C.M. Mayo's Podcast

C.M. Mayo interviews Avram Dumitrescu, an artist and illustrator whose paintings have been featured in "Marfans: Art from the Plateau" at the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery in Odessa, and also showcased in Cenizo Journal. A native of the Channel Islands and raised in Belfast, he earned a bachelor's degree and Masters in Applied Arts from the University of Ulster at Belfast. He is married to journalist Megan Wilde. For more about Dumitrescu, and to view his portfolio, visit www.onlineavram.com. Recorded in late January 2012.

For more about the Marfa Monday Podcasting Series, please visit www.cmmayo.com/marfa

As part of the series of occasional conversations with other writers, C.M. Mayo talks with Michael K. Schuessler, author of the biographies Guadalupe Amor: La undécisima musa (The Eleventh Muse) and Elena Poniatowska: An Intimate Portrait, and editor of journalist Alma Reed's long-lost autobiography, Peregrina: Love and Death in Mexico. Most recently, Schuessler is co-editor (with Amparo Gómez), of the correspondence between Reed and her fiancé, Yucatan's charismatic first democratically elected governor, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Tuyo hasta que me muera (Yours Until Death). Recorded in Mexico City on March 8, 2012. (Approx 1 hour and 7 minutes)

C.M. Mayo interviews Mary Bones, curator of the exhibit "The Lost Colony: Texas Regionalist Paintings," in the Museum of the Big Bend, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas. The Lost Colony refers to the summer art colony at Sul Ross which began in 1932 and ended somewhat mysteriously in 1950. Alpine is 30 minutes northeast of Marfa-- right next door. Of the region, as Michael Duty writes in the introduction to the exhibit's catalog, "It... has long called to artists who have been captivated by its natural beauty, its history, and its people. In recent times, the area has also drawn the attention of writers and reporters who have written numerous articles touting the area's prominence as something of a center, albeit a far flung one, for contemporary art. Those articles focus primarily on Marfa and the influence that minimalist sculptor Donald Judd has had on the town..." Later, Duty adds, that Judd "was certainly not the first artist to be so captivated". Mary Bones explains the inspiration for the exhibit, and shares the stories about and friendships of some of the painters, in particular Texan Julius Woeltz and his teacher Xavier González, a native of Spain, both of whom made trips to Mexico City to study the Mexican muralists, including Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. Some of the other painters discussed are Mabel Vandiver, Anna Keener, Elizabeth Keefer, Coreen Mary Spellman, Harry Anthony De Young, Beatrice Cuming, Otis Dozier, William Lester, James Swann, Ethel Edwards, Alice Reynolds, and Juanita Montgomery. Several of these paintings can be seen in the article by Mary Bones, "The Lost Colony: Texas Regionalist Paintings -Rediscovering an Artistic Past," Cenizo Journal, 4th Quarter 2011.

For more Marfa Mondays podcasts, please visit www.cmmayo.com/marfa 

As part of the series of occasional conversations with other writers, C.M. Mayo talks with Edward Swift, author the memoir, My Grandfather's Finger, and several novels, most recently, The Daughter of the Doctor and the Saint. Recorded in Swift's studio in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, on February 22, 2012. 

For more conversations with other writers, visit www.cmmayo.com

Recorded at the PEN / Sol Literary Magazine Reading Series event of February 22, 2012 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. C.M. Mayo introduces and discusses her translation-- the first into English-- of Francisco I. Madero's secret book of 1911, Spiritist Manual. Madero was the leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and President of Mexico from 1911-1913. For more about Madero's Spiritist Manual, including extensive Q & A and resources for researchers, visit www.cmmayo.com/SPIRITISTMANUAL

(Note: this is an abbreviated version of the longer podcast, which is available at www.cmmayo.com/podcasts.html , with fellow author Gerard Helferich, who read from his book, Stone of Kings.) 

Recorded in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, February 22, 2012. Gerard Helferich reads from and discusses his new book, Stone of Kings: In Search of the Lost Jade of the Maya, and C.M. Mayo discusses her translation-- the first into English-- of Francisco I. Madero's secret book of 1911, Spiritist Manual. Madero was the leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and President of Mexico 1911-1913. Introduced by Eva Hunter, editor of Sol Literary Magazine.

Interview with Charles Angell, owner of Angell Expeditions, on the Big Bend: how he got here, the rivers, the birds, geology, archaeology, rock art, movies, and much more.

