David Bowles

@davidbowles

Writer. Translator. Nahuatlahtoh. Chicano. He/él/yehhua. Pan [💖💛💙]. Representation: Full Circle Literary. Associate Professor at UTRGV. Ca notoca Tlahzotic Mazacnihuitl.

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David Bowles@davidbowles· 27d

I love the graphic they made: "At its core, THE MATRON is a feminist story. It's about no longer letting society force you into a life you don't want."

LATINX POP MAGAZINE: INTERVIEW
Inside THE MATRON: David Bowles on horror, craft, and the art of building worlds.

"At its core, THE MATRON is a feminist story. It's about no longer letting society force you into a life you don't want." —David Bowles

David Bowles@davidbowles· 27d

MIDSOMMAR.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jul 9

If you're going to be at #SDCC in a couple of weeks, join Drew Edwards & me for a great panel with the team at @ipicomics.bsky.social, discussing many amazing projects, including our Texas slasher comic THE MATRON and other great projects. #mexican #czech #texan #czexan #supernatural #horror

Come meet the Matron. Australian Comic Creators Collaborating with the World. Featuring Drew Edwards & David Bowles, co-creators of THE MATRON comic series. 4-5 PM Friday July 24. Room: Grand 10 & 11. Marriott Marquis San Diego. San Diego COMICCON International.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jul 8

I talked to Mitch McConnell for exactly 90 seconds, though he's desperately looking for someone to hold his hand longer ...

A blurry Mitch McConnell is smirking in the darkness behind the hand from the movie TALK TO ME.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jul 5

But if I had to choose something uniquely Indigenous about entryways in North America, it would be the T-doors one finds in some Southwestern and Mesoamerican ruins, marking rooms that are lived in (rather than storage rooms whose rectangular entrances can be sealed with wood or stone).

A t-door or entrance in a stone building that has a narrow space at the bottom which then expands out 1/3 of the way up to double its size (in a sort of "t" shape).

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jul 4

Here's a quick peek at my "Glossary of Toltec Wuxia Terms," one of the world-building documents in which I sketch out the important concepts, places, groups, creatures, objects, etc. that will recur in the cycle of stories. 8/

Ihiyol—[teihiyo] the living spirit that animates the flesh and undergirds spoken spells; the subtle breath that may linger after death as a ghost, revenant, or possessing entity.
Masaliohwi—Path of the Deer. A term for a sub-society parallel to, and sometimes orthogonal to, mainstream society. Mages, vigilantes, bandits, refiners of tonalteyo, etc. are all living on the Path of the Deer, according to the Imperial Legal Code. This society exists in liminal spaces collectively known as Makispan.
Momaihmatilisli—martial arts (as practiced in Makispan, separate from yaotilisli, warfare)
Nawatlahtol—the language of the Toltekame, lingua franca of Anawak.
Teyochipawalisli—the art of refining the tonalteyo found in sunlight and living things so that one can channel it into one’s own triple souls (specifically the tonalli) and then through one’s teyokokohli (channels of divine energy), allowing one to perform feats of magic and skill (primarily shapeshifting).
Teyokokohli—metaphysical conduits spreading in a network that overlaps with the physical body, connected to the three souls. For most humans, these meridians are dormant and empty, but some are born with a stronger tonalli that bleeds into them. They can be filled through the refining and channeling of tonalteyo … or yowalteyo,
Toltekayol—the Toltec Way. Life lived by the laws and religious precepts of the Empire.
Tonalli—[tetonal] the soul, shaped from tonalteyo beginning at birth, that ties a human to a fate in the natural world; connected to one’s day sign; can be bolstered and enhanced to allow one to shapeshift or wield tonalteyo in other powerful ways.
Tonalteyo—divine energy (poured down in sunlight and retained by living things to varying degrees)
Yaotilisli—warfare using conventional weapons and skills under the auspices of a city-state
Yoliwani—[teyolia] the eternal, undying spiritual core of every sapient being
Yowalteyo—shadow or chaos energy (generated by death and destruction or darkness)

