an interview with José Olivarez

Today, Bob and Chris are thrilled to welcome José Olivarez! Shockingly, this is not a Jimmy Butler podcast. Not entirely. Three discuss writing to procrastinate on writing, "nostalgia with rigor," and food and humor in poems. José reads "Family Portrait With Enchiladas and A Movie" by Analicia Sotelo and then his own poem, "Ode to Tortillas." Then, well, yeah, it becomes a Chicago Bulls podcast. José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. https://joseolivarez.com/