I was recently interviewed by Daniel Chacon for KTEP's Words on a Wire. I talk about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son and the 'map' of the table of contents of the thirteen stories, in which characters appear and reappear within groups to give a different perspective and refracted vision on these characters. I also talk about how I created a whole from these stories, by comparing the book to an album of music with a certain vision and message. I discuss the most important purpose of writing, especially during moments like the Wal-Mart massacre in El Paso, when all writers must counteract the stereotypes outsiders have about our border communities. Empathy should be at the root of our work as writers. 
Friday, October 11, 2019
Words on a Wire: A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son
I was recently interviewed by Daniel Chacon for KTEP's Words on a Wire. I talk about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son and the 'map' of the table of contents of the thirteen stories, in which characters appear and reappear within groups to give a different perspective and refracted vision on these characters. I also talk about how I created a whole from these stories, by comparing the book to an album of music with a certain vision and message. I discuss the most important purpose of writing, especially during moments like the Wal-Mart massacre in El Paso, when all writers must counteract the stereotypes outsiders have about our border communities. Empathy should be at the root of our work as writers. 
Friday, October 4, 2019
Literarity Book Shop in El Paso
I was interviewed Robert Holguin of KFOX14 at Literarity Book Shop in El Paso. Thank you, Robert. What a wonderful experience at this independent bookstore, my inaugural reading for A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son.
“Anybody traveling, crossing these borders, going beyond El Paso and
coming back, has to deal with these kinds of questions of where do I
belong, how do I belong, what part of El Paso values do I take with me
and how do I adapt those values when I’m in a place that’s very foreign
or very different from El Paso like Boston or Harvard or Yale," said
Troncoso. "And so I think that’s why the book is valid and why the book
should matter to people.”
“We need to be helping independent bookstores," Troncoso said. "Independent voices all over this country and independent publishers like Cinco Puntos Press and so Literarity is part of that.”
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Journal of Alta Californa on A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son
From The Journal of Alta California on A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son:
"Chicano literature began with the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, when a sizable Latino population was separated from its land
and heritage. Sergio Troncoso has written brilliantly of this disruption
and its pull. In his new book of stories, he is sharp in 'Rosary on the
Border,' where a New Yorker returns to the El Paso–area village of
Ysleta for his father’s funeral, and 'New Englander,' in which an
intellectual Chicano must fight a redneck"
https://altaonline.com/fiction-thats-not-for-the-faint-of-heart/
"Chicano literature began with the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, when a sizable Latino population was separated from its land
and heritage. Sergio Troncoso has written brilliantly of this disruption
and its pull. In his new book of stories, he is sharp in 'Rosary on the
Border,' where a New Yorker returns to the El Paso–area village of
Ysleta for his father’s funeral, and 'New Englander,' in which an
intellectual Chicano must fight a redneck"https://altaonline.com/fiction-thats-not-for-the-faint-of-heart/
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Lone Star Literary Life's Review: A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son
Lone Star Literary Life's review of A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son, by Si Dunn.
"El Paso native Sergio Troncoso’s excellent new short story collection, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son, takes the reader far, yet not far at all, from the currently troubled Texas-Mexico border...
In A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son,
Sergio Troncoso tells skillfully nuanced stories from the perspective
of a poor immigrants’ son who has found success within the world of
America’s elite universities and financial power, yet still feels adrift
and alienated and seeks deeper meanings.
Where he finds hope for the future, his and the world’s, is in the simple yet wise words of his now-departed relatives and in memories and lessons ingrained in him at the Texas-Mexico border."
https://www.lonestarliterary.com/content/lone-star-review-peculiar-kind-immigrants-son
"El Paso native Sergio Troncoso’s excellent new short story collection, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son, takes the reader far, yet not far at all, from the currently troubled Texas-Mexico border...
