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.
-
Host Daniel Chacón and his guest Kalina Gallardo talk to the theoretical physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. -
In this episode, Daniel Chacón invite Words on a Wire co-host Tim Z. Hernandez. They talk about Tim’s new book, Some of the Light: New and Selected Poems from Beacon Press. -
Host Daniel Chacón talks to Aldo Amparán, author of the poetry collection Brothers Sleep (Alice James Books, 2022), winner of the Alice James Award. They will discuss everything from the writing process to imposter syndrome. Aldo also will read a poem from Brothers Sleep, “Thanatophobia, or Sleep Addresses His Brother.” -
In this episode, Daniel hangs out with Jessa Crispin, author of The Creative Tarot and Why I Am Not A Feminist. -
Daniel Chacón invited poet, publisher, and musician Carlos Fidel Espinoza into the Cove. They discuss a wide range of topics, including the El Paso migrant crisis, the reality of making a living as a writer, starting a publication company, and Carlos’s unique job as a city storyteller. -
Juan Ignacio Stewart talks with host Tim Z. Hernandez about family, teaching, music and salsa. In this edition of the "Third Story", Juan shares some stories of starting a food company. -
In this episode, Daniel hangs out with poet Ire’ne Lara Silva. They have a conversation about issues that concern an active writer, mindfulness, survival, travel, retirement dreams, and the problem with doctors —a conversation sprinkled with just about anything, but always coming back to poetry. -
Host Daniel Chacón talks to author John Symons about AI systems and the future of writing. -
This Sunday's show will be honoring the 75th anniversary of the plane wreck at Los Gatos Canyon, the tragic 1948 incident that took the lives of 32 passengers, 28 of which were Mexican bracero workers, who were buried anonymously in a mass unmarked grave in Fresno, California. This is the subject that our host Tim Z. Hernandez has spent the last 13 years of his life researching. We invite you to join us! -
Host Daniel Chacón talks with author Marcia Hatfield Daudistel about her new book Across the Border and Back: Music in the Big Bend (Texas A&M University Press, 2022).
