Nepantla Familias Receives Starred Review from Kirkus Reviews

The anthology I edited, Nepantla Familias (Texas A&M Press and The Wittliff Collections), receives a Starred Review from Kirkus Reviews!

"A deeply meaningful collection that navigates important nuances of identity."
 

Thank you to all the contributors: David Dorado Romo, Reyna Grande, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Francisco Cantu, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Alex Espinoza, Domingo Martinez, Oscar Casares, Lorraine Lopez, David Dominguez, Stephanie Li, Sheryl Luna, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, Deborah Paredez, Octavio Quintanilla, Sandra Cisneros, Diana Marie Delgado, Diana Lopez, Severo Perez, Octavio Solis, ire'ne lara silva, Ruben Degollado, Helena Maria Viramontes, Daniel Chacon, and Matt Mendez.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sergio-troncoso/nepantla-familias/

Nobody's Pilgrims, by Sergio Troncoso, forthcoming August 2021

Nobody's Pilgrims (Cinco Puntos Press), my new novel, is forthcoming in 2022. This is the wonderful cover by Antonio Castro:

"The castoffs and castaways of Nobody's Pilgrims hit the road in search of the American Dream, a long shot made longer by the pack of human devils hot on their trail. In this superb novel, Sergio Troncoso gives us a fresh take not only on the great American road trip, but on the American Dream itself in all its glorious and increasingly fragile promise. The propulsive force of this novel, and the destination it ultimately brings us to, left me wanting more, and yet feeling completely satisfied. As only the best novels do."
---Ben Fountain, PEN/Hemingway award-winning author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara

"In a world marked by cruelty, corruption, bigotry and disease, Troncoso shows us there's still room for love. With his finely honed prose style, he takes us on a journey across the country with three young hungry teens whose dreams are the only lifelines they have left. A powerful, compelling read."
---Octavio Solis, author of Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border

"Eloquent, bold and terrifying, Nobody's Pilgrims is a fresh new take on the ancient themes of innocence pursued by evil, and of the young finding their way through a chaotic and uncertain world. Turi, Arnulfo and Molly are original and uniquely endearing, and they're a pleasure to travel with, even on such a frightening journey."
---Elizabeth Crook, author of Monday, Monday

 

Sergio Troncoso Donates Archive to The Wittliff Collections

“Sergio Troncoso is one of the leading lights of Texas letters,” said Wittliff Collections Director Dr. David Coleman. “His brilliant and unique voice, in both fiction and nonfiction, has brought a rigorous, authentic borderlands perspective to our national literature. We are honored to add his important archive to this collection, and for him to take his place alongside so many other literary luminaries.”

https://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/about/news/Dec-2020-Sergio-Troncoso-donaes-archive-to-The-Wittliff.html

Sergio Troncoso: A Writer's Unprecedented Journey

Sergio Troncoso answers questions sent to him by Christina Chiu for a series on a writer's journey and craft: Personal Journey, Writer's Process, Guidance and Inspiration, Craft Sustainability, Three Words of Advice.

 • Personal Journey When did you start writing? When did you realize/consider yourself a writer? What have been struggles? How did you overcome them? What has motivated you?

 • Writer’s Process What is your process? Are you a 9-5er? A middle of the night-writer? A “spurt" writer? Is there anything you do that you find particularly helpful? Do you have a lucky trinket or habit?

 • Support Guidance and Inspiration Do you ever get discouraged? How do you handle it? Do you have a support group? Writer group? Community group? Where do you draw inspiration? Do you get writer’s block? How do you get over it? How do you handle interference—a new situation that makes it difficult to write/work? 

• Craft Sustainability How do you sustain being a writer? What are some pitfalls to look out for? Any recommendations as to how to make it for the long haul? How do you fill the well?

