Program: How to Date a Flying Mexican is a collection of stories derived from Chicano and Mexican culture but ranging through fascinating literary worlds of magical realism, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures. Many of Daniel A. Olivas’s characters confront—both directly and obliquely— questions of morality, justice, and self-determination. The collection is made up of Olivas’s favorite previously published stories, along with two new stories. How to Date a Flying Mexican draws together some of Olivas’s most unforgettable and strange tales, allowing readers to experience his very distinct, and very Chicano, fiction.
Olivas will read from How to Date a Flying Mexican, discuss how the stories in this collection came together, explore why he loves the short form, and explain his writing process.
 
Presenter: Daniel A. Olivas is the author of 12 books including Chicano Frankenstein (Forest Avenue Press, 2024), My Chicano Heart: New and Collected Stories of Love and Other Transgressions (University of Nevada Press, 2024), and How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press, 2022). He is also a playwright, editor, and book critic. Widely anthologized, Olivas has written on literature for The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, Zocálo, Latino Book Review, and The Rumpus. He earned his degree in English literature from Stanford University, and law degree from UCLA.

The St. Mary's & Calvert Counties Chapter meets on the fourth Saturday of every month at 1:00 pm.