Meet Adrian Gaston Garcia, AGG, the Queer Latine Storyteller Uplifting Our Community
Meet? You probably already know the Latine storyteller Adrian Garcia Gaston, aka AGG (the artist uses any pronouns, he/they/she, just be respectful) because he is a force in the DMV area. His personal motto is, “No me gusta el chisme, pero la verdad, sí me encanta.”
Originally from Chicago, AGG’s mission is to create and share narratives that build community. AGG has been in the district for the past 13 years and his poetry has been featured at a variety of venues and shows, including the 2023 District of Pride showcase hosted by the DC Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ affairs, BloomBars DC, Busboys and Poets, the DC Latino Book Festival, DC Pride Poems, DiVerse Gaithersburg, Homo Stanzas, The Nail Salon, Our Space Experience, and the World Poetry Festival.
When I met Adrian last year, we connected through our love for books and literature. We started seeing each other at bookish events and eventually hung out like we had been friends forever. His compassionate soul is warm and funny and makes people gravitate around him. Adrian is a community builder and fights to create an inclusive place for all of us.
AGG comes from a family of cuentistas. “Stories were the main way my family communicated — from chistes, to chismes and dichos — I was brought up to be a storyteller. I feel that this is the best way I can honor my ancestors by making sure our stories continue to be shared,” he says.
The artist fuels his creativity through the performing arts, specifically theater, improve, and spoken word poetry. “My work is largely based on my experiences and the intersectionality of my identities,” he says. “It experiences the world through a queer Mexican American lens. It voices our complicated relationship with our past, family, and understanding of love. It explores themes that are often difficult to talk about. Using humor, authenticity, and vulnerability, I process real-life issues and create dialogue to understand better the human impact of racism, homophobia, domestic violence, and alcohol use disorder.”
Although his work travels between real life and imagination, he is intentional about not building community solely through trauma bonding. He reclaims narratives that empower him as a storyteller through the retelling of past events, anecdotes, proverbs, and points of view—he reimagines what life could have been or could be.
AGG shared more about his book club, passions, podcasts, writing style, books, and life during his interview. He also participated in Story District’s 2023 LGBTQ+ Pride special: Out/Spoken, a celebration highlighting queer voices and stories. You can catch him performing with the Washington Improv Theater’s Harold Program: Goth Baby, Out / Loud, and Latinx States of America.
Be sure to follow him and Los Bookis Podcast on social media to stay current on all their travesuras:
https://linktr.ee/adriangaston.garcia
- Instagram: @AdrianGaston.Garcia
- TikTok: @AdrianGaston.Garcia
https://linktr.ee/losbookispodcast
- Instagram: @LosBookisPodcast
- TikTok: @LosBookisPodcast
Ofe: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. I love your storytelling and poetry. I fell in love with your words at a spoken word event last year. To start, please tell us more about yourself and your journey as an artist.
AGG: I began writing poetry when I was in middle school. One of my favorite memories was winning a state competition in the fourth grade and getting my poem published. The poem was about a unicorn, and it rhymed, which I thought was super cool at the time. I enjoyed my creative writing classes, and classmates looked forward to hearing my stories because they were often featured as the characters, which definitely earned me some popularity points.
Later, in high school and college, I got more into spoken word, which, to me, at that time, was the most provocative form of storytelling and poetry. Mind you, this was in the early 2000s when Def Poetry Jam was at its peak. There were poets openly opposing the war, misogyny, racism, unfair immigration systems, etc. This was the first time that I saw the connection between art and activism. I was always passionate about social justice and stories, and poetry became an outlet for me to express myself.
I took a break from writing when my political career picked up. I did not make the time to write and was consumed with the hustle and flow of DC. It was not until a breakup that I came back to poetry (trust me, I cringed when I wrote this, but it is the truth).
Tell us more about your literary journey. How did your love for books come to be?
I always loved reading as a kid and some of my favorite book series that kicked off my journey included The Boxcar Children, A Wrinkle in Time, Animorphs, and Harry Potter. Then in high-school I really got into the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.
But the very first book that spoke to my experience was The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I absolutely loved it. Not only did it feature a Mexican-American family, but it also took place in Chicago. I was gagged! Sadly, it would not be until years later that I would pick up more books by Latine authors, including Isabelle Allende, Gabriel García Márquez, Junot Díaz (before the controversy), Eduardo Galleano, and Julia Alvarez.
Then when my sexual awakening hit (aka when I started to embrace my queer identity — which definitely happened later in life) — I started craving books that highlighted the intersections of my identities. That very first book was Justin Torres’ We the Animals. This book will always hold a special place in my heart because not only could I relate to the content (queer, Latine, poor), but the writing was so poetic and beautiful. This opened the door for me to look for more literature by queer Latine authors, including Edgar Gomez, JP Brammer, and Gabby Rivera.
You are a fantastic poet. How would you describe your writing style?
I like to describe my style as Latin night at the queer bar. I strive to make my work feel like a shout-out to all the queer brown boys who are still recovering from my past traumas and who choose joy as their form of resistance. It is a love letter to my younger self who taught present-day me to embrace the magic of my femininity and celebrate the power of my softness through stories.
I love to mix in some camp, all the emotions, and a ton of images. It is sensory overload because I want to bring my readers with me so they can witness both my memories and imagination.
What do you wish you’d known as a beginning writer?
Not to overthink and just write. Do not let perfection be the enemy of the good. Edit but do not over edit for a poem can have different life phases and will often change and grow.
And to be honest, I am still struggling with imposter syndrome since I am a self-taught poet. I do not have any “formal traditional education”, but I love writing and have been doing it for years. I am still getting over that complex and welcome any advice.
