Host Daniel Chacón talks with poet and translator Francisco Aragón about Handbook of Foams, the first full English translation of Gerardo Diego’s 1922 avant-garde classic. Diego belonged to Spain’s Generation of ‘27 alongside Lorca and shared the 1979 Cervantes Prize with Borges. Aragón discusses the book’s music, Diego’s friendship with Juan Gris, and the decades-long journey from a master’s thesis in Madrid to publication. He reads several poems, alternating between Spanish and English.

In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón talks with Luisana Duarte Armendáriz, author of the middle-grade mystery novels Julieta and the Diamond Enigma and Julieta and the Cryptic Rose. Julieta is a curious, art-obsessed young detective whose parents work in the art world, which gives her access to the hidden corners of the Louvre in Paris and to Diego Rivera’s murals in Guanajuato, Mexico. Duarte Armendáriz describes how Julieta took shape from Amelia Bedelia, Ramona Quimby, and Flavia de Luce, and how a character who wouldn’t leave her alone grew into a series. She also explains why she chose Diego over Frida, how she wrote Paris so vividly without ever visiting, and where Julieta might go next, from Boston to Spain’s great museums. The conversation opens with a question from Chacón’s seven-year-old daughter, Lucinda, who is reading the books alongside her dad.

Host Will Rose speaks with historian and author Liza Black about her new book, How Settlers Get Away with Murder. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation and an associate professor at Indiana University, Black examines violence against Native people and the institutions that fail their families. Drawing on archival research and oral histories, she traces what she describes as a second wave of violence: the coverups, missing records, and official obstruction that can follow a killing or disappearance.

Their conversation explores how laws have undermined tribal authority, how courthouses became instruments of land theft, and why Black challenges true crime’s reliance on police accounts. She also reflects on the frustrations of researching records controlled by the institutions she is investigating—and what those barriers mean for families seeking answers. Throughout, Black discusses her commitment to writing history that centers Native voices and takes families’ knowledge seriously.