Daniel Olivas, a second-generation Angeleno, is a playwright and the author of 10 books including, most recently, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press, 2022), and Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press, 2017). He is the editor of the anthology Latinos in Lotusland (Bilingual Press, 2008), and co-editor of The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles (Tía Chucha Press, 2016). His first full-length play, Waiting for Godínez, was selected for the Playwrights’ Arena Summer Reading Series, and The Road Theatre’s 12th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival, and was a Semi-Finalist for the American Blues Theater’s Blue Ink Playwriting Award. Widely anthologized, he has also written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Alta Journal, Jewish Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, La Bloga, and many other print and online publications. By day, Olivas is an attorney in the Public Rights Division of the California Department of Justice. He and his wife make their home in Southern California, and they have an adult son.
Daniel A. Olivas
Articles
Three Questions for John Rechy Regarding His Novel, “After the Blue Hour”
Daniel Olivas talks to John Rechy about “After the Blue Hour.”
Three Questions for Erika L. Sánchez Regarding Her YA Novel, “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”
Daniel Olivas talks to Erika L. Sánchez about her new young adult novel.
Three Questions for Sarah Rafael García Regarding Her Short-Story Collection, SanTana’s Fairy Tales
Daniel A. Olivas interviews Sarah Rafael García about her short story collection "SanTana’s Fairy Tales."
Three Questions for Frederick Luis Aldama Regarding His Debut Short Story Collection, “Long Stories Cut Short”
Daniel Olivas chats with Frederick Luis Aldama about his new short story collection.
Three Questions for Luis Alberto Urrea Regarding his New Poetry Collection, “The Tijuana Book of the Dead”
Luis Alberto Urrea brings us poetry for the people.
An Interview with Alejandro Morales Regarding His New Novel, “River of Angels”
“From that time on, those photos registered in my memory and wouldn’t let go — what I saw, heard, felt from them.”
Three Questions for Juan Felipe Herrera Regarding His New Book, “Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes”
"We need to walk these books to the centers of educational institutions — this is what it is all about."
Three Questions for elena minor Regarding Her Debut Poetry Collection, TITULADA
A talk with the poet elena minor about why she does what she does the way that she does.
Three Questions for Désirée Zamorano Regarding Her New Novel
Désirée Zamorano moves from the mystery genre to a realist novel about upwardly mobile, middle-class Latinas in Southern California.
Three Questions for Natalia Sylvester Regarding Her Debut Novel
Sylvester’s novel of kidnapping and terror in Peru.
Three Questions for Maceo Montoya
Maceo Montoya manages to balance humor with pathos as he challenges our views on immigration, gender roles, and politics.
Three Questions for Cristina Henríquez
Daniel A. Olivas talks with Cristina Henríquez about her disturbing and beautiful novel on immigrants living in America.
Two Questions for Sonia Nazario
Daniel Olivas talks with Sonia Nazario about her bestselling Enrique’s Journey.
Three Questions for Michael Nava regarding his new novel, "The City of Palaces"
Daniel Olivas talks with Michael Nava.
Three Questions for Luis J. Rodriguez
Luis J. Rodriguez talks about the upcoming 13th anniversary of Tía Chucha’s Café & Centro Cultural.
Three Questions for Verónica Reyes Regarding Her Debut Poetry Collection, "Chopper! Chopper!"
Daniel Olivas interviews the self-described “Chicana feminist jota poet from East Los Angeles.”
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