 • Three words of added advice What are they and why? Anecdote? (also, do you live by them?)

 https://youtu.be/lxgPX55y4O4

TIL Award Winners Panel at 2020 Texas Book Festival

As president of the Texas Institute of Letters, Sergio Troncoso moderates a panel of three TIL Award Winners at the 2020 Virtual Texas Book Festival: Ruben Degollado, Lupe Mendez, and Naomi Shihab Nye. All three read from their award-winning books and discuss important literary questions as well as questions about their work and life during COVID-19. 

https://youtu.be/zvN591OYRf0

 

 

Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds

I am the editor of a great new anthology forthcoming in 2021, Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds (Texas A&M Press and the Wittliff Collections). Twenty-five of the thirty works in this collection are unpublished, from Sandra Cisneros, Reyna Grande, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, Rigoberto Gonzalez, ire'ne lara silva, Matt Mendez, Diana Lopez, Alex Espinoza, Daniel Chacon, Helena Maria Viramontes, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Deborah Paredez, David Romo, Francisco Cantu, Domingo Martinez, Oscar Casares, Lorraine Lopez, David Dominguez, Stephanie Li, Sheryl Luna, Octavio Quintanilla, Diana Marie Delgado, Octavio Solis, Severo Perez, and Ruben Degollado! Here's the terrific cover by Antonio Castro and a blurb from Juan Felipe Herrera.

"Such a window, such an ax, into the hard, human struggles of writers, sisters and brothers here — resolving, harmonizing and perhaps, simply just telling their Nepantlas. These lives in-between bridges of culture, of gender, of memory and presence, invisibility and courage, of raped bodies on the precipice of healing and wholeness, of speaking versus silence, of shame in-between wholeness, of big time university life then riding back to Segundo Barrio DNA. And of mothers drifting and daughters blazing in the Now. Each page, a revelation. Each story, a valley of tears and a mountain of triumph. This Nepantla Familia will tear your heart open. You will finally get to feel like a human being. You will have humanity in your hands. One of a kind, I thank Troncoso for this anthology — I bow before these writers of truth and love. A mega-ground-crackling and life expanding house of diamonds."

—Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the USA, Emeritus

 

To pre-order your copy, visit Texas A&M University Press: 

https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781623499631/nepantla-familias/

Revista Latina North Carolina Interview with Sergio Troncoso

For those of you who read Spanish, here's an interview about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son (Cinco Puntos Press) in Revista Latina North Carolina. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Para aquellos que leen español, aquí hay una entrevista sobre A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's (Cinco Puntos Press) en la Revista Latina North Carolina. Espero que lo disfruten.

 

https://www.revistalatinanc.com/2020/11/12/sergio-troncoso-en-entrevista-para-revista-latina-nc/

Houston Chronicle Op-Ed: Los Viejitos, our Heritage, and the Pandemic

Sergio Troncoso: “My mother is the storyteller now, the one with great stories of grit and perseverance that give me a glimpse of how I became who I am today. Just like my grandmother. Their history is our history. Our present becomes more meaningful when we have our viejitos to tell us their stories. If this presidential election is about anything, it should be about why they should always matter to us.”

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Essay-Protect-los-viejitos-our-oldsters-and-15651571.php

New Books Network Interview with Sergio Troncoso

Galit Gottlieb of New Books Network interviews Sergio Troncoso about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son (Cinco Puntos Press), the landscape of west Texas versus northwest Connecticut, family as a source of inspiration, Nietzsche's perspectivism in storytelling, and his abuelita as his muse.

https://newbooksnetwork.com/sergio-troncoso-a-peculiar-kind-of-immigrants-son-cinco-puntos-press-2020/

A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son Wins International Latino Book Award

Last night my book A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son (Cinco Puntos Press) won First Place in the category Best Collection of Short Stories (English/Bilingual) at the International Latino Book Awards. The judges called the collection "poignant and powerful; a tour de force!"

I am grateful for the honor and want to thank the judges for choosing my book. The competition was stiff, and Edward James Olmos was the emcee of the virtual live event and had presenters like

Juan Felipe Herrera, Eva Longoria, Esmeralda Santiago, and Isabel Allende. I was shocked when they read my name. Thank you. I was so excited last night it took me a while to fall asleep!

 

https://www.latinobookawards.org/