Imaginative Possibilities: Conversations with Twenty-First-Century Latinx Writers

Two decades into the twenty-first century, contemporary Latinx writers have established themselves within an evolving literary tradition. Imaginative Possibilities collects interviews with some of these authors to explores the writers’ processes, aesthetics, creative trajectories, and places within the larger body of Latinx literature. The interviews address artistic, professional, and cultural issues including the building of intellectual communities, the writing and publication process, and the practical economics of making a living. US Latinx writers discuss how they navigate the overwhelmingly white publishing industry, the academic book market, higher education, and MFA culture while exploring questions of representation, hybridity, and mestizaje. Through these conversations, a truth emerges: Latinx literature speaks not with one voice, but many.

Maceo Montoya is an author, artist, and educator who has published books in a variety of genres, including four works of fiction: The Scoundrel and the Optimist, The Deportation of Wopper Barraza, You Must Fight Them: A Novella and Stories, and Preparatory Notes for Future Masterpieces. Montoya has also published two works of nonfiction: Letters to the Poet from His Brother, a hybrid book combining images, prose poems, and essays, and Chicano Movement for Beginners, which he both wrote and illustrated. Montoya is a professor of Chicana/o studies and English at the University of California, Davis.

Javier O. Huerta is the author of American Copia: An Immigrant Epic and Some Clarifications y otros poemas, which was awarded the 31st Chicano/Latino Literary Prize from UC Irvine. He earned his MFA from the Bilingual Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas at El Paso. His most recent book is a translation of Nicaraguan poet León Salvatierra’s collection Al Norte. Currently, he teaches at Mission College in Santa Clara and lives in Oakland, California.