A captive killer whale in Miami’s Seaquarium. Jesus Christ (yes, that one) working at a Starbucks. Impersonator of the rapper Pitbull returning to his dreams of becoming Tony Montana from the movie Scarface. Time travel over breakfast. A blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary, humor and humanity: Jennine Capó Crucet (Say Hello to My Little Friend) and Daniel Chacón (The Last Philosopher in Texas: Fictions and Superstitions) discuss their humor and magic in their new books, and balancing teaching and their own writing.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Chacón
Daniel Chacón is the author of The Cholo Tree; Hotel Juárez: Stories, Rooms and Loops; Unending Rooms, winner of the Hudson Prize; and the shadows took him; and Chicano Chicanery. A professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, he is co-editor of The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes: The Selected Works of José Antonio Burciaga. His latest book is The Last Philosopher in Texas: Fictions and Superstitions.
Photo Credit: Carolyn De Berry
Jennine Capó Crucet is a novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. A recipient of a PEN/O. Henry Prize and a former Contributing Opinion Writer for The New York Times, she is the author of: the novel Make Your Home Among Strangers, which won the International Latino Book Award; the multiple award-winning story collection How to Leave Hialeah; and the essay collection My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education, longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award. Her writing has appeared on PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio, and in publications such as The Atlantic, Condé Nast Traveler, and others. She was born and raised in Miami to Cuban parents. Her new novel is Say Hello to My Little Friend.
Josh Alvarez is a staff writer at Texas Monthly. Before joining TM in 2021, he served as an op-ed editor at the Washington Post and as an associate editor at Washington Monthly. He is a graduate of Stanford University and New York University and grew up in the Chicago suburbs. He lives in Austin.
