Most days my writing goes into my books and blogs. But I do have a number of other publications, most recently, a poem for children, "People Who Pat Me, by Picadou" along with a letter of advice for creative writers which appear in Karen Benke's delightful anthology, Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative Writing (Shambala, 2010).

Also new: one of my short stories, "The Building of Quality," originally published in the Kenyon Review, is now available as an ebook for Kindle and as a PDF from Dancing Chiva Literary Arts.

With the publication of my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, I've been doing a lot of this newfangled thing called "guest-blogging," most recently, "Top 5 of the Tussie-Mussie" for The Book Drunkard; "What Connects You to the 1860s?" for beatrice.com; a playlist for large-hearted boy, and "How to Hang in There and Finish Your Novel" which appeared in the blogs First Person Plural, Work-in-Progress, as well as others.

Recent poems: "Man High" appears in Robert L. Giron, ed.. Poetic Voices without Borders 2 (Gival Press, 2009). Recent translation: Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue's short story, "On the Death of the Author" in Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction, edited by Álvaro Uribe and Olivia Sears, (Dalkey Archive, 2009).

Once in a purple moon I crank out a proper essay or article. "Twitter Is" appeared in Literal: The social network. Digital utopia / Las redes sociales. Utopía digital, Summer 2009 and "A Traveler in Mexico: A Rendezvous with Writer Rosemary Sullivan" in Inside Mexico, March 2009. My essay for Massachusetts Review, "From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion" about a journey to Maximilian von Habsburg's castle in Italy, published in 2006, came out as an audio CD in 2009

l've been at this for more years than I'd like to admit, so my list of publications is long. I invite you to explore my many essays and articles, as well as book reviews, poems, short stories, translations, and audio CDs.

Home | Essays and articles | Book Reviews | Short Stories | Poetry | Translations | CDs

Scroll down for complete list of publications by C.M. Mayo

Essays and Articles add some more links

Creative Nonfiction / Literary Travel Writing

"What Connects You to the 1860s?"
Beatrice.com, DATE?

"In Celebration of Literal: Latin American Voices / Voces Latinoamericanas"
A talk by C.M. Mayo at the Feria Internacional del Libro, Guadalajara, Mexico, December, 2009 (Madam Mayo Blog)

"A Book Group Meeting Menu"
Reading Group Guides, June 8, 2009

"Playlist for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire"
Largehearted Boy, "Book Notes," May 27, 2009

"VCCA Guest-Blog Post"
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Blog, May 5, 2009

FIX TITLE ETC
"Potomac Review Blog"
About "The Darling of Rosedale" (from issue 44 of the Potomac Review) the first chapter of the novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, guest-blog post, May 5, 2009

"My Favorite Bookstore? C.M. Mayo Celebrates a Batch of Bookstores"
Red Room Author Blog, November 4, 2009

"A Traveler in Mexico: A Rendezvous with Writer Rosemary Sullivan"
Inside Mexico, March 2009

"From Mexico to Miamar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion" Massachusetts Review, December 2006. Now available as an audio CD. Washington Independent Writers Award for Personal Essay, 2007

"The Essential Francisco Sosa, or, Picadou's Mexico City"
Creative Nonfiction, Mexican Voices issue, ed. Ilán Stavans, Summer, 2004. Included in the anthology Hurricanes and Carnivals: Essays by Chicano, Pochos, Pachucos, Mexicanos and Expatriates, ed. Lee Gutkind, (University of Arizona Press, 2007). Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Personal Comment, First Place (Gold), 2005. Washington Independent Writers Award for Personal Essay, 2005

"Only Pearls: A Brief History of Pearl Fishing in Baja California"
Planeta.com winter 2003. Excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007).

"Hell, I Knew It was Paradise"
The Mexico File, Dec/ Jan 2002-2003.An excerpt from a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

The Visitors / Los Visitantes
Traducción por Bertha Ruiz de la Concha (Tameme, 2002) A bilingual version (English / Spanish side-to-side) of a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

"Lay Thine Hand Upon Him"
Massachusetts Review, Fall 2002. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007). Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Environmental Tourism, Third Place (Bronze), November 2003

"El Halloween and the Día de Muertos"
North American Review, Fall 2002. An excerpt of a slightly dfferent version of a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007). Included in the anthology Writing the World: On Globalization, eds. David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor, (MIT Press, 2005)

"Oceans of Tears"
Planeta.com, Fall 2002. Excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007).