What does your literary community mean to you?
My writing amigues are the coolest peeps ever. I belong to a few groups, but one of my faves is the DMV Latine Writers Group (we are still working on a better name). It is made of writers representing the DMV, across all genres: poetry, fiction, short stories, screenplays, etc. We meet monthly to shout out milestones, do quiet writing, read our works in progress, and share feedback. I really appreciate the space we create and how we go from English to Spanish and Spanglish.
Thanks to this group, I feel more like a writer. They cheer me on and help me overcome my imposter syndrome. These are also the homies who are creating opportunities for our stories to be heard. I feel a great sense of pride to be in their company.
Do you have any advice on how to create a community of writers?
Yes! Once again, do not overthink and wait for the “perfect” time. Just start an email chain with folks who share your interests, set a date, book some space at your local library, and actually meet up.
Start with some ground rules. Our basic format is:
15 minutes of chisme and shoutouts
30 minutes of independent writing
45 minutes of sharing our work + getting feedback
15 minutes on upcoming opportunities and round robin on what you want to be held accountable for at the next meeting
People are hungry for community, and many will step up and join if they are just invited.
How did the idea for Los Bookis podcast come to be?
Back in 2018, 9 gay Latinos, from across the U.S. got together in Washington, DC, and established Los Bookis Book Club — a book club where we reviewed, critiqued, and fell in love with some of the best books written by mostly queer, Latine authors. We got so much love and support from the authors we read, as well as readers across the DMV who were interested in joining our book club. One of the rules to a good book club is to not make it too big so we had capped our membership to 10 members.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity to build a larger community, I worked with Sergio Lopez to launch Los Bookis Podcast: a podcast that connects queer Latine bookworms with queer Latine stories written by authors who look and sound like us.
We have been super fortunate to have interviewed some of the baddest queer Latine authors including Justin Torres, Myriam Gurba, Alejandro Varela, Sonora Reyes, etc.
Do you have any advice on how to start a podcast?
Oh boy, I am still learning the ropes, but definitely surround yourself with a team that believes in the mission of what you are trying to accomplish. Also, specificity is key. Our brand is definitely queer + Latine, and we try to stick to those stories. We owe it to our community — both the authors and the bookworms.
I love how you describe your podcast…” interviews with some of the baddest queer Latine storytellers in the game as they dig deep into their literary works and get all the chisme you’ve been dying to know.” Based on that, what is the best literary chisme you have heard that you can share with us?
I mean, there is chisme on the record, but the better chisme is what is off the record (insert devil emoji). There are definitely some real hot takes that our guests have — Richard Blanco hates toes, and also feedback on the publishing world (no surprises there).
But the best moments I really enjoy are when an author goes deep and is not afraid to be vulnerable. There was a moment when interviewing Jaquira Díaz when we all became very emotional and started tearing up because of Jaquira’s resiliency, similar to Myriam Gurba and her courage to write about her life and how she opened the door for others, including myself, to be brave enough and talk about intimate partner violence. And I am so blessed that the universe brought Jessica Parra into my life because her stories about loss and grief and her constant check-in texts are helping me process my father’s passing.
Folks should really listen to the interviews — they are pretty great.
Can you tell us a bit more about your show La Joteria?
In 2022, I collaborated with Gabriel Mata, a local DMV choreographer, to produce Joteria: Our Untold Stories… Inspired by the traditional Mexican bingo game, Joteria brought to life a new set of characters, (re)imagined based on our experiences. Each character told a story that was accompanied by some form of movement, with the purpose of making queer Latine culture seen and heard on stage. These characters helped create dialogue on a wide range of issues, including homophobia, xenophobia, racism, colorism, machismo, domestic violence, and alcohol use disorder.
Check out the following video links to get an initial taste:
Trailer: https://youtu.be/QSQUqKfuYA8
Las Manos: https://youtu.be/Ioaq8XLKx4o
Joteria premiered as a sold-out show at the Atlas Center for Performing Arts 2022 INTERSECTIONS Festival and had six runs at the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival.
Who is your favorite poet(s)?
Elizabeth Acevedo. She just really knows how to pack a poem. You should definitely check out her books and old videos of her performing.
What are you currently reading? Any books that you would like to recommend to us?
A ton! We have two interviews this month, so I am reading The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis and Hot Boy Summer by Joe Jimenez. Both are great reads.
Other recommendations include every author we had on Los Bookis Podcast because then you can listen to the episodes and get a real deep dive:
Book Title and Author
The People Who Report More Stress by Alejandro Varela
Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz
How We Named the Stars by Andrés N. Orodrica
The Quince Project by Jessica Parra
Homeland of My Body: New and Selected Poems by Richard Blanco
This is Why They Hate Us by Aaron Aceves
The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis
Any TV shows/movies that you would like to recommend to us?
I am obsessed with Vida — which you can totally binge on Hulu. It was a show that left no crumbs and did a great job of lifting up queer and Latine representation. I was sad when it was canceled.
My other favorite shows from the past few years include Primo, Gordita Chronicles, and The Horror of Dolores Roach.
What type of music is in your playlist?
I am definitely a huge fan of Spanish pop from the ’90s and early 2000s: think Shakira, Paulina, Thalia, and Fey. I also have a soft spot for Juan Gabriel, whose music always gets me super emotional. His live version of Querida is the best.
What is the latest project you are working on? Or What future projects do you have?
I definitely want to get my work published, and I am working towards that. I am also finishing up a short film that will hopefully go into production later this year.
