarkable art by Eloy Torrez that you will see when you visit this exhibition at Plaza de la Raza:

And finally, I want to thank the wonderful folks at the University of Arizona Press, my blurbers (Manuel Muñoz, Susan Straight, and Ilan Stavans), the press’s hardworking Rose Brandt, mi familia, La Bloga, Other Books, and everyone else who helped get make this book a reality. For other updates, visit my website.