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Daniel Olivas

Daniel Anthony Olivas is an American author and attorney.[1]

Biography

Daniel Olivas was raised near downtown Los Angeles, the middle of five children and the grandson of Mexican immigrants. He attended St. Thomas the Apostle grammar school, and then Loyola High School. Olivas received his BA in English literature from Stanford University and Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Olivas met fellow law student, Susan Formaker at UCLA and they married in 1986. They have one son.[2]

Olivas has practiced law with the California Department of Justice as a deputy and supervising deputy attorney general, and as a senior assistant attorney general, since 1990. Prior to 1990, he was in private practice with the now-defunct Heller Ehrman LLP.

Writing

Olivas at the 2022 Texas Book Festival.

Before becoming a fiction writer, Olivas authored legal articles, essays and book reviews for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He started writing fiction in 1998 with the publication of his first short story in the literary journal, RiversEdge published by the University of Texas-Pan American.

His first book was a novella, The Courtship of María Rivera Peña, which was published by a small and now-defunct Pennsylvania-based press, Silver Lake Publishing in 2000 and is now out of print. The novella is loosely based on Olivas's paternal grandparents' migration from Mexico to Los Angeles in the 1920s.

Three short-story collections followed in quick succession, each published by Bilingual Press, a publisher affiliated with Arizona State University. They are Assumption and Other Stories (2003), Devil Talk: Stories (2004) and Anywhere But L.A.: Stories (2009).

In September 2017, Olivas published another collection, The King of Lighting Fixtures (University of Arizona Press).

In February 2022, Olivas published the collection, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press). BuzzFeed offered a positive review observing, in part: "Throughout all of his stories, there are strong Chicano characters, who embody tales that range from the laugh-out-loud funny to the heartbreaking. A timely retrospective from an important voice in Latinx literature."[3] Alta Journal's review said "Prompted by tragedy—the death of his father and the pandemic—Olivas revisits decades of writing to produce this collection of new and previously published stories. Olivas’s work is surreal, dystopian, critical, and introspective, ultimately moving into contemporary political rhetoric."[4] In a review published by the Los Angeles Review of Books, the novelist Michael Nava noted, in part: "This deeply textured, sensual collection more than accomplishes Olivas’s self-proclaimed task of rendering the beauty and complexity of Mexican and Mexican American culture in its fabulist, folkloric stories."[5]

In 2011, the University of Arizona Press published Olivas's first novel, The Book of Want. The novel is written in the magical realist tradition but also includes postmodern elements such as sections where characters are interviewed about being in the novel itself, text messages, and a short play.

On March 20, 2023, Forest Avenue Press announced the acquisition of Olivas's novel, Chicano Frankenstein, with a publication date in 2024, noting that the novel "addresses issues of belonging and assimilation through a modern retelling of the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley classic." In a pre-publication blurb, Eileen Hunt Botting observed: “In the genre-bending tradition of Mary Shelley, Daniel Olivas's latest novel Chicano Frankenstein expertly stitches together gothic political satire, science fiction, and existential metafiction to expose the racist and classist hypocrisies that undergird the American political economy under tyrannical right-wing leaders.” On November 3, 2023, the Boston Review published an excerpt from Chicano Frankenstein. On May 8, 2024, after the novel's publication, NPR's Code Switch podcast ran an interview with Olivas regarding his novel where he discussed the anti-immigrant political rhetoric of the 2020 midterm elections that inspired him to write the book.

Between 2003 and 2010, the Los Angeles Times published six of Olivas's children's stories. One of those stories, "Benjamin and the Word," was republished by Arte Público Press in 2005 as a bilingual picture book. The story revolves around a boy named Benjamin who is Chicano and Jewish and who suffers bigoted taunts on the schoolyard.

Work as editor

Olivas edited Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature (Bilingual Press, 2008), where he brought together sixty years of Los Angeles fiction by Latino writers. The volume collected some of the best-known Latino writers Luis Alberto Urrea, Helena María Viramontes, Luis Rodriguez, Kathleen Alcalá and John Rechy, and also introduced writers at the beginning of their careers Melinda Palacio, Manuel Muñoz, Salvador Plascencia and Reyna Grande.

In 2016, Tía Chucha Press released The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles which Olivas co-edited with Neelanjana Banerjee and Ruben J. Rodriguez. The anthology includes a wide range of poetry by including writers Dana Gioia, Ruben Martinez, Wanda Coleman, Holly Prado.

In 2023, Olivas was named co-editor of the new book series from the University of Nevada Press, The New Oeste: Literatura Latinx of the American West in the 21st century. The co-editor is the poet, León Salvatierra.

Non-fiction

On June 1, 2014, San Diego State University Press published Olivas's first nonfiction book, Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature through Essays and Interviews. The volume brings together essays that have appeared in The New York Times, La Bloga, Jewish Journal, California Lawyer, and other publications, that address topics from the Mexican-American experience to the Holocaust. The book also includes 28 interviews that Olivas conducted over the years with Latino/a writers including Daniel Alarcón, Gustavo Arellano, Richard Blanco, Sandra Cisneros, Héctor Tobar, Luis Alberto Urrea, Justin Torres, Reyna Grande, and Helena María Viramontes.

Poetry

In November 2017, Olivas published his first book of poems, Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press).

Playwriting

Olivas wrote his first full-length play Waiting for Godínez in 2019.[6] He explained that he was inspired both by Samuel Beckett’s iconic Waiting for Godot and the absurd, anti-immigrant policies of the federal government. It was also selected for Playwrights' Arena's Summer Reading Series (2020), The Road Theatre's Twelfth Annual Summer Playwrights Festival (2021),[7] the Garry Marshall Theatre's New Works Festival (2022), and was a semi-finalist in the 2021 Blue Ink Play Award sponsored by American Blues Theater.[8] The play had its world premiere on April 5, 2024, in a Teatro Espejo production in Sacramento, California, directed by Devin Valdez.

