On Dating a Flying Mexican...
con Daniel A. Olivas author of 'How to Date a Flying Mexican'
#NuevasPaginasconLupita is a space that is both an archive and resource aimed to "spotlight" Hispanic/Latinx/e authors with newly published books. The goal is to connect readers to new and/or old favorite Hispanic/Latinx/e authors and their books! So give this & every post a share to help us reach more readers!
How does it work?!
Here’s the deal, I came up with a set of casual/random/funny questions to ask each Hispanic/Latinx/e author I interview. For now, the questions will all be the same but maybe in the future I’ll launch this into more specific questions to the author or maybe I’ll turn this series into a mini-podcast or maybe……well, you get it! The possibilities are endless.
If you are new here don’t forget to check out all the other amazing interviews! We also have a really great line-up of guest authors coming up so make sure you don’t miss an interview by subscribing now!
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Hey Heyyy Book Franz!
I know it has been a few weeks since our last author interview but I promise the wait will be worth it. I took a quick break to do some bookish research and connect to new Hispanic/Latinx/e authors to bring into this space and also to write! In fact, I recently wrote about why I decided to launch Nuevas Paginas and you can read about that here!
In the next few weeks, we will have a stellar lineup of some phenomenal Hispanic/Latinx/e authors with new books out this year across genres. I hope your TBR (to be read) list is ready! And make sure you tell your friends and family about this space (by forwarding/sharing this) because it might help connect them to a book they’ve been looking for!
So without further ado, our special guest author today is Daniel A. Olivas, author of the short story collection How to Date a Flying Mexican!
Could you tell me a bit about where this photo was taken? Is it special to your book in some way?
In this photo (taken by my very patient wife, Susan Formaker), I sit at our dining room table and I am holding up the uncorrected, bound galleys of my forthcoming short-story collection, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press). During the pandemic, my wife and I have been teleworking, so she works in our study, and I work in our dining room. My day job is that of a government attorney. By night, weekends, and holidays, I am a creative writer. I can write anywhere, to be frank. I don’t light incense or say prayers or have a dedicated writer’s shack. I simply sit and write. Writer’s block is not an issue for me. I have to cobble free time together to write, so why would I have writer’s block when writing is a joy and something I am compelled to do?
Tell me about your book without telling me about your book - share any literary inspirations behind your book! If there are none, the gap you wanted to fill in the literary canon with your book.
This is my tenth book, not counting two anthologies I edited. But this book is special: it is the first one after my father’s passing in fall of 2020. In the last few months of his life, I visited my parents every Wednesday out in Ventura where they retired (about 80 miles from my home in Pasadena). I would sit in the backyard and have a socially distanced meal and chat with my parents because this was pre-vaccine. My father had been battling lung disease for about eight years, and his battle was soon ending. We chatted about many things, but especially my creative writing. Pop had wanted to be a writer when he was a young father in the early 1960s, but he could never publish his work. He finally destroyed all of his writing. So, he took particular joy in my writing career.
The idea for this new collection came from those last chats with Pop. I wanted to review almost 25 years of my published short stories and choose my favorites while adding a few new ones to create an overview, if you will, of some of my stranger stories. I chose “How to Date a Flying Mexican” as the title story because that was my Pop’s favorite of my tales. It made him laugh and he appreciated the Mexican culture expressed in it. I hope my new collection introduces my work to a new audience while pleasing my existing readers.
What are two central themes in your book that you connect with the most and why?
Magic and Mexican culture. Not all of the stories have magical elements, but magic is definitely a key part of many of the stories in this collection. The Mexican culture expressed in those magical stories are what I grew up with. These two themes are an important part of who I am as a creative artist.
If a book was home, where would your home be?
My book would have two homes: Los Angeles and the Mexican city of Ocotlán in the state of Jalisco. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and my mother has a lot of family in Ocotlán which is a beautiful city.
If your book was a famous musician who would it be?
Lila Downs! I played a lot of her music while writing some of the newer stories. I even wove her music into the narrative of one of those stories.
What comfort food could a reader pair with your book?
Flan and coffee, of course!
In what ways has access (or little to no access) to Hispanic/Latinx/e literature defined you as a writer?
Growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s, the school curricula did not include any Latinx writers at all. So, when I started writing as an adult almost 25 years ago, I voraciously read Latinx writers with a heavy dose of writers who had Mexican roots such as Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Tomás Rivera, Yxta Maya Murray, and Oscar Zeta Acosta, to name a few. Their voices told me that my voice was important, too, and that someday my words would be published.
Where can readers keep up with your work?
Readers may follow me on Twitter: @olivasdan. Also, they may visit my website (danielolivas.com) to read samples, check out my book events, and generally learn more about me. I am also a playwright, and my plays may be accessed and read at New Play Exchange. I love doing appearances, especially at colleges and high schools, so if they want me to visit, they should drop me a note in the email tab on my website.
A huge thank you to Daniel A. Olivas for taking the time to chat with me about his work! Please please make sure you purchase a copy (or request your local library carry a copy) of his book #SupportLatinxLit!
Bio for Daniel A. Olvias from his website:
Daniel A. Olivas is playwright, attorney, and the author of ten books including How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press), and Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press). He is also the editor of Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature (Bilingual Press). Olivas has written for many publications including The New York Times, Alta Journal, The Guardian, Huffington Post, La Bloga, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Follow him on Twitter: @olivasdan.
Synopsis for How to Date a Flying Mexican from the University of Nevada Press website:
How to Date a Flying Mexican is a collection of stories derived from Chicano and Mexican culture but ranging through fascinating 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.
The collection is made up of Daniel A. Olivas’s favorite previously published stories, along with two new stories—one dystopian and the other mythical—that challenge the Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric and policies. Readers will encounter a world filled with both the magical and the quotidian: a man with twelve fingers who finds himself on a mystical date with a woman, God who appears in the form of a scrawny chicken, a woman who bravely fights back against her abuser, and Aztec gods searching for relevance after the Spanish conquest—just to name a few of the unforgettable characters populating these pages. The book draws together some of Olivas’s most unforgettable and strange tales, allowing readers to experience his very distinct, and very Chicano, fiction.
The best ways you can support Latinx/e authors and Latinx/e literature is by doing the following:
Leave a review for their books on any website that sells books
Request that your local library carry a copy
Purchase a copy of a friend, family member, your nemesis (hey! I’m sure they read too).
Shout about the book on any social media platform or to your friends and family!
Share this interview widely! Word of mouth does wonders for connecting readers to books.
The other day one of my cousins asked in our family group chat….” Hey! What kind of music does Lupita listen to?” and without even missing a beat my brother replied “AUDIOBOOKS”!
The moment audiobooks stepped into my life, they became my music. I listen to them on walks, while doing laundry and chores — basically any moment I have to myself. So if that is you too (or if you simply want to fit in more reading during your daily life) check out Libro.fm! If you use the code LupitaReads you’ll receive two audiobook credits for 14.99 USD with your first month of membership. These credits can be used on your choice of more than 250,00 audiobooks on Libro.fm.
This was a fun one, Lupita! And if "My day job is that of a government attorney. By night, weekends, and holidays, I am a creative writer" isn't wildly inspiring, I don't know what is 😊