KERA Arts Story Search



Looking for events? Click here for the Go See DFW events calendar.

Art&Seek on Think TV: Author Oscar Casares


by Jerome Weeks 27 Oct 2009 4:22 PM

In Cormac McCarthy’s novels, the Texas-Mexico border is a major, dramatic life-changing event for young Anglos headed south. In Oscar Casares’ writing, the border is a fact of life — to be negotiated, ignored, overcome. The Brownsville native talks to us about family legends, the border and his new novel, Amigoland.
CTA TBD

[flashvideo filename=rtmp://kera-flash.streamguys.us:80/jwplayer&id=video/think/091023_think_328_artandseek width=470 height=263 displayheight=263 image=wp-content/uploads/2008/10/artandseekvideologo.jpg /]
Born and raised in Brownsville, Texas, Oscar Casares earned a bachelor’s degree from UT-Austin. But he didn’t start writing short stories about his life in the Rio Grande Valley until he was working in an advertising job in Minnesota. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop and his first story collection, Brownsville, was released in 2003 — to great acclaim.

Casares has won a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship and a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His first novel, Amigoland, was published in August this year. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Texas.

SHARE

About Jerome Weeks

Jerome Weeks is the Senior Arts Reporter/Producer for KERA. Previously at The Dallas Morning News, he was the book columnist for 10 years and the drama critic for 10 years before that. His writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, American Theatre and Men’s Vogue magazines. View more about Jerome Weeks.

COMMENTS

  • Sylvana Avila Alonzo

    Great interview, especially the explanation of the “border” not being the “other” but being the mainstream. Thank you. I look forward to reading both Brownsville and Amigoland.

  • “Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life.” – scientist quote