In 2020 Olivas was selected for Circle X Theatre Co.'s inaugural Evolving Playwrights Group to adapt his novel The Book of Want (University of Arizona Press, 2011). The play had a Zoom reading on June 21, 2021, which was directed by Daphnie Sicre.

Olivas's first live, staged play, Waiting, had its world premiere with Playwrights' Arena on July 24, 2021.[9]

Bibliography

Books

Children's picture book

Anthologies (contributing author)

Anthologies (editor)

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ "Daniel Anthony Olivas # 130405 – Attorney Licensee Search".
  2. ^ "Lucky Man". July 14, 2005.
  3. ^ "Here Are 16 Upcoming Books from Indie Presses You'll Love". BuzzFeed News. January 18, 2022. Archived from the original on February 22, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  4. ^ "15 New Books for February". January 31, 2022. Archived from the original on February 22, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  5. ^ "Los Angeles Review of Books". February 24, 2022. Archived from the original on February 25, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
  6. ^ "Waiting for Godínez | New Play Exchange". newplayexchange.org. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  7. ^ "Road Theatre Company Presents Twelfth Annual Summer Playwrights Festival". Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  8. ^ "2021 Blue Ink Award Winner Announced". March 10, 2021. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  9. ^ "REVIEW ARCHIVES: MIDSUMMER 2022 to...?". Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved August 25, 2021.

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel A. Olivas.
  1. ^ "Daniel A. Olivas Reads an Excerpt from How to Date a Flying Mexican". Literary Hub. March 23, 2022. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  2. ^ "Evolving Playwrights Group — CIRCLE X THEATRE CO". www.circlextheatre.org. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022.
  3. ^ Review, Roanoke (December 5, 2020). "Daniel A. Olivas: Our Stories Are Important". Roanoke Review. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  4. ^ playwrightsarena. "We've been busy. 7 more to go. For not information email is at PA.summerseries @gmail.com". www.instagram.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  5. ^ Streeby, Jeff (December 26, 2019). "Theater Arts|Screen Writing: Feature Film||Daniel A. Olivas|"The Courtship of María Rivera Peña"". O:JA&L. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  6. ^ "Dystopia to Absurdity: On Being a Chicano Writer in the Age of Trump". BLARB. October 3, 2019. Archived from the original on May 23, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  7. ^ "Yes, Latinx writers are angry about American Dirt – and we will not be silent". The Guardian. January 30, 2020. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  8. ^ Olivas, Daniel A. (June 19, 2018). "Opinion | The Dystopia Is Here". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  9. ^ Nilsen, David (January 12, 2018). "Playing God: A Conversation with Daniel Olivas". The Rumpus. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  10. ^ admin (October 21, 2017). "On Matters of Form and Content in Shaping Frictive Fictional Borderlands: Questions to Daniel Olivas". Latin@ Literatures. Archived from the original on April 28, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  11. ^ "Daniel A. Olivas on his short story collection 'The King of Lighting Fixtures' and more". Los Angeles Times. October 18, 2017. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  12. ^ "Life Has Been My MFA Program: An Interview with Author Daniel Olivas". fourthandsycamore.com. February 19, 2016. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  13. ^ "Teachers Union President, Calling-Out Catcallers, and the Porn Monopoly". www.kcrw.com. October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  14. ^ "Lives Between Words: Exploring Latino/a Literature with Daniel Olivas". Los Angeles Review of Books. June 8, 2014. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  15. ^ Olivas, Daniel A. (February 7, 2013). "Opinion | The Priest That Preyed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 1, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  16. ^ "Daniel A. Olivas | thelatinoauthor.com". Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  17. ^ Yale, Kathleen (July 25, 2011). "An L.A. story, in incidents and rhythms: A review of The Book of Want". High Country News. Archived from the original on July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  18. ^ "The Book of Want by Daniel A Olivas". www.publishersweekly.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  19. ^ Keene, Jarret. "More 'Want' Wanted". Tucson Weekly. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  20. ^ "Daniel A. Olivas". Poets & Writers. April 13, 2011. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  21. ^ "Dark Sky Magazine » Interview With Daniel Olivas". darkskymagazine.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011.
  22. ^ Senguttuvan, Vinoad (February 20, 2010). "Anywhere But L.A." The Rumpus. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  23. ^ "Books to Challenge Stereotypes - Waging Peace - Peace, justice and nonviolence - Women Against War - timesunion.com - Albany NY". blog.timesunion.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010.
  24. ^ "Cellar Door | Interview with Stanford English Graduate". www.stanford.edu. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010.
  25. ^ Gil, Lydia (December 24, 2009). "La Bloga: Interview with Daniel Olivas". La Bloga. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  26. ^ "STANFORD Magazine: March/April 2005 > Showcase > Olivas". www.stanfordalumni.org. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.
  27. ^ "Margin: Exploring Modern Magical Realism/INTRODUCING DANIEL OLIVAS". www.angelfire.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  28. ^ http://inkbyte.com/target/c_Melinda_Palacio/051023-Olivas/index.html[permanent dead link]
  29. ^ "LAist: LAist Interview: Daniel Olivas". www.laist.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2005.
  30. ^ "National Book Critics Circle: NBCC Reads: Eric Banks' Favorite Comic Novel - Critical Mass Blog". bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011.
  31. ^ Roderick, Kevin (April 25, 2008). "Bookish LA". www.kcrw.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2008.
  32. ^ Sallis, James (November 30, 2003). "A Latino omnibus". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2024.