"A Touch of Evil"
Fourth Genre, Spring 2002. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007) Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Cultural Journalism, First Place (Gold), November 2003

"In the Land of the Clouds"
Southwest Review, vol. 87. No.1, 2002. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

"Into the Sierra de San Francisco"
Brevity, Winter 2002. An excerpt from a chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

"Bay of Angels"
Southwest Review, Winter 2000. A chapter in Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

"Heady Xalapa: Into the Heart of the Veracruz Coffee Country"
Business Mexico, March 1999

"Underground Art in Lower California"
Wall Street Journal, March 5, 1998. Finalist, Texas Institute of Letters' Stanley Walker Award for Best Work of Journalism in a Daily Newspaper, 1998

"Old California, Missions and Murals"
Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1997



Other Articles (Mostly on Writing)

"Guest-Blogging:
A Flourishing New Literary Genre and a Powerful Tool for Promotion (Plus 10 Tips for Coming Up with Your Own Guest-Blog Posts"
First Person Plural, the blog of the Writer's Center, May 5, 2010

"Translator's Toolkit:
One Dozen Tools for Organizing a Translation-in-Progress"
Two Words: The Blog of the Center for the Art of Translation, September 9, 2009

"Twitter Is"
Literal: Latin American Voices / Voces Latinoamericanas: The social network. Digital utopia / Las redes sociales. Utopía digital. Summer 2009.

"Twelve Tips to Help You Hang in There and Finish Your Novel"
Work-in-Progress blog, April 23, 2009 and First Person Plural, May 13, 2009

"Literary Travel Writing"
The Writer's Carousel, winter/ spring 2009

"Writers' Blogs:
What Works (& What Doesn't)"
ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 25, 2009
Link temporarily down

"One Dozen Books for the Novelist's Bookshelf"
ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 11, 2009
Link temporarily down

"Ten Tools for Organizing the Novel-in-Progress"
ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 18, 2009

"Use an Egg-timer if You Must:
The Five Minute Cure for Writer's Block"
ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 4, 2009
Link temporarily down

"Break the Block in Five Minutes"
A Writing Life, November 5, 2009

"On Publishing the Literary Short Story:
Some Advice & Reflections"
Part-Times, (the newsletter of the Johns Hopkins University Part-Time M.A. in Writing Program) 2001; also published in The Writer, winter 2003 and in the American Translators Association Chronicle, winter, 2003

Book Reviews
add on-line Madam Mayo material.

The Prison Angel by Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, Wilson Quarterly, winter 2006

Octavio Paz: A Meditation by Ilan Stavans, Hyde Park Review of Books, Spring 2002

True Tales From Another Mexico by Sam Quinones, Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2001

Life in Mexico by Frances Calderón de la Barca, Tin House, Fall 2000

God and Mr. Gómez by Jack Smith, Journal of the West, October 1998

Short Stories

"Darling of Rosedale"
Potomac Review, Fall 2008 (first chapter of the novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, Unbridled Books, 2009)

"UFO, 1990"
Gargoyle, Summer 2005

"The Building of Quality"
Kenyon Review, Summer 2004

"From the Torre Latino"
Dinty W. Moore, ed., Sudden Stories: A Mammoth Anthology of Minuscule Fiction (Mammoth Books) 2003

"Manta Ray"
Richard Peabody, ed., Grace & Gravity: Fiction by Washington Women (Paycock Press, 2004). Originally published in Natural Bridge,Spring, 2002

"Revillagigedo"
Turnrow, Spring, 2002

"What Happened to Thelma,
Chelsea, Special issue on Vices, Summer 2001. Literal, Winter/Spring 2005

"Close to San Miguel"
Witness, Fall 1999 ("Love in America" issue) and Thema, Fall 1999 ("On the Road to the Villa" issue)

"Cabo"
Northwest Review, summer 1997 ("The Traveler's Shoes" issue)

"The Jaguarundi"
in Listening to the Voices: Stories from the Flannery O'Connor Award, edited by Charles East (University of Georgia Press, 1998). A story in Sky Over El Nido (U Georgia Press, 1995)

"Chabela del Río..."
Paris Review, Summer 1995. A story in Sky Over El Nido (U Georgia Press, 1995)

