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Javier Sagarna

Courtesy of Javier Sagarna

In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón speaks with Javier Sagarna, a Spanish writer and director of Escuela de Escritores in Madrid. Sagarna shares his journey from pharmaceuticals to fiction, reflecting on how literature and workshops can create community and foster imagination. He discusses the role of utopias in storytelling, arguing that writers should move beyond dystopian visions to imagine better futures. The conversation also touches on a major blackout in Madrid, where instead of chaos, neighbors gathered, talked, and supported one another—an experience Sagarna likens to the potential of creative writing communities. With insights on craft, teaching, and the transformative power of desire over talent, Sagarna emphasizes writing as both an art and a way of life. This episode explores imagination, resilience, and the courage to live—and write—your own story.

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Originally aired on September 7, 2025

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Words On A Wire - Season 17 KTEP Programming
Daniel Chacón’s collection of stories, Unending Rooms, was the 2007 winner of the Hudson Prize. He has also been awarded the American Book Award, the Chris Isherwood Foundation Grant, and the Southwest Book Award. His first collection of stories, Chicano Chicanery was a finalist in the Patterson Fiction Prize and his novel and the shadows took him is available from Simon and Schuster. His new book is a collection of stories called Hotel Júarez: Stories, Rooms and Loops. He’s a professor of Fiction Writing, Kafka, and Latino/a literature in the Creative Writing Department at UTEP.
Will Rose is a longtime technology and marketing executive based out of NYC and Texas. He is the co-founder of Words on a Wire’s publishing imprint, eRadical Books, and now spearheads marketing strategy for the Words on a Wire podcast. He also serves as Chief Technology Officer at the EdTech startup, Student Select, and as Head of Data Science at the artificial intelligence company, Harqen AI.