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 25

OMG, in the midst of all the chaos of my life in 2025, I completely slept on a Thai BL series that I'd actually been waiting for: THE NEXT PRINCE! Kenneth [Khanin] discovers he is the secret crown prince of Emmaly. Royal bodyguard Charan takes him to compete for the throne. Romance ensues. 14/

A young Thai prince with his hair dyed reddish-blond, wearing a frilly beige shirt, is in the arms of a dark-haired royal bodyguard wearing a tuxedo.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 21

Father's Day is always complicated for me. I love being a father and a grandfather. But my own father, pictured here around the time of my birth, abandoned his wife and sons when I was 16 (in 1986) and never again spoke to me. He died in Oregon in 2020, thirty-four years later. 1/

A sepia photo of my father, David Oscar Bowles (Garza), at the age of 20. He is a Latino man with brown skin, dark brown eyes, and curly black hair cut short and parted to the side. He is wearing a tan suit and tie.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 21

If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula.

Image of a jiangshi (hopping vampire) from the film MR. VAMPIRE. Character has pale, blue-cast skin and sharp fangs, but is dressed in period Chinese clothes.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 19

I mean, THE MATRON also has lesbians and cannibalism, but the two series are still not dominating a fifth of the marketplace.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 18

My latest comic miniseries, co-written with Drew Edwards and illustrated by @monicacomics.bsky.social, has the titular ax-wielding cannibal slasher facing off against a lesbian couple (Samantha Maldonado and Roz Krenek) and an aging bisexual profiler (Ezekiel Gavin). 6/ thematron.us

An image of killer the Matron facing off against a young Latina and a blonde woman. The image reads THE MATRON: TFW YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S GRANDMOTHER TURNS OUT TO BE A CANNIBAL SLASHER.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 18

Today, in honor of the #Mexico vs. South #Korea match, here's a special edition of my Hanmegsiko Slang project that mashes up Mexican Spanish and the vernacular of South Korea.

Hanmegsiko Slang: Smashing Korean and Mexican Spanish Together.

In Korean, 오심 (osim) is what soccer fans shout at referees when they make bad calls. It means “misjudgment.”

Mexican fans shout “ratero” (a crude word for thief or pickpocket) to indicate that they feel the referee is stealing from their team.

So to show our solidarity against bad calls even in a friendly match between Mexico and South Korea, we could yell
오심, 라테로야! or “osim, rateroya!”

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 17

I've begun reading the [eight-volume, 200+ chapter] danmei [BL/gay] series [originally web novel] LEGEND OF EXORCISM, in which a half-yao [demon] young man ironically joins an elite group of exorcists. It's pretty great so far! sevenseasentertainment.com/series/legen... 11/

Text reads: "From bestselling author Arise Zhang, also known as Fei Tian Ye Xiang—LEGENG OF EXORCISM: TIANBAO FUYAO LU #1"

Image shows an auburn-haired young man with an orange-red vest staring into the eyes of a dark-hair man wearing a green silk uniform. Between them, some metal object with feathers attached appears to spin magically.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 16

Six years ago, I started a long Twitter thread in which I mashed up Korean and Mexican Spanish words to create "Hanmegsiko Slang," some of which made its way into my book THEY CALL HER FREGONA. The other day another possibility popped into my head, and I had to restart this tradition! 1/

HANMEGSIKO SLANG: Smashing Koreand and Mexican Spanish Together. In Korean, 어라 (eora) is an interjection used to express slight surprise, realization, or confusion, like “huh?”, “oh?”, or “wow!”

In Mexican Spanish, “ora” is a sort of ironic shortening of the affirmative exclamation “órale,” used to express .. slight surprise or disbelief.