"The Wedding"
Southwest Review, Summer 1995. A story in Sky Over El Nido (U Georgia Press, 1995)

"Hippopotamus"
The Quarterly, No. 23, Fall 1992



Poetry (by literary journal, alphabetical order)

Beltway: "Jade" "Bank" "NAFTA" "In the New Territories" "The Sea is Cortés", 2004
Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center, Washington DC,
Selected artist, "Our Voices, Our Images" Exhibition, part of the Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, for two poems ("The Sea is Cortez" and "NAFTA"), September 2003

BorderSenses: "Man High" Spring 2004
Washington Independent Writers Award for Best Poem, 2005

Exquisite Corpse: "The Egg," and "Nuts," 61, Winter 1997

Gargoyle: "UFO, 1990" 2005

Good Foot: "Good"; "& Bad," issue #3, 2003

The Green Tricycle: "In the New Territories," Fall 2002

Lyric: "Rich & Poor"; "Clean & Dirty", Winter/Spring 2003

Natural Bridge: "Up in Michigan," Winter 2000

Permafrost: "From the Torre Latino" #22, Spring 2001

Rio Grande Review: "Mango," Summer 1997; "Nafta," Summer 1996

Saint Ann's Review: "Este País", "Two Phone Calls in the Same Day"

West Branch: "Little Bears," Fall 2000

Witness: "Bank"; "Jade"; and "Cat," Winter 2001; "Zapata" Fall 2003

Poetry included in Anthologies

"People Who Pat Me by Picadou"
Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative Writing, edited by Karen Benke (Trumpeter, 2010), includes C.M. Mayo's advice to writers and the poem "People Who Pat Me, by Picadou"

"Meteor" in Andrei Codrescu, and Laura Rosenthal, eds., American Poets Say Goodbye to the Twentieth Century (Four Walls Eight Windows Press, 1996); and also in Virgil Suárez and Ryan Van Cleave, eds., Red, White & Blues, (University of Iowa Press, 2003).

"Man High" in Robert L. Giron, ed.. Poetic Voices without Borders 2 (Gival Press, 2009).

"Right & Wrong" in John B. Lee, ed., Body Language: A Head-to-Toe Anthology (Black Moss Press, Windsor, Canada, 2003)

"In the Garden of Lope de Vega" in Robert L. Giron, ed., Poetic Voices Without Borders (Gival Press, 2005)

Translations

Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press, 2006)
A portrait of Mexico in a collection of contemporary Mexican fiction and literary prose. Includes works by Carlos Fuentes, Angeles Mastretta, Rosario Castellanos, Fernando del Paso, Carlos Monsivais, and many others.

(All contemporary Mexican literature, from Spanish to English, unless noted)

— Araceli Ardón
"It Is Nothing of Mine" (short story) in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion, (Whereabouts Press 2006)

— Luis Alberto Ambroggio (Argentine-American)
Difficult Beauty (Selected Poems 1987-2006), by Luis Alberto Ambroggio, edited by Yvette Neisser Moreno (Cross-Cultural Communications, 2009), contains translations by C.M. Mayo: "Deadlines"; "The Story"; "The Fallen."

— Agustín Cadena
"Lady of the Seas" (short story) Terra Incognita, 2004 and in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press, 2006)
"An Avocado from Michoacán" (short story) (Tameme Chapbook / Cuaderno #1, 2007)

— Álvaro Enrigue
"On the Death of the Author" (short story) in Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction, edited by Álvaro Uribe and Olivia Sears, (Dalkey Archive, 2009)

—Fernando del Paso
"The Emperor in Miravalle" excerpt from a chapter in the novel Noticias del Imperio, in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press, 2006)

—Antonio Deltoro
Poems: "Cats"; "Kites," in Noise of Dreams/Ruido de Sueños, Ediciones El Tucán de Virginia, 1994; "The Plaza,"The Tree Is Older Than You Are, poetry and short stories from Mexico, Naomi Shihab Nye, editor, (Simon & Schuster, 1995)

—Eduardo Hurtado
Poems: "The Moth"; "Balloon,"Noise of Dreams/Ruido de Sueños, Ediciones El Tucán de Virginia, 1994; "The Fly"; "Balloon," The Tree Is Older Than You Are, poetry and short stories from Mexico, Naomi Shihab Nye, editor, (Simon & Schuster, 1995)

