Daniel Olivas

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Daniel Olivas (born on April 8, 1959 in Los Angeles, California) is a United States author and attorney. Olivas was raised near downtown Los Angeles. He is the middle of five children and the grandson of Mexican immigrants. Olivas received his BA in English literature from Stanford University and law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.

He is the author of Devil Talk: Stories (Bilingual Press, 2004), Assumption and Other Stories (Bilingual Press, 2003), The Courtship of María Rivera Peña (Silver Lake Publishing, 2000), and a children’s book, Benjamin and the Word / Benjamin y la palabra (Arte Público Press, 2005).

His fiction, poetry, essays and book reviews have appeared in many publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Jewish Journal, MacGuffin, Exquisite Corpse, THEMA, and El Paso Times.

Olivas is a contributing writer to several anthologies including Fantasmas: Supernatural Stories by Mexican American Writers, edited by Rob Johnson (Bilingual Press, 2001), and Love to Mamá: A Tribute to Mothers, edited by Pat Mora (Lee & Low Books, 2001). He is the editor of Latinos in Lotus Land: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature forthcoming from Bilingual Press in 2007. Olivas is featured in Spilling the Beans in Chicanolandia: Conversations with Writers and Artists (University of Texas Press, 2006) edited by Frederick Luis Aldama. Olivas is a member of Con Tinta and shares blogging duties on La Bloga.

As a law student at UCLA, Olivas was elected co-chair of La Raza Law Students Association (1982-1983), and served as editor-in-chief of the Chicano Law Review (1983-1984). Before becoming a fiction writer, he authored numerous legal articles, essays and book reviews for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He started writing fiction in 1998. Since then, Olivas has been recognized as "one of the best and most original Hispanic American authors working today." (The Midwest Book Review.) Much of his writing reflects his identity as a Chicano and a convert to Judaism.

Olivas has practiced law with the California Department of Justice as a deputy attorney general since 1990 and specializes in land use and environmental enforcement. Prior to 1990, he was in private practice. Olivas makes his home in the San Fernando Valley with his wife and son.

1 Bibliography
2 Interviews and Profiles
3 External links

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books

Devil Talk: Stories (Bilingual Press, 2004)
Assumption and Other Stories (Bilingual Press, 2003)
The Courtship of María Rivera Peña (Silver Lake Publishing, 2001)

[edit] Children's Picture Book

Benjamin and the Word / Benjamin y la palabra (Arte Público Press, 2005)

[edit] Anthologies (contributing author)

Love to Mamá: A Tribute to Mothers (Lee & Low Books, 2001)
Fantasmas: Supernatural Stories by Mexican American Writers (Bilingual Press, 2000)
Nemeton: A Fables Anthology (Silver Lake Publishing, 2000)