C.M. Mayo Interviews Sergio Troncoso

Thank you, C.M. Mayo for interviewing me about my novel, NOBODY'S PILGRIMS. So grateful.

"I have since come to appreciate his writing as some of the most important coming out of the Texas borderlands, New York (where he has been living for many years), and the American literary tradition generally. In a word, Troncoso is an heir to Mark Twain— albeit with a very different style and subject matter than our man in white from Missouri."

https://substack.com/home/post/p-211358135

Coincidentally, last week I was traveling in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York and visited Elmira, New York to pay my respects to Mark Twain. I visited the Chemung County Historical Society, with a portable writing desk Twain used, and I also stopped at Twain's gravesite, where he is buried next to his wife Livy and their children. Why did Twain choose Elmira to live even though he grew up in Hannibal, Missouri? The dynamic progressive environment of New York in the late nineteenth century, the beauty and serenity of the Finger Lakes region, especially for writing, and Livy, the love of his life. All great reasons. Even when you are writing about where you came from, and what it meant to you, you need to find a certain peace as a writer in your daily life. The precious days of actual living can work together, or can work against, the creativity of storytelling and honing a literary craft always pushing for the edge.

2026 Fiction Workshop at Yale Writers' Workshop

What a fantastic 2026 Fiction Workshop I had at the Yale Writers’ Workshop! Thank you to my students: Richa Agarwal, Laura Cantu, Pinar Comezoglu, Kim Hernández, Arianna Ruhoy, Emily Sforza, Deepti Solanki, Nancy Spalding Gray, Valentina Tapia, True Walker, Yan Zhang, Camila Moreno. One of my best classes ever!

Wicked Book Project: Sergio Troncoso and Crime and Punishment

At the Connecticut Literary Festival, I and other authors were interviewed about books that had an
influential and foundational impact in our lives. I chose Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment to talk about in the Wicked Book Project. Take a listen for a few minutes and enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/ct-lit-fest/sergio-troncosos-wicked-book

Troncoso Writing Workshop at Mark Twain House, July 1

Please join us for a one-day workshop at the Mark Twain House & Museum, Tuesday, July 1, 5-7:30 PM, in Hartford, Connecticut. Thank you for helping to spread the word to those in the Hartford area! 

The author of eight books, Sergio Troncoso graduated from Harvard College and received two graduate degrees from Yale University. A Fulbright scholar and past president of the Texas Institute of Letters, he has been inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. The El Paso City Council voted to rename the Ysleta public library branch as the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library. His work has appeared in CNN Opinion, Houston Chronicle, Other Voices, New Letters, Yale Review, Pleiades, Michigan Quarterly Review, Texas Highways, and Texas Monthly. He teaches at the Yale Writers' Workshop.

 

https://marktwainhouse.org/event/writers-workshop-with-sergio-troncoso-in-person/

IAIA Chapter House Journal's Review of Nobody's Pilgrims

Thank you Rey M. Rodriguez for reviewing NOBODY’S PILGRIMS in IAIA Chapter House Journal:

 “A masterfully wrought thriller road trip from El Paso, Texas to Kent, Connecticut... Troncoso writes about the new pilgrims of this country. Those who some are calling vermin or saying that immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country. In other words, those people who some people would call nobody’s children.... These immigrants—like Turi, Molly, and Arnulfo—represent as Troncoso has confirmed in his writing and lectures the best values of this country. They show us what it means to work hard and make it on your own. They show us the importance of fighting for your place. They show us that we need each other and we must help others to succeed.”

https://chjournal.com/chapter-house-blog/2024/11/15/book-review-of-nobodys-pilgrims-written-by-sergio-troncoso-by-rey-m-rodrguez

Pleiades Interview with Sergio Troncoso

"There are many hidden philosophical questions and issues in the book. How do you develop character? How do you morph from idealism to realism as you move into adulthood? The book addresses racism, as well. Along the way some people are welcoming to Turi and Arnulfo, but others are racist and xenophobic. They don’t want Mexican Americans or Mexicans living in this country. How do you keep that racist poison from infecting your soul as you are faced with this kind of hate? Turi has to fight for his place in this country rather than to assume he belongs. He has to survive here, and he’s not turning back. Connecticut is where he’ll make his stand. Nobody’s Pilgrims is a thriller."

Thank you to Pleiades Magazine, Jennifer Maritza McCauley, and Rey Rodriguez for this interview.

https://pleiadesmag.com/an-interview-with-sergio-troncoso/

Q&A with El Paso Matters Book Club on Nobody's Pilgrims

Q&A with the El Paso Matters Book Club. I'll be at the Troncoso Branch Library on Saturday, July 29th, 4 PM to discuss NOBODY'S PILGRIMS and to sign books. Buy your books at Literarity Bookshop on North Mesa!

