Latinx Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Aleco Julius

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve been a longtime collector of magazines, zines, and journals about all kinds of art, music, folklore--you name it. The more obscure and the strange, the better. I had written a little about books and literature previously, but about six years ago I realized I could be a contributor to many of these magazines and journals. So, I was inspired by all the passionate authors out there writing essays and articles on topics such as folk horror, metal music, phenomenology, and weird studies. So, I put my pen to paper and soon found my work among the pages of the publications I collected! These include Vastarien, Hellebore, Myth & Lore, Dark Matter Magazine, anthologies by Anathema Publishing, and more.

Latinx Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Alberto Ávila Salazar

What inspired you to start writing?

I could tell you that every time I write I start from scratch, it’s like a leap into the void. I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. I wish I could tell you about an epiphany or a moment of enlightenment, but that wasn’t the case. It’s something that’s always been with me.

Latinx Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Adrianna Cuevas

What inspired you to start writing?

My fourth-grade teacher recognized my ADHD tendencies to constantly daydream and make up stories and encouraged me to write them down. While it took me a while to claim the professional title of author, I have been writing ever since then as storytelling seems to be what my brain is wired to do.

Latinx Heritage in Horror Month 2024: Introduction by Sandra Becerril

Welcome to Latin American horror! Latin American horror literature reflects human darkness. Beyond ghosts, what scares us the most is what we carry inside. It is not the monsters or the ghosts that add the disturbing component to our literature. It is the deep exploration of the human condition and its possibilities that leave readers with a dry throat. It is the ability of Latin writers with their stories that allow us to feel loneliness, hatred, abandonment, and resignation. The supernatural feels smaller than the narratives of what we Latin Americans can carry inside. Horror in contemporary Latin American literature is fueled by domestic and everyday events.

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Leticia Urieta

Leticia Urieta (she/her/hers) is a Tejana writer from Austin, TX. She is a teaching artist in the greater Austin community and the Program Director of Austin Bat Cave, a literary community serving students in the Austin area, as well as the co-director of Barrio Writers Austin and Pflugerville, a free creative writing program for youth. Leticia is also a freelance writer. She is a graduate of Agnes Scott College and holds an MFA in Fiction writing from Texas State University. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Chicon Street Poets, Lumina, The Offing, Kweli Journal, Medium, Electric Lit and others.…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Richard Z. Santos

Richard Z. Santos' debut novel, Trust Me, was a finalist for the Writer's League of Texas Book Awards and was named one of the best debuts of the year by CrimeReads. He's the editor of the collection A Night of Screams: Latino Horror Stories. He is the Executive Director of Austin Bat Cave, an organization that provides creative writing workshops to students in under-resourced areas. He is a former Board Member of The National Book Critics Circle and has judged contests for The Kirkus Prize, The NEA, and many more. Recent work can be found in Austin Noir (Akashic Books),…