—Mónica Lavín
"Day and Night" (short story) in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press 2006); also in New World / New Words: Recent Writing from the Americas— a Bilingual Anthology, ed. Thomas Christensen with a forward by Gregory Rabassa (Two Lines, 2008)

—Guadalupe Loaeza
"Oh Polanco!" (Literary prose) in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press 2006)

—Tedi López Mills
Poems: "Advertisement"; "Letter"; "On Reading Virgil," Reversible Monuments, Mónica De la Torre and Michael Wiegers, eds, (Copper Canyon Press, 2002)
"Island," Tameme, issue #1, 1999; "You Appear Dead to My Eyes," Noise of Dreams/Ruido de Sueños (Ediciones El Tucán de Virginia, 1994)

—Myriam Moscona
Poems: "Among the Olive Branches..." Noise of Dreams/Ruido de Sueños (Ediciones El Tucán de Virginia, 1994)

—Marianne Toussaint
Poem: "Morocco,"Tameme, issue #1, 1999

—Verónica Volkow
Poem: "In the Valley of Zapata"; "Veracruz," Noise of Dreams/Ruido de Sueños (Ediciones El Tucán de Virginia, 1994)

—Juan Villoro
"1975"(short story), Tameme, issue #3, 2003 (and with the title "One-Way Street") in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Wherabouts Press, 2006)



Roundabouts

Through narrative...

Why attend a bookstore reading?


Other Publications (as Catherine Mansell Carstens)

Las finanzas populares en México (Editorial Milenio, ITAM, CEMLA, 1995)
The result of pathbreaking research into how low-income Mexicans use credit, savings and payments services this book has been widely influential in Mexican microfinance policy circles. Still in print.

Las nuevas finanzas en México (Editorial Milenio, ITAM, IMEF, 1992)
A textbook on international finance. Widely utilized in both undergraduiate and graduate business and economics programs in Mexico. At one point a best-seller in Mexico, this book is Still in print.

Numerous reviews and articles on Mexican finance 1988-1996 in:

El Inversionista, Business Mexico, Ejecutivos de Finanzas, El Trimestre Económico, El Financiero, Hemisfile, Comercio Exterior, Mexico Journal, and many others.

AWARDS (As C.M. Mayo)

Fellowships to Writers Conferences

Fellow, Wesleyan Writers Conference, Middletown Connecticut, July 2000

Fellow in both fiction and nonfiction (Faculty member: Chris Offutt)

Fellow, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury College, Vermont, August 1996. Fellow in fiction (Faculty member: Thomas Mallon)

Walter E. Dakin Fellow, Sewanee Writers' Conference, University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, July 1996. Fellow in fiction (Faculty members: Francine Prose and Mary Morris)

Residencies

Dobie Paisano Fellowship from the Texas Institute of Letters and the University of Texas at Austin, March - August 2000 (declined)

McDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, November 1995; June 1993

Ragdale Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, for January 2004

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia, January 2002; March 2001; March 2003; January 2005; September 2009

Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York, August 1998; July 1995

Other Awards

Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Personal Comment (for "The Essential Francisco Sosa or, Picadou's Mexico City" in Creative Nonfiction), First Place (Gold), 2005

Washington Independent Writers Award for Personal Essay, 2007 (For "From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion" in Massachusetts Review)

Washington Independent Writers Award for Personal Essay, 2005 (For "The Essential Francisco Sosa or, Picadou's Mexico City" in Creative Nonfiction)

Washington Independent Writers Award for Poem, 2005 (For "Man High" in BorderSenses)

Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Cultural Journalism (for "A Touch of Evil" on Tijuana, in Fourth Genre) First Place (Gold), November 2003

Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Environmental Tourism (for "Lay Thine Hand Upon Him" on whale watching, in The Massachusetts Review) Third Place (Bronze), November 2003

Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center, Washington DC,
Selected artist, "Our Voices, Our Images" Exhibition, part of the Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, for two poems ("The Sea is Cortez" and "NAFTA"), September 2003

Joaquin Miller Cabin Poetry Reading Series, Washington DC
Selected reader, June 2002

Texas Institute of Letters, Finalist (one of two) for the Stanley Walker Award for Best Work of Journalism in a Daily Newspaper (for "Underground Art in Lower California, Wall Street Journal, March 5, 1998)

Flannery O'Connor Award, The University of Georgia Press, 1994 (for publication of Sky Over El Nido, 1995)

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