"One important theme in “Nobody’s Pilgrims” is “the border beyond the border.” How does the border and its issues travel beyond the geography of El Paso and Ysleta, and how does the border and its sensibilities reside within the characters who travel beyond the border? Another theme is about community and outsiders. The three protagonists, Turi, Molly and Arnulfo, don’t belong anywhere, not even with their families. Yet they create a community of outsiders by believing in each other, listening to each other, and sacrificing themselves for each other. A final theme is about how character is revealed when you are in difficult, even violent or dangerous situations. Character is revealed by action."

https://elpasomatters.org/2023/06/14/el-paso-matters-book-club-qa-sergio-troncoso-nobodys-pilgrims/

Sergio Troncoso Is Named a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters

Here's some news that appeared on Monday, January 16, 2023, with an announcement from Diana López, President of the Texas Institute of Letters. I'm honored to be part of the TIL. I am the first Mexican American to receive this distinction.

 --- 

Dear Members of TIL,

At the January 7, 2023 meeting, the Council and Past Presidents of the Texas Institute of Letters voted unanimously to name Sergio Troncoso a Fellow of the Institute. Please join us in congratulating him.

In its 86-year-old history, the TIL has appointed only seventeen previous Fellows, an honorary designation meant to distinguish TIL members for their service and contributions to the organization. Troncoso is a recent past president of the TIL (2020-2022), who previously served as vice president, secretary, contest judge and councilor of the organization. At the January meeting, Troncoso was also appointed to the newly created position of investment officer of the TIL.

We are excited to share Troncoso's contributions to the TIL. During Troncoso’s tenure as president, he helped the TIL achieve a record number of submissions for the twelve annual literary contests of the Texas Institute of Letters; increased engagement with members that resulted in a record number paying their membership dues, resulting in two years of financial surpluses; and promoted the selection of lifetime achievement awards for Benjamin Alire Sáenz and Celeste Bedford Walker, the first African American to win that award. As president, Troncoso also challenged efforts to ban books in Texas by marshalling the organization to speak out against the banning of books in public libraries. As secretary and webmaster of the TIL, Troncoso created the electronic payment system that now receives about ninety percent of member dues and donations, as well as introduced videos, photographs, and social media to the TIL website.

Sergio Troncoso is the author of eight books. His most recent publication is Nobody’s Pilgrims (2022), a novel about three teenagers in pursuit of their American Dreams who drive across the country in a stolen pickup as evil people are after the contraband hidden in the truck. Among the numerous literary awards he has won are the Kay Cattarulla Award for Best Short Story, Premio Aztlán Literary Prize, International Latino Book Award for Best Novel-Adventure or Drama, International Latino Book Award for Best Collection of Short Stories, and the Southwest Book Award. The El Paso City Council voted unanimously to rename the public library branch in Ysleta as the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library. A Fulbright scholar, Troncoso teaches at the Yale Writers’ Workshop.

As a new TIL Fellow, Sergio Troncoso joins Steve Davis, W.K. Stratton, Carolyn Osborn, and Robert Flynn as current Fellows. Previous Fellows of the Institute have included John Graves, Marshall Terry, A.C. Greene, Tom Lea, and J. Frank Dobie.

Diana López, President
Texas Institute of Letters
https://texasinstituteofletters.org/

---

 

Brad King Interviews Sergio Troncoso on Nobody's Pilgrims

The Downtown Writers Jam's Brad King has a lively conversation with Sergio Troncoso about his new novel, Nobody's Pilgrims, what advice he would give his younger self, what it is like to be a writer, good advice he received from others like Professor John Womack at Harvard, meeting George W. Bush at the Texas Book Festival, and a story about his childhood when he refused to work for his father because he wanted to focus on school. And the family fight that followed.

https://thewritersjam.com/after-party-episode-9-sergio-troncoso/

Austin Liti Limits Interviews Sergio Troncoso

Scott Semegran of Austin Liti Limits interviews me about Nobody's Pilgrims, the writing craft, the connections between The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Nobody's Pilgrims, and if heaven exists what would I like to hear God say when I arrive at the check-in desk. Stay until the lighting round of questions at the end! I hope you enjoy it.

 

https://youtu.be/WfPaJ4yB4QY

Inklette Magazine's Conversation With Sergio Troncoso

A very in-depth interview (perhaps my most revealing in many years) with Devanshi Khetarpal of Inklette Magazine. Thank you, Devanshi, for the conversation.

---
“A deep freedom of consciousness,” Sergio says, “is what writing is about.” “Damn even yourself,” he says and advises writers not to fall for their own proclivities, judgements and tendencies. He wants to ask the toughest questions of himself, as much as he asks them of others around them and that’s why he loves writing. He said, “Let me be blunt. I don’t even think I know myself.” It’s a huge admission to come from a writer, and it is difficult to do what Sergio wants writers to do: to turn the lens onto our own selves as we do towards others.
---

https://inklettemagazine.com/2022/07/19/a-conversation-with-sergio-troncoso/

Somos En Escrito Interviews Sergio Troncoso

The editors of Somos En Escrito --Armando Rendon, Jenny Irizary, and Scott Duncan Fernandez--
interview Sergio Troncoso about his trajectory as a writer, Chicano literature and the morphing of its readership, changing organizations like the Texas Institute of Letters, and his new novel, Nobody's Pilgrims (Lee & Low Books: Cinco Puntos Press).

