Daniel Olivas is the author of ten books including How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press, 2022), The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories (University of Arizona Press, 2017), Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press, 2017), and Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature through Essays and Interviews (San Diego State University Press, 2014). He is also editor of the landmark anthology, Latinos in Lotusland (Bilingual Press, 2008), which brings together 60 years of Los Angeles fiction by Latino/a writers. Daniel has been widely anthologized including in Sudden Fiction Latino and Hint Fiction (both from W. W. Norton, 2010), and New California Writing (Heyday Books, 2012).

Daniel's first full-length play, Waiting for Godínez, was selected for the Playwrights' Arena Summer Reading Series (2020) and The Road Theatre's 12th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival (2021), and was a semi-finalist for the American Blues Theater's 2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award. Daniel was selected for Circle X Theatre Co.'s inaugural Evolving Playwrights Group where he adapted his novel, The Book of Want, for a reading in 2021.

Daniel's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Jewish Journal, The Guardian, Fairy Tale Review, and the El Paso Times. He shares blogging duties on La Bloga, the award-winning blog dedicated to Chicanx and Latinx literature.

Daniel, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, grew up near downtown Los Angeles. He now makes his home in Pasadena. He and his wife have an adult son who lives in Los Angeles, as well. Daniel received his degree in English literature from Stanford University and law degree from UCLA. By day, he is an attorney with the California Department of Justice in the Public Rights Division.

Website: http://danielolivas.com

Twitter Username: @olivasdan

Publications

• The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories , University of Arizona Press (2017)
• Cross the Border: Collected Poems , Pact Pess (2017)
• Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature through Essays and Interviews , San Diego State University Press (2014)
• The Book of Want: A Novel , University of Arizona Press (2011)
• Anywhere But L.A.: Stories , Bilingual Press (2009)
• Latinos in Lotusland , Bilingual Press (2008)
• The Courtship of María Rivera Peña , Silver Lake Publishing (2000)
• Benjamin and the Word , Arte Público Press (2005)
• Devil Talk: Stories , Bilingual Press (2004)
• Assumption and Other Stories , Bilingual Press (2003)

Awards

• Semi-Finalist, Blue Ink Playwriting Award - American Blues Theater (2021)
• Latino Books into Movies, First Place, Romantic Comedy (2012)
• Independent Publisher Book Awards, Silver Medal, Multicultural Adult Fiction (2012)
• 2012 Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award, Semifinalist (2012)
• International Latino Book Awards, Finalist, Best Popular Fiction (2012)
• Willa Cather Fiction Contest, Finalist (2000)

Employment

• Attorney at California Department of Justice (July 1990 - )

Degrees

• Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Stanford University (1981)
• Doctoral Degree in Law from UCLA School of Law (1984)

Genres of Interest

Fiction, Creative nonfiction, Playwriting, Screenwriting, Children's literature , Poetry