Conversations with Writers, Artists, Thinkers.
Hosted by two professors from the Department of Creative Writing at UTEP, Words on a Wire has become one of the most established and influential radio shows on writing and creativity.
Twelve years ago, it was hosted by Benjamin Alire Sáenz and Daniel Chacón. After Sáenz retired, Tim Z. Hernandez joined the team, and we have been going strong ever since. Our shows are available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube.
Airing locally Sundays at noon, each week Tim or Daniel have a conversation with someone whose work they admire, poets, fiction writers, philosophers, scientists, musicians. Because they are writers themselves, the main focus for the hosts is books, and if there’s a new one that they love, they welcome that writer on the show.
We have had guests from first-time writers with new books to the world’s most established thinkers, such as former and current US Poet Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and great thinkers who have dedicate their lives to making the world a better place.
Words on a Wire is Co-produced by Creative Writing MFA candidates Claudia Flores Ramirez and Iliana Pichardo Urrutia.
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In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Will Rose sits down with author Lauren D. Woods to discuss her debut short story collection, The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe—a book that moves fluidly between realism and the surreal, blending sharp emotional insight with inventive, often unexpected forms. -
In part two of this special live recording of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón continues his conversation with historian David Dorado Romo, marking the 20th anniversary of Ringside Seat to a Revolution. This episode moves deeper into Romo’s philosophy of history, storytelling, and what it truly means to understand revolution from the ground up. -
This special episode of Words on a Wire brings together host Daniel Chacón and historian David Dorado Romo to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Romo’s groundbreaking book Ringside Seat to a Revolution. -
In this episode of Words on a Wire, Will Rose sits down with writer and editor Daniel Chacón and poet Gabriel Dozal for a conversation centered on a major moment for the literary community in the U.S.–Mexico border region: the relocation of Huizache Magazine to El Paso, Texas. -
In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Will Rose speaks with Caleb Lara, whose work on social media and through community projects has brought renewed attention to the rich and often overlooked history of the borderland. -
In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón sits down with two creative writing students, Jack Bishop and Luis Marquez, to talk about writing, storytelling, and the launch of their new student podcast, The Writer’s Pick. -
In this episode, host Will Rose sits down with journalist and author Jessica Goudeau to discuss her ambitious and deeply personal new book, We Were Illegal. After writing about refugee families rebuilding their lives in Texas, Goudeau began asking a question she had never considered about herself: how did her own family get here? -
On this episode of Words on a Wire, host Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny guides us through an inspiring conversation with acclaimed poet, journalist, and educator Maria Esquinca. -
In this episode, host Will Rose speaks with author Stephanie Austin about her debut novel, Burn, which will be released on February 3, 2026, from Cowboy Jamboree Press. -
In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Will Rose speaks with historian Jeff Roche, author of The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right, about how West Texas became one of the most reliably conservative regions in American political life.