In A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son,
Sergio Troncoso tells skillfully nuanced stories from the perspective
of a poor immigrants’ son who has found success within the world of
America’s elite universities and financial power, yet still feels adrift
and alienated and seeks deeper meanings.Where he finds hope for the future, his and the world’s, is in the simple yet wise words of his now-departed relatives and in memories and lessons ingrained in him at the Texas-Mexico border."
https://www.lonestarliterary.com/content/lone-star-review-peculiar-kind-immigrants-son
Friday, September 20, 2019
NBC News: Fifteen Great New Books for Hispanic Heritage Month
NBC News: Fifteen Great New Books for Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you, Rigoberto Gonzalez, for putting A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son (Cinco Puntos Press) on this list!
"These poignant short stories shed a startling light on the middle-class
experience of Chicanos in New York. An Ivy League education and job
security in a cosmopolitan city far from their youth in the U.S.-Mexico
borderlands doesn’t mean the American dream has been realized without
further conflict... Sergio Troncoso dispels the myth of assimilation as a safe haven and reminds readers that distance from a working-class upbringing doesn’t absolve a person from the responsibility to one’s community. The wounds of leaving home never truly heal."
Monday, September 9, 2019
Kudos from Kirkus: A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son
Hey, Kirkus Reviews chose A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son as one
of the "30 most Anticipated Fiction Books for Fall." Thank you, Kirkus!
Jeez, I'm with Zadie Smith, Stephen King, Salman Rushdie, Attica Locke,
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ann Patchett, and Angie Cruz. I feel dizzy... and grateful.
If you do read my book of linked stories on immigration, please use the table of contents as a guide. The stories are in groups
for a reason and relate to each other within their groups. Think of
this as a cracked mirror, perhaps, from one angle it may look like a
fragment of your face but from another angle you might see a stranger, a
monster, even a hero.
If you do read my book of linked stories on immigration, please use the table of contents as a guide. The stories are in groups
for a reason and relate to each other within their groups. Think of
this as a cracked mirror, perhaps, from one angle it may look like a
fragment of your face but from another angle you might see a stranger, a
monster, even a hero.Sunday, August 25, 2019
Interview in Lone Star Literary Life
A new interview in Lone Star Literary Life. Thank you, Michelle Newby Lancaster.
"The family values I learned in Ysleta: work until you are exhausted
and get up and do it again the next day; help yourself by being
disciplined and honest and good for your word, and then turn around and
help others; be proud of your Mexican heritage, but don’t be afraid to
change it, to make it better, to morph it into a new “Mexican American”
heritage from the border. These are quintessentially the American values
of immigrants who have come to the United States from different
cultures and different nations."
Lone Star Literary Life: Interview with Sergio Troncoso
"The family values I learned in Ysleta: work until you are exhausted
and get up and do it again the next day; help yourself by being
disciplined and honest and good for your word, and then turn around and
help others; be proud of your Mexican heritage, but don’t be afraid to
change it, to make it better, to morph it into a new “Mexican American”
heritage from the border. These are quintessentially the American values
of immigrants who have come to the United States from different
cultures and different nations."Lone Star Literary Life: Interview with Sergio Troncoso
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
CNN Op-Ed: My family's El Paso story is quintessentially American
My family's El Paso story is quintessentially American
By Sergio Troncoso
"I
am and always will be the proud son of Mexican immigrants from El Paso.
My parents came from Juárez, Chihuahua, to the United States in the
1950's, newlyweds with only a few dollars in their pockets. In the east
side neighborhood of Ysleta, they built an adobe house that at first had
no electricity and an outhouse in the backyard. Yes, in Texas. They
followed other Mexican immigrants who had been coming to the United
States for decades. They followed even some Mexicans who were already in
the state before Texas was ever Texas. These Tejanos didn't cross the
border; the border crossed them.
By Sergio Troncoso
"I
am and always will be the proud son of Mexican immigrants from El Paso.
