Words on a Wire

Ben & Daniel talk to writers who attended the 2013 AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) Conference & Bookfair, which took place this past March in Boston, MA. In this 2nd of 3 AWP shows, Ben & Daniel talk to a number of writers:

Rich Villar talks about his latest projects; M. Evelina Galang talks about "Her Wild American Self, and Patrick Rosal talks about an ongoing project using excerpts from interviews to create poetry; Jose Skinner, author of "Flight and Other Stories," talks about his latest project; Xanath Caraza de Holland reads an excerpt from a poem from her collection "Conjuro," and Denise Low, former Kansas Poet Laureate stops in for a brief moment; Juan Luis Guzman and Liz Scheid talk about how to get into AWP on a budget; Mark Brunetti talks about his underground literary magazine, The Idiom Mag; Juan Ochoa talks about his book "Marijuano," Joe Haske talks about his latest book on the working class, and poet Rodney Gomez talks about a manuscript he is shopping around; Dan Vera, author of "Speaking Wiri Wiri" talks about winning the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize and his upbringing in South Texas; Fresno poet Andre Yang talks about being a founding member of the Hmong American Writers Circle; and Antonio Farias, an army veteran, talks about a program which introduces poetry to cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard.

Natalie Goldberg talks about her new book, "The True Secrets of Writing" and discursive writing vs. language driven writing. The authors weave Rio De Bajo El Rio, wild mind and the writing practice into the show and secrets of writing are actually shared.

Daniel reads Frank O'hara's Ave Maria and Jon Nehls shares an essay on bilingualism and cacography for this week's Poetic License.

Ben & Daniel talk with Bobby Byrd, poet, essayist, and owner & publisher with Cinco Puntos Press with his wife Lee (www.cincopuntos.com). Byrd talks about some of the poems in his latest collection, "White Panties, Dead Friends and Other Bits and Pieces of Love" and reads some selections from his upcoming release, "Talking to My Wife While She's Away at Church." He also talks about whether the recent drug wars in Mexico have affected his poetry, and why he decided to start a publishing house, Cinco Puntos Press.

For this week's Poetic License, Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny shares 3 stories about bilingualism and English and Spanish translation.

Ben & Daniel take the "Words on a Wire" microphones to the Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Boston MA. We'll hear them talk with Tino Villanueva, a Boston resident who has written 6 books of poetry. He was honored at AWP at the Con Tinta celebration by Letras Latinas.

Ben & Daniel also conduct rapid-fire interviews with a number of writers attending the Con Tinta celebration. Fred Arroyo talks about the future of American letters...Tim Z. Hernandez talks about an upcoming book about Kerouac's brief relationship with a Mexican girl...Sergio Troncoso talks about his essays on narco violence on the border...Melinda Palacio talks about promoting Tia Chucha Press at AWP...Aaron Michael Morales explains why he wants to revise his novel, "Eat Your Children"...Francisco Alarcon shares some personal stories with Ben and talks about breaking the news to Laurie Ann Guerrero that she had won the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize (Guerrero joins in the conversation)...and Francisco Aragon talks more about Letras Latinas and Con Tinta.

The first in a series of AWP-related programs.

Tim Z. Hernandez talks about his latest poetry collection, "Natural Takeover of Small Things," his history in physical theater, and literary influences such as Andres Montoya or Omar Salinas. The writers also discuss Hernandez's new project which reveals the names of the forgotten Mexican deportees who died in a plane crash 65 years ago and were buried in a mass grave in Fresno.

Tim Z. Hernandez reads this week's Poem of the Week: "Brown Christ" from his new collection, "Natural Takeover of Small Things."

87: W.S. Di Piero's recent poetry collection,"Nitro Nights," writes of San Francisco and the cities within. The writers talk about forming relationships to specific poetic lines or poems; what is wreckage? What becomes realized? The writers also discuss writing art criticism; Di Piero writes in this form because "critical prose answers to experience."

For the Poem of the Week, W.S. Di Piero reads "The Invention of Photography" from "Nitro Nights."

85: Alberto Alvaro Ríos's writing "springs from a sense of collective." The writers talk about how writing and poetry negotiate the concepts of "we." Raised on the US and Mexico border by British and Mexican parents, Rios understands navigating social and cultural complexities. His latest collection of poetry is titled "Dangerous Shirt."

84: Carlene Bauer talks about her novel, "Frances and Bernard," an epistolary collection inspired by the lives of Flannery O'Connor and Robert Lowell. The three writers discuss their relationship to catholicism; Bauer drew from her religious upbringing in writing Francis.

For the Poem of the Week, Benjamin Alire Saenz reads “First Love” by Edwin Rolfe, from his 1952 collection “First Love and Other Poems.”

And in this week’s Poetic License, Ben offers his reflections on the state of Western education.

Ben & Daniel talk with Carlene Bauer, author of “Frances and Bernard,” a novel told in letters inspired by the lives of Flannery O’Conner and Robert Lowell.

81: Tara Betts, author of the poetry collection "Arc & Hue," talks about caustic locations and how writers must navigate portraying body, sexuality or identity in unpredictable ways. The writers discuss histories of putting together poetry books; should they be themed (have a running narrative) or be "a thread that is subtly connected?"

Tara Betts reads this week's Poem of the Week: "What It's Like to be a Mixed Girl for Those of You Who Aren't," from her collection "Arc & Hue."

In this week's Poetic License, El Paso poet & musician Gene Keller talks about the pain, both physical and emotional, he has endured and imposed, and how music & poetry are "The Best Happy Pills." Keller is the author of the poetry collection "Tongue Tied on the Border."

And...Ben & Daniel are looking for the "Words on a Wire" listener who is the farthest from El Paso, geographically speaking. Let them know where you are when you listen to our show! Email [email protected] or [email protected].

80: Mathew Dickman talks about his latest poetry book, Mayakovsky's Revolver and how Frank O'Hara and a dream inspired the title of the collection. Daniel, Ben and Mathew talk about language driven literature and like Flannery O'Connor's fiction, Dickman's poems organically travel and surprise the reader.

Matthew Dickman reads the Poem of the Week: "Gas Station" from "Mayakovsky's Revolver."

In this week's Poetic License, Sasha Pimentel-Chacon shares memories from her childhood and her homeland in the Philippines, and how she relates those memories to light & dark spaces in the poetic form.