No mashing needed, unless we want
to create an extension of 어라 that works more like órale:
어라레 or eorare

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 13

If you're in the RGV, join me at 2pm today at @vellichorbooksandmore for a #pridemonth conversation about gender identity and orientation in pre-Spanish Invasion #Nahua culture (the #Aztec Empire and neighboring nations).

David Bowles is an award-winning author and translator of forty books for children and teens, among them THEY CALL ME GÜERO, MY TWO BORDER TOWNS, and THE SEA-RINGED WORLD. June 13, 2 pm to 3:30 pm 101 E. Tom Landry, Mission, TX. Speaker series. David Bowles presents AZTEC PRIDE: INDIGENOUS LGBTQ+ IDENTITIES IN PRE-SPANISH INVASION MEXICO.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 4

Check out the full interview with me on the @texasbookfest.bsky.social website! texasbookfestival.org/announcing-t...

Read the full interview! https://texasbookfestival.org/announcing-the-2026-texas-writer-awardee/

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 3

I am humbled & honored to be this year's recipient of the Texas Writer Award, presented "to an esteemed writer in recognition of outstanding contributions to Texas literature." Teenage me, living in housing & seeking refuge in libraries, never dreamed he'd be a conduit for his community's voice.

A photo of light-coplexioned Chicano author David Bowles, with a mesquite tree blurred in the background. Caption reads: DAVID BOWLES, 2026 Texas Writer Awardee

Orange quote slide. Header reads: Texas Book Festival. "I grew up in a Mexican American family shaped by both sides of the border, with relatives, stories, foodways, language, and memory flowing back and forth across the Río Grande. That transnational experience formed my sense of the world long before I had the vocabulary to describe it." David Bowles, 2026 Texas Writer Awardee

Orange quote slide. Header reads: Texas Book Festival. "My students have pushed me to create work that opens doors, not just for readers but for future storytellers. And I will stand at that gate, my foot jammed in to stop it from closing, until I am dragged forcibly away." David Bowles, 2026 Texas Writer Awardee

Orange quote slide. Header reads: Texas Book Festival. "Our state is so large and so varied that no single literary tradition can contain it. The festival makes room for that multiplicity." David Bowles, 2026 Texas Writer Awardee

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 3

I'm loving KHEMJIRA, a BL (gay) Thai supernatural romance about a young man destined to die, like all the men of his cursed maternal line, on his 21st birthday (hence his being given a "girl's" name). When ghosts begin to attack, he seeks the help of shaman Pharan. The two begin to fall in love. 5/

A poster for the series KHEMJIRA showing a handsome man in his late 20s clutching a cute man in his early 20s against him protectively, his right hand on the back of the younger man's head, as he stares at something approaching off-screen.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 2

This election season, a new candidate has tossed her ha— her MASK into the ring. Her platform is pretty straightforward. T-shirts, stickers and buttons forthcoming through our Kickstarter (and beyond).

A political poster reads "In Texas November 2026, Vote the Matron for governor. Eat the rich." In the middle is an image of the woman ax murderer and cannibal from THE MATRON comic series, wearing a red-streaked white mask, a hooded burgundy cloak, and a bearded ax. She's standing in front of the Texas flag.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Jun 1

First up is CLAIREBELL, a Thai GL [lesbian] series about two wrongly convicted women who find support, pleasure, and love in each other during their stay in prison. The acting and filmography are great, and the script had the balance of bitter and sweet that I need. 2/

A poster for the series ClaireBell that features two Thai women wearing green prison garb in a cell, one with long dark hair lying on the top bunk reaching down to give the other, with lighter hair and sitting on the bottom bunk, a red rose.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 14

Count Karol de Lavud.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 13

Re: criticism of Mac Barnett. When a large number of kid lit authors, mostly from underrepresented demographics, attempts to hold the National Ambassador for Children’s Literature accountable, getting indignant and scholding us for being negative is absolutely NOT the right move.

In the last few days, I've watched several writers and librarians push back against criticism of Mac Barnett.