My parents came from Juárez, Chihuahua, to the United States in the
1950's, newlyweds with only a few dollars in their pockets. In the east
side neighborhood of Ysleta, they built an adobe house that at first had
no electricity and an outhouse in the backyard. Yes, in Texas. They
followed other Mexican immigrants who had been coming to the United
States for decades. They followed even some Mexicans who were already in
the state before Texas was ever Texas. These Tejanos didn't cross the
border; the border crossed them.
August
3 will always be one of the saddest days of my life. I love my hometown
of El Paso, Texas. Many times in a typical trip home, I have shopped at
Cielo Vista Mall and that Walmart where the mass shooting unfolded.
This mass murderer from Dallas (Plano, actually) knew nothing about how
great this community is and the values practiced by many there."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/07/opinions/el-paso-mexican-american-family-story-troncoso/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/07/opinions/el-paso-mexican-american-family-story-troncoso/index.html
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son
I have a new book of linked stories, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son, forthcoming from Cinco Puntos Press in October 2019. The stories focus on immigration, Mexican-American diaspora, perspectivism, and time. I will be reading and discussing this new book from El Paso to New York, so please check my website for Appearances in your area. Below are some early blurbs. Thank you for supporting my work. I appreciate it.
"Sergio Troncoso is one of our most brilliant minds in Latina/o Literature. These new stories demonstrate that he is also possessed of a great corazón. This is a world-class collection. Troncoso continues to raise the bar for the rest of us."
---Luis Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels and The Hummingbird's Daughter
"A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son is Troncoso at his absolute finest ... a masterwork bursting with immigrant intimacies, electrifying truths and hard-earned tenderness. This is a book I could not let go of, that took me from El Paso to New England to Mexico and to the labyrinths beyond. In these aching stories Troncoso has perfectly captured the diasporic dilemma of those of us who have had to leave our first worlds - how that exile both haunts and liberates, heals and injures. An extraordinary performance."
---Junot DÃaz, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
“I love Sergio Troncoso’s new collection, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son. It traces epic journeys, both of body and soul, from places like Ysleta in Far West Texas to sophisticated avenues in Boston and Manhattan. But the best part of A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son is the magic of Troncoso’s language, which sings from each page. This book is a triumph, the work of a master writer at the peak of his game.”
---W. K. Stratton, author of The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, A Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Movie
"Sergio Troncoso is one of our most brilliant minds in Latina/o Literature. These new stories demonstrate that he is also possessed of a great corazón. This is a world-class collection. Troncoso continues to raise the bar for the rest of us."---Luis Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels and The Hummingbird's Daughter
"A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son is Troncoso at his absolute finest ... a masterwork bursting with immigrant intimacies, electrifying truths and hard-earned tenderness. This is a book I could not let go of, that took me from El Paso to New England to Mexico and to the labyrinths beyond. In these aching stories Troncoso has perfectly captured the diasporic dilemma of those of us who have had to leave our first worlds - how that exile both haunts and liberates, heals and injures. An extraordinary performance."
---Junot DÃaz, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
"Our bodies are legacies that encompass landscapes, borders,
ancestors, histories that bind us to the past. Here are stories lodged
in the geography of polarities and the taut tightrope act between."
---Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street
"In his thought-provoking collection of stories, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son, Sergio Troncoso introduces us to a wide cast of characters, each unique and particular in his or her own way, and yet ever so universal in terms of the human experience. Troncoso’s stories are timely and relevant; only with knowledge can one beat back the bear of a colonial past."
---Christina Chiu, author of Beauty and Troublemaker and Other Stories
---Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street
"In his thought-provoking collection of stories, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son, Sergio Troncoso introduces us to a wide cast of characters, each unique and particular in his or her own way, and yet ever so universal in terms of the human experience. Troncoso’s stories are timely and relevant; only with knowledge can one beat back the bear of a colonial past."
---Christina Chiu, author of Beauty and Troublemaker and Other Stories
---W. K. Stratton, author of The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, A Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Movie
Friday, February 22, 2019
Winners of the 2018 Troncoso Reading Prizes
Thank you Derek Najera, branch manager, and the entire staff of the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library for your work on behalf of the annual Troncoso Reading Prizes. On February 20th, we held the ceremony to present the winners with certificates of achievement and gift cards from Barnes and Noble. I also gave each student a signed copy of one of my books.
