Season 16 Is Here!
Words on a Wire is one of the country’s longest-running radio shows and podcasts about writers, books, and culture. Be sure to follow our podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred audio platform.
Where to Listen
Featured Episode
June 4, 2022
In this episode Daniel talks with international best selling fiction writer Mariana Enriquez. From Buenos Aires, Argentina, she writes what might best be described as literary horror stories, which are translated into multiple languages. She often takes us into dark and horrible spaces and situations, but she does it with a skillful narrative voice and compassion for her characters. They talk about her writing process, the difference between writing short stories and writing a novel, and the effect of psychogeography on how she travels and generates story ideas. They mostly speak of her collection of stories entitled, in English, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, or Los peligros de fumar en la cama.
MARIANA ENRÍQUEZ
The Best of Words on a Wire
Ana Castillo
Daniel Chacón speaks with celebrated poet, essayist, editor, activist, novelist, and translator Ana Castillo, about her most recent poetry book, My Book of the Dead (University of New Mexico, Press, 2021).
Joy Harjo
A special episode of Words on a Wire where host Daniel Chacon interviews US Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo. Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She is serving her second term as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States.
Tracy K. Smith
Daniel talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Tracy K. Smith. She has written her first memoir, Ordinary Light, and she talks about why she waited many years to write about the death of her mother. She also explains why the memoir allowed her to explore the subject of race and to reflect on how her parents lived and coped in the segregated South.
Benjamin Alire Saenz
Benjamin Alire Sáenz visits us in Studio B to discuss his recent work. Dr. Sáenz taught as a professor in UTEP’s Creative Writing department for over twenty-three years before retiring to dedicate his time entirely to writing and there was so much to discuss, Dr. Sáenz is being featured in a special two-part edition of Words on a Wire.
Edward Hirsch
Edward Hirsch speaks with Words on a Wire about his latest book, A Poet’s Glossary, which is not so much a book of definitions as it is an exploration of the history of the terms and how those terms interrelate to each other. Hirsch explains why it took 15 years to compile the information for this book, and why he believes it can still be more expansive (it’s already over 700 pages long). We’ll learn about the terms “Duende,” “Flarf,” and “Spam Poetry.”
Juan Felipe Herrera
Juan Felipe Herrera previously served as the Poet Laureate of the United States. Before that he was Poet Laureate of California. And before that he was a Fresno poet who was inspiring the dreams and imaginations of thousands of children, their parents, and fellow poets. Herrera joins us again on WORDS ON A WIRE to talk about his Laureateship and how his life has changed (and how it hasn’t) since he was appointed Poet Laureate of the U.S. in 2015.
Words on a Wire and eRadical Books are based out of the El Paso, Texas / Ciudad Juárez, Mexico region, but proudly serve the greater literary community, across all borders.