When a large number of kid lit authors, mostly from underrepresented demographics, attempts to hold the National Ambassador for Children’s Literature accountable, getting indignant and scholding us for being negative is absolutely NOT the right move.

Given the present racist autocratic move to make the US an [overtly] white christofascist apartheid terror state, it's shameful to see writers of the tone-policing respectability faction defend his honor as if he were some saint under attack by ... brown barbarians.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 7

To the conservative administrators and librarian at PS 55, known as the Henry Boehm School, my book was "crud" because of its portrayal of asylum seekers as human beings deserving of help and dignity. Barnett thinks it's crud because it's too "didactic," not the whizz-bang fun [white] kids want.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 7

Is there crud published each year, directed at kids? Undoubtedly. But most books are earnest attempts by writers & illustrators to make something beautiful & meaningful, to value lives & traditions otherwise erased, to teach children life lessons, or to keep them entertained. ALL VALID REASONS. 4/

Is there crud being published each year, directed at kids? Undoubtedly. But the vast majority of books are earnest attempts by writers and illustrators to make something beautiful and meaningful, to value lives and traditions that are otherwise erased, to teach children important life lessons, or to simply keep them entertained with goofy fun. Let's not dismiss ANY OF THOSE REASONS for being a writer / illustrator of kid lit.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 7

Also, children's books are LITERATURE, emerging not from reader interest, but from the creative impulse of the writers & illustrators. Like all art, literature, & music that is created with great skill & deep knowledge of craft, some kid lit requires refinement of taste to be appreciated. 3/

In addition, children's books are LITERATURE. They don't just exist because of the interest of the readers, but because of the creative impulse of the writers and illustrators. And like all art and literature and music that is created with great skill and deep knowledge of craft, some kid lit requires refinement of taste rather than just the natural impulses and interest of children to be appreciated.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 7

For kids from oppressed communities, they can be reminders of roots & identities that are erased from the public sphere. Amazing scholars like Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop have shown how transformative it is to have a BIPOC / LQGBTQ+ / disabled child's identity & community foregrounded in a book. 2/

For kids belonging to historically oppressed communities, they can be reminders of roots and identities that are otherwise erased from the public sphere (including books by white dudes). Amazing scholars like Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop (not a white dude) have shown with decades of research how transformative it is to have a BIPOC or LQGBTQ+ or disabled child's identity and community foregrounded in a book.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 7

Mac Barnett is a straight white dude author working with white dude illustrators to produce breezy, kid-friendly & topically safe books. Of course he scolds kid lit creators for producing books kids don't go ga-ga for. Imbedded in privilege, he can't see picture books as more than entertainment. 1/

Of course it's a straight white dude author who works with white dude illustrators to produce breezy, hilarious, kid-friendly and topically safe picture books who is scolding the kid lit community for producing books that kids won't go ga-ga for immediately. Deeply imbedded in privilege, he fails to see the role of picture books as more than mere entertainment.

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 6

Mac Barnett is poised to do for children's literature as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature what RFK Jr. has done for health care as Secretary of Health and Human Services. To suggest that 94.7% of children’s books are “crud” is dereliction of his duties as an advocate for kid lit.

Marc Barnett appears poised to do for children's literature in his role as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature what RFK Jr. has done for health care in his role as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

In a time when books by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors are under attack and book bans are the norm across the nation, to inanely suggest that 94.7% of children’s books are “crud” is dereliction of his duties as an advocate for authentic kid lit.

A shameful dismissal of the literary dignity of his fellow writers, (that completely undermines any of the actual insights he shares in the book from which his crud comment comes, MAKE BELIEVE).

David Bowles@davidbowles· May 3

DARK NUNS (2025)

A poster for the Korean horror film DARK NUNS featuring the heads of two Korean nuns and a burning building.

David Bowles@davidbowles· Apr 30

Here's the rest of the poem, btