The month of October has already seen several local writers and poets appear on podcasts to discuss and share their writing.

Orange County poet, Gustavo Hernandez, appeared on Creative Space: Chats With Writers. Hosted by Mary Vensel White, these 30-minute interviews explore creativity and the writing life, inspiration, community, and methods to spark creativity for writers and everyone else. Hernandez was on to discuss the themes and ideas of immigration, family, loss and sexuality present in his poetry collection Flower Grand First (Moon Tide Press, 2021) and of his main inspirations for writing the book: his search for his birthplace and traces of his family left behind when he immigrated to the U.S. from Jalisco, Mexico as a young child.

Gustavo Hernandez grew up in Santa Ana, Orange County and was an honorable mention for Orange County Poet Laureate. He was recently bestowed with a certificate of recognition by the city of Santa Ana for “outstanding contribution through creative writing.”

White kicked off the interview by asking Hernandez to discuss the self in creativity—how our biographies and experiences find their way into our writing, the ways we reconcile past and present, how our surroundings mold us, and whether as working creatives our private and public selves need to be handled differently.

Listen to Gustavo Hernandez’s interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGW5YOQDZaw

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Peggy Dobreer appeared as a guest on the podcast Poet Runner, hosted by Rafael Alvarado and Richard Modiano.

Dobreer discussed the recently published poetry anthology she edited, Slow Lightning: Impractical Poetry. The anthology grew out of her daily Zoomed guided meditations and integrated writing prompts sessions (Slow Lightning Lit), which she began hosting in the aftermath of the “insurrection” because she realized everyone was falling apart. It’s a somatic practice she’d previously used in the classes she taught.

Dobreer is a poet, writing mentor and former dancer/choreographer, who brings movement, meditation, visual craft and an enduring love of language to her E=Mc2Bodied Poetry Workshops and Slow Lightning Lit daily online Somatic Meditation and Writing Practice. She is a graduate of Whittier College, whose poetry “looks at love, landscapes, the natural world, politics, superstitions and juxtapositions,” she said in a Nervous Breakdown interview, among other topics.

Listen to Peggy Dobreer’s interview here: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/poet1275/2022/10/10/poet-runner?fbclid=IwAR2Z1LQwUT-yt9m8IuVcxpNsjKeq0gd5JPEQ2-6lu7gOXbtDo7aoibGQ7V8

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Los Ángeles native, Daniel A. Olivas, recently appeared on the podcast Words on a Wire, interviewed by his tocayo, co-host Daniel Chacón. Words on a Wire began in 2010 as a local literary radio show out of El Paso. Hosts Tim Z. Hernandez and Daniel Chacón speak with a wide range of guests, including poets, fiction writers, philosophers, scientists, and musicians.

Olivas, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, is the author of multiple books of fiction, is a poet and playwright and is a full time lawyer defending the rights of citizens in Los Ángeles in the California Department of Justice’s Public Rights Division.

In this episode of Words on a Wire, Olivas discusses his family; his creativity; a connection to literature and writing he shared with his father, a man with failed literary aspirations; his writing career and how all that ties into his writing and his most recent book, the story collection How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Selected Stories (University of Nevada Press, 2022). Chacón also asks how it’s possible to be a full-time lawyer, a blogger, a book reviewer and still write so prolifically.

Listen to Daniel A. Olivas’ interview here: https://wordsonawire.org/podcast/