Read about the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project 2012-2013, and listen to more podcasts at www.cmmayo.com/marfa

Ever since I first heard about Marfa and the remote mountain ranges of West Texas, I yearned to go there. About a decade ago, on a brief visit, I drank in the majesty of the vast spaces, the bluer than blue skies, and at night, stars beyond stars, and— yes, they're real—the Marfa Lights. But the people? Breezing through, I didn't have a chance to talk to many, for I was deep into writing another book, Miraculous Air, about Baja California, Mexico's nearly 1,000 mile long peninsula. Once that wrapped up, I wanted to come back to explore Marfa but first, what I imagined would be a lickety-split project: researching and writing a novel based on the strange but true story of, as the title says, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. It seems a pattern with me, that writing a book always takes about seven times longer than I had planned, but never mind, finally, I am returning to Marfa and West Texas. No, not to live: I'm based in Mexico City, but over the next two years, in a series of journeys, I'll be writinga book about Marfa and environs. 

So why the podcasts? In the past, as I did while writing Miraculous Air, I would have turned out a series of travel articles for newspapers and magazines. I may still write an article or three, but I am less interested in which is the cheapest / best / coollest bed-and-breakfast & etc., than I am in talking to people and, now that podcasting is possible, rather than stash my notes and taped interviews in the drawer, I can share them widely. 

With this series of 24 podcasts, scheduled for the third Monday of each month from 2012 through 2013, I invite you to join me in this adventure in listening. 

Learn more at www.cmmayo.com/marfa

As part of the series of occasional conversations with other writers, C.M. Mayo talks with Sara Mansfield Taber, author of the memoir Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter. For Taber, growing up in Taiwan, Japan, Washington DC, the Netherlands, and Borneo was tough as well as exotic, and she found the experience even more unsettling because, as she learned at fifteen, she was the daughter of a covert CIA agent. In this lyrical memoir, Taber captures the painful journey as she ― and her adored father ― struggle to understand who they are and what it means to be an American. The conversation ranges from her father's work in Asia, including his daring rescue of over a thousand Vietnamese after the fall of Vietnam to the Vietcong, and his disenchantment with the agency while working in Germany; Taber's childhood in Taiwan, highschool years in Washington DC during the Vietnam War; her previous books, including, Bread of Three Rivers and Dusk on the Campo; other travel writers, reading as a writer; writing practice, and teaching writing. Visit Sara Taber at www.sarataber.com 

The sensory and emotional detail of this memoir is as delicately wrought as bone china, yet saved from fragility by Sara Taber’s uncompromising journey deeper and deeper inward with every page...a beautiful, mysterious, and unexpectedly suspenseful story of the struggle to find a place in the world.

-William O’Sullivan, features editor, The Washingtonian Magazine


Sara Mansfield Taber has worked magic with this intoxicating memoir of her exotic childhood. With a child’s innocence and sensitivity, Sara composes her family’s haunting story, stroke by exquisitely beautiful stroke. This vibrant family portrait of love and heart-ache also reveals much about America—our passion, confusion, contradictions, and especially, the tragedy we bring upon the world despite our very best intentions.

-Mary Stucky, National Public Radio

As part of the series of occasional conversations with other writers, C.M. Mayo talks with Solveig Eggerz, author of the fiercely poetic novel Seal Woman. Inspired by the Icelandic fairytale of the seal woman and the true story of some 300 German war widows brought to Iceland to marry and work on the remote farms, Seal Woman has been widely praised and translated into both Hebrew and Icelandic. The conversation ranges from the author's unusual background (from Iceland to England to Germany to Alexandria, Virginia), Iceland's book culture, fairytales, advice for writers, and more. Visit Solveig Eggerz at www.solveigeggerz.com

Award-winning writer and workshop leader C.M. Mayo explains the power of the 5 minute writing exercise. The end of the podcast includes an exercise-- so if you're listening, get out your pen and paper. For more exercises, visit "Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises," all free at www.cmmayo.com (click on 'workshop"). 

From C.M. Mayo's "Techniques of Fiction" workshop: the number one technique. An explanation with examples-- plus a nugget of advice from Chekhov. For C.M. Mayo's upcoming workshops, and for many more resources for writers, visit www.cmmayo.com

C.M. Mayo, author of several works of fiction and creative nonfiction, long-time workshop leader at the Writers Center and the San Miguel Workshops, and a veteran herself of uncounted workshops (Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Bennington, and more), offers her top ten tips for you to get the most out of your writing workshop. For more resources for writers, and C.M. Mayo's updated writing workshop schedule, visit www.cmmayo.com and click on "workshop."

C.M. Mayo reads her article from Inside Mexico about a conversation with Rosemary Sullivan, author of Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille, a work of fundamental importance to the history of modern art in Mexico. 

C.M. Mayo reads an excerpt from her memoir, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions paperback; Dancing Chiva e-book). It covers, in part, the history of the Jesuit Conquest. For more about this book, including excerpts, photos, videos, and more podcasts, please visit www.cmmayo.com

"A luminous exploration of Baja California... a work of nonfiction that elides into modern myth" -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A sensitive and knowing over-view of a place and a people so near and yet so far from the U.S. or Mexico" -- Harry W. Crosby, author of Last of the Californios and Antigua California 

Read more reviews of this book here. 

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