Sergio Troncoso: "The novel is about the grit and intelligence and luck of these three teenagers, Turi, Arnulfo, and Molly. They are all people who are ignored, los de abajo. They are working class, or even worse. They find each other, and they don't belong anywhere else. They belong with each other, but not with anyone else. And as things start falling apart, they have to find solutions.... The novel is about creating that togetherness within this small group that maybe we don't have or are losing in this country, how we belong together when we go through very difficult trials."

 

 https://youtu.be/OYBeJLhzyrk

 

A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son Makes HipLatina's Must-Read List

A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son among the "18 Must-Read Books By Latinx About Latinidad" by HipLatina Magazine. Thank you Laysha Macedo. I'm so grateful that these stories about immigrants keep resonating with readers across the country. This book is a collection of thirteen stories about immigrants and perspectivism: we are many different selves, and yet we are one, or we struggle to be one. In that struggle we find out who we are and why.

https://hiplatina.com/books-about-latinx/

Nepantla Familias: Must Read Fiction

Erin Popelka of Must Read Fiction talks with Sergio Troncoso and Octavio Solis about Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds (Texas A&M University Press). We talk about what nepantla means to both authors, and how this in between creates illusions, conflicting loyalties, and also transcendence. We also talk about both of their pieces in the collection as well as highlights from some of the others writers in the book.

 https://youtu.be/kcOeBjMQkUc

Nepantla Familias: Elliott Bay Book Company

Elliott Bay Book Company from Seattle hosted a discussion and reading of Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds (Texas A&M University Press and The Wittliff Literary Series). I had a fun and irreverent conversation with Octavio Solis and Domingo Martinez, both authors in our anthology. Please support independent bookstores in your community: they are so essential to nurturing independent literary voices and to creating a local literary community.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1733284733522502&ref=watch_permalink

Nepantla Familias: Skylight Books in Los Angeles

Independent bookstore Skylight Books in Los Angeles featured Nepantla Familias on their podcast. I moderate a discussion with David Dominguez, Alex Espinoza, and Reyna Grande. They also read from their pieces in Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds (Texas A&M University Press and The Wittliff Literary Series). Listen to a lively discussion!

https://skylightbooks.podbean.com/e/skylit-nepantla-familias-group-reading/

American Book Review Interview with Sergio Troncoso

Frederick Luis Aldama interviews Sergio Troncoso in American Book Review:

“You are your own best experiment. If you’re digging honestly into yourself, you’re also looking at the problems and issues that that make up the human condition. So I think my ideal reader begins with someone on the border who loves to read. But I also think of readers beyond the border, those who have left and those who have come back, because many do precisely that.”

(Volume 42, Number 4, May/June 2021, pp. 14-28.)

https://sergiotroncoso.com/news/americanbookreview/Sergio-Troncoso-American-Book-Review.pdf

Literal Magazine Interview with Sergio Troncoso

Sergio Troncoso's interview in Literal Magazine: Latin American Voices on Nepantla Familias:

"What stands out for me in all these works is how these writers are comfortable with uncertainty, how they embrace it, and how they find themselves in the fog of adopting the in-between. I think when you get too certain about who you are, you stop thinking, you stop looking, your curiosity starts to disappear. It’s difficult to live in uncertainty, but it’s also the most lived life."

 

https://literalmagazine.com/a-conversation-with-sergio-troncoso/

Sergio Troncoso with Brad King, Downtown Writers Jam Podcast

Please take a listen to my wonderful conversation with Brad King of The Downtown Writers Jam Podcast from Pittsburgh, PA. I loved our easy, free-flowing talk. We connected with each other as we dove deep into my history in Ysleta, Texas on the United States-Mexico border, how I became a writer, and how my working class upbringing has informed my writing as an outsider. Thank you, Brad King.

https://thewritersjam.com/episode-138-sergio-troncoso/

Nepantla Familias: Bookworks in Albuquerque

The independent bookstore, Bookworks in Albuquerque, featured Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds (Texas A&M Press and The Wittliff Collections) at a recent online event. As editor, I moderated a panel with three contributors, Sheryl Luna, Matt Mendez, and Daniel Chacon. I hope you enjoy it.

"In his introduction to the anthology, Sergio Troncoso says he believes the feeling of nepantla is a universal one. “Anyone who has left their home and tried to find a new one in a strange place—at times welcoming and at times hostile—they should find themselves in these pages . . . And anyone who has crossed any border to create who they are . . . and suffered the consequences for it—they will find their fellow travelers, their kindred spirits, in these pages.” I think he is absolutely correct. Monoculture is a myth, and one of many fictions I hope to see dismantled in my lifetime." ---Elizabeth Gonzalez James in Ploughshares

 

https://youtu.be/n8YuE6k6AAE