This year we held the event at the Pavo Real Recreation Center next door, because the branch library is undergoing renovations, including tripling the size of their parking space, new carpeting, new circulation desk, and even a new paint job for the exterior. These changes are so exciting, and the renovated Troncoso Branch Library will reopen in May of 2019.
The 2018 winners of the Troncoso Reading Prizes are: Leo Rivera and Brianna Moreno (1st place), Marisol Ramirez and Judy Aguirre (2nd place), and Adrian Vizcarra (not in photo) and Daniel Owen (3rd place).
What impressed me about this year's winners was how friendly and outgoing and engaging all the students were. I talked about how important reading was for me, as a kid from Ysleta, and how essential public libraries were to improve my concentration, to apply the good family values I learned from my parents about working hard and pushing myself to get better. The El Paso Public Library was where I learned to satisfy that intellectual hunger for ideas and stories, and I could see that hunger and focus in all of these students. Each of them reminded me of who I was many years ago. I love this community, and I will keep returning to Ysleta to award these prizes every year and to talk to these families about how they can educate themselves and their children to gain a voice, to reach their goals, and to return and help others.
Every year, we award prizes for students who read the most books between September 15-November 15. (This was our regular schedule before the library renovation, and we will probably go back to it in 2019.) The prizes are awarded only to students within the geographical area covered by the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library.
First Place receives a $125.00 gift card.
Second Place receives a $100.00 gift card.
Third Place receives a $75.00 gift card.
All prizes are gift cards from Barnes and Noble Booksellers. A total of six prizes are awarded.
Librarians at the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library register readers during the eligible period of the prizes. The library staff administers the prizes and makes final decisions on all the prizewinners.
If you have any questions or to register for the 2019 prizes, please contact the library staff at the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library, 9321 Alameda Avenue, El Paso, Texas, 79907. Telephone: 915-858-0905.
This year we held the event at the Pavo Real Recreation Center next door, because the branch library is undergoing renovations, including tripling the size of their parking space, new carpeting, new circulation desk, and even a new paint job for the exterior. These changes are so exciting, and the renovated Troncoso Branch Library will reopen in May of 2019.
The 2018 winners of the Troncoso Reading Prizes are: Leo Rivera and Brianna Moreno (1st place), Marisol Ramirez and Judy Aguirre (2nd place), and Adrian Vizcarra (not in photo) and Daniel Owen (3rd place).
What impressed me about this year's winners was how friendly and outgoing and engaging all the students were. I talked about how important reading was for me, as a kid from Ysleta, and how essential public libraries were to improve my concentration, to apply the good family values I learned from my parents about working hard and pushing myself to get better. The El Paso Public Library was where I learned to satisfy that intellectual hunger for ideas and stories, and I could see that hunger and focus in all of these students. Each of them reminded me of who I was many years ago. I love this community, and I will keep returning to Ysleta to award these prizes every year and to talk to these families about how they can educate themselves and their children to gain a voice, to reach their goals, and to return and help others.
Every year, we award prizes for students who read the most books between September 15-November 15. (This was our regular schedule before the library renovation, and we will probably go back to it in 2019.) The prizes are awarded only to students within the geographical area covered by the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library.
First Place receives a $125.00 gift card.
Second Place receives a $100.00 gift card.
Third Place receives a $75.00 gift card.
All prizes are gift cards from Barnes and Noble Booksellers. A total of six prizes are awarded.
Librarians at the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library register readers during the eligible period of the prizes. The library staff administers the prizes and makes final decisions on all the prizewinners.
If you have any questions or to register for the 2019 prizes, please contact the library staff at the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library, 9321 Alameda Avenue, El Paso, Texas, 79907. Telephone: 915-858-0905.
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