Interview with Fred Arroyo. Sunday, June 3rd, 2012.

35: Daniel & Ben talk with Fred Arroyo, author of “The Region of Lost Names” (2008) and “Western Avenue and Other Fictions” (2012).  Arroyo explains why “Western Avenue” is more of a novel told in a cycle of short stories, and why it’s a companion to “Region of Lost Names.”  He also explains why he refers to the central figures in his work as “people,” not “characters.”  Arroyo also describes how he approaches endings.

In this week’s Poem of the Week, Ben reads “The Word ‘Class’ Should Not Appear in The Poem,” from Karen Fiser’s collection, “Words Like Fate and Pain.”

Fred Arroyo, assistant professor of English, Drake University, is the author of The Region of Lost Names: A Novel (University of Arizona Press, 2008). A recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission, he has published fiction, poetry, and essays in various literary journals (Crab Orchard Review, Pinyon, Washington Square, North Dakota Quarterly). Fred has completed a collection of stories, Borders of the Heart, and is working on a book of essays, Close as Pages in a Book. Fred was named a 2009 Top Ten “New” Latino Author to Watch (and Read) by LatinoStories.com, and his novel was a finalist for the 2008 Premio Aztlán Literary Prize.  

Initially, Fred grew up on the east coast in a bilingual community, and when his family moved to the Middle West his sense of language, identity, and place became defined and, strangely, more fleeting. He often feels—even with multiple graduate degrees in writing—that he’s still learning how to tap into the potency of words. In Spanish there is the word anyoransa (a deep sense of longing and nostalgia). Nostalgia and possibility, memory and longing—they make life and fiction credible and mysterious, and these are forces Fred’s often discovers alive in his writing.

(Taken from http://redroom.com/member/fred-arroyo/bio )