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El Paso Community College
Library Research Guides

Frontera: Literary Topics

Centralized guide to all EPCC's local history publications, videos and guides and sources for local history topics

El Paso Literature Topics: Authors, Events, Bookstores, Publishers, and More

JUMP TO:    Poets/Short Story Authors --   Dramatists/Screenwriters --   Nonfiction Writers --   Novelists --   Books set in El Paso --   Bookstores --   Events --   Publishers --   Publications
 

POETS/SHORT STORY AUTHORS:

Burciago, Jose Antonio 1941-1996 Poet, humorist, artist, journalist born and raised in El Paso

Coleman, Anita Scott of Silver City, NM and later Los Angeles, African American writer writing in the Harlem Renaissance tradition.  Coleman also wrote essays and short stories. 

Gomez, Gabriel.  Poet

Gonzalez, Ray Poet, essayist, and editor

Green, Nancy Lorenza  El Paso poet

Monsivais, Carolina  Chicanx-Poet-Historian-Mother.   

Muro, Amado (literary name of Chester Seltzer) Anglo short story writer from El Paso who wrote under a Mexican American identity.  See also entry for son Robert Seltzer

Perez, Emmy  Poet

Pimental, Sasha  poet and professor at UTEP

Scofield, Robin poet connected with Border Sense and Tumblewords Project

Snyder, Donna J. poet 

 Somoza, Joseph Las Cruces poet, Professor at UTEP and NMSU

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DRAMATISTS/SCREENWRITERS:

Granados, Christine Former journalist with the El Paso Times, playwright, short story writer

Morton, Carlos  Playwright who lived in El Paso several times in his life and taught at UTEP

NONFICTION WRITERS:

Dailey, Maceo C. Historian and director of African American Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso

de Cardenas, Isidra T. started a series of pamphlets called La Voz de la Mujer in El Paso in 1907. 

El Paso Chamber of Commerce Author of the 1910 book El Paso: The Story of a City

Garcia, Mario T.  Native El Pasoan and noted Chicano historian, University of California at Santa Barbara professor 

Gladstein, Mimi Reisel John Steinbeck scholar, author of books on Ayn Rand and local histories.  Long time UTEP professor.

Gonzales, Patrisia and Roberto Rodriguez  writers of the syndicated Column of the Americas, distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, since 1994. Recipients of El Paso's Writers of the Pass award. 

Haines, Cynthia Weber Farah Photographer and writer best known for documenting southwest writers and art and life in El Paso, former UTEP professor who started Film Studies program 

Hertzog, Carl  (1902–1984), typographer, book designer, and publisher. 

Jameson, W.C. Author of Legend and Lore of the Guadalupe Mountains

Lea, Thomas Callahan III 1907-2001  artist/journalist/historian

Margo, Adair  art gallery owner, nonfiction writer

Metz, Leon (1930-2020) beloved southwest historian 

Olchefski-Winson, Pat  local artist and memoirist.  

Ormsby, Waterman L. Author of The Butterfield Overland Mail

Romo, David Dorado pivotal book:  Ringside Seat to a Revolution  

Sonnichsen, Charles Leland.  southwest historian and UTEP professor emeritus.  Prolific writer

Timmons, W. H.  Historian and long time Texas Western professor.

Walker, Dale L. El Paso author of many biographies and historical books

West, John O. Folklorist, historian, long time University of Texas at El Paso professor

White, Owen Payne (1879-1946) native El Pasoan writer/muckraker.  Most of his career was spent outside of El Paso. 

Wright, Bill  award-winning phorographer and nonfiction writer writing on the Tiguas, Kickapoo and Big Bend areas among other subjects. 

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NOVELISTS:

 

Betts, Cordia "Vanessa" Children's book author and in May 2021 in runoff election for EPISD school board district #5

Caine, Rachel (Roxanne Longstreet Conrad) Writer of Science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense and horror.

Chacon, Daniel Latino author and creative writing professor at UTEP

Chavez, Denise very well known award winning author from Las Cruces 

Hernandez, Tim Z. award winning poet, novelist, research scholar, and performance artist. Currently a professor at UTEP

Johnson, Lou Anne Author of My Posse Don’t Do Homework, which was adopted as the film Dangerous Minds. 

She lived and worked in Southern New Mexico for many years and now lives in Santa Fe.

Rechy, John  award-winning gay writer from El Paso.  His book City of Night was significant for its time. 

 find books and articles in our Discovery System (EPCC students or on campus use only).

Stork, Francisco X. novelist

Troncoso, Sergio novelist, essayist and short story writer from Ysleta

Windle, Janice Woods.  novelist, long time president of the El Paso Community Foundation.

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BOOKS SET IN EL PASO:

The Baker’s Daughter (2012) by Sarah McCoy. Partly set in the El Paso German community

Bullets, Bottles and Gardenias (1935) by Timothy G. Turner<

Death in the Time of Pancho Villa (2020) by Sandra Marshall

El Paso: A Novel (2016) by Winston Groom. On the Mexican Revolution.

El Paso (1999)  by Matt Braun.  El Paso in 1881 with Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire

Retablos: Stories from a Life Along the Border (2018) by Octavio Solis.  Playwright's collection of short stories from his life growing up in El Paso 

Seventh Flag (2019) by Sid Balman Jr. Set in Dell City (Hudspeth County) iconic American family and Syrian Muslim family

Si El Paso and El Paso 120 art photography books by Mark Paula

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LOCAL BOOKSTORES:

Books Are Gems

Brave Books

Casa Camino Real (Las Cruces) see also Chavez, Denise entry

COAS (two branches in Las Cruces) 

Friends of the Libraries bookstores

Literarity (Mesa Street, westside in Peppertree Square)

Martin’s Bookstore (Elizabeth Alvarez) Now closed, but was open for over 50 years.  This link would be interesting to include in researching the bookstore and is another feature of "literary El Paso".

People's Emporium Revered book store, sold books and other oddities

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EVENTS:

Border Senses / Barbed Wire Open Mic

Border Tapestry Contest / El Paso Writers’ League 

EPCC Literary Fiesta

El Paso Comic Com  Community Based Pop Culture Experience

Tumblewords Project

Words on a Wire KTEP radio show about fiction, poetry, the writing community, etc

World Famous Kentucky Club  A place to sit down, enjoy a good drink and read, located in Ciudad Juarez.

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PUBLISHERS:

Mangan Press / Frank Mangan established in 1979

Texas Western Press  Founded by Carl Hertzog in 1952

Veliz Press, established in El Paso 2015

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PUBLICATIONS:

Chrysalis EPCC literary magazine

The City El Paso Magazine founded in 2011

El Diario de El Paso / Diario de Juarez  Osvaldo Rodriguez Borunda, publisher

Puerto del Sol Literary Magazine.  Long-running NMSU publication. 

The Rio Grande Review: UTEP’s bilingual journal of literature and contemporary art

Research tips

Note details that might seem insignificant at first glance, in case one finds other information later.

Women's information is often found through researching the men in their lives (i.e. husband, fathers, etc.) so the notes here might only state that Mrs. X was married to Mr. X who was important for some reason, but in researching him, there might be information about his wife found later.

Research full text of local newspaper articles back to 1881 in this database available to EPCC users and in person in EPCC Libraries: 

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