Literally Literary

This episode, we finish our platica on Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine.

After a hiatus, we are back! Here, we discuss the first half of Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine.

For this episode, we interview the author of Brother Sleep, Aldo Amparán. On Spotify, you can enjoy this episode in video form!

For part 2 of our talk on Brother Sleep by Aldo Amparán, we cover the second half of the debut poetry collection.

This episode, we begin our discussion on the poetry collection Brother Sleep by Aldo Amparán, covering the first half of the winner of the 2020 Alice James award.

Yasmin Ramírez joins us in the studio to talk about her first book, ¡Ándale, Prieta!: a Love Letter to My Family. 

For part 2 of ¡Ándale, Prieta! by Yasmin Ramírez, we cover Part 2 of her memoir: Finding Yasmin. Stay tuned for part 3, our interview with Yasmin!

We round out 2022 with our first platica on the debut book and memoir by our friend and colleague, Yasmin Ramírez, ‘¡Ándale, Prieta!’, out of Lee and Low Books (formerly Cinco Puntos Press). Yasmin is an English Professor at El Paso Community College, a 2021 Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Author Fellow and a 2020 recipient of the Woody and Gayle Hunt-Aspen Institute Fellowship Awa...

This episode, we wrap up our discussion on Carlos Fidel Espinoza's How to Lie to a Customs Agent , focusing on the second half of the poetry collection. 

It has been a minute! We are back with our first look at the 2021 winner of the Southwest Book Award, How to Lie to a Customs Agent , the poetry collection by Carlos Fidel Espinoza. 

This episode, we wrap up our discussion of A Ballad of Love and Glory, Reyna Grande's 2022 novel, going over parts 2-4. 

This episode, we begin Reyna Grande's A Ballad of Love and Glory, giving an overview of Reyna's most recent novel and discussing part 1. Stay tuned for part 2!

We are honored to interview Maurice C. Ruffin, the author of The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You, in this episode.*  *We apologize for the delay in releasing this interview, but hope you all enjoy and stay tuned for upcoming recordings on our next books!

This episode, we conclude our talk on The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, focusing on the second half of the short story collection. 

Join us for our introductory episode on The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You, going over the first five stories in the debut short story collection by Maurice Carlos Ruffin shortlisted for the Ernest J. Gaines award. 

This episode, Alessandra Narváez Varela joins us in the studio to talk about her debut novel, Thirty Talks Weird Love. Stay tuned for exclusive video of this special occasion! 

In our second look at Alessandra Narváez Varela's Thirty Talks Weird Love , we highlight our favorite pieces from the verse novel, and discuss ways of teaching it in the classroom. 

We kick off 2022 with our first look at Alessandra Narváez Varela’s debut novel-in-verse from Cinco Puntos Press, Thirty Talks Weird Love. Varela’s YA novel is the story of a young girl from Juárez, Mexico, who meets her older self at a time when the women of that border city become victims to violence. If your older self could talk to your 13-year-old self, what would they say?

We close out the year talking shop with the second half of Piñata Theory, Alan Chazaro's 2020 poetry collection out of Black Lawrence Press . We will return next year, and want to wish everyone a safe and happy 2022 filled with lots of books! 

For our first look at Piñata Theory, the poetry collection by Alan Chazaro, we begin with our usual overview, but then dive into the first half of Chazaro's second poetry collection (from Black Lawrence Press). 

To close out our platica on Funeral for Flaca by Emily Prado, we were honored to interview Emily for this final episode on her memoir.  Please do pick up a copy of Emily's book at your local bookstore. You can find local bookstores through this website: https://bookshop.org/  Check out the Spotify playlist we assembled from songs contributed by listeners here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ra...

This episode, we discuss the second half of Emily Prado's essay collection, Funeral for Flaca, looking at our favorite chapters, or tracks. Which chapters / tracks were your favorite? Drop a voicemail and let us know!

For our second look at Funeral for Flaca by Emily Prado, we talk about the first half of its collection of essays. If you have not had a chance to answer our music poll in part 1 on Spotify, please do so! 

Welcome to season 4! And welcome our new co-host, Reyna Muñoz, EPCC English Professor. For our first book this season, we open Funeral for Flaca, Emily Prado's 2021 memoir. For part 1, we discuss the author's bio, as well as the collection’s style, themes, and connections we made to other works. We also talk about her book tour and visit to El Paso, and preview the memoir's arrangement: song track...

On our two-year anniversary, we present this bonus episode featuring El Paso Community College student perspectives on Citizen Illegal, the poetry collection by José Olivarez.  Stay tuned for our new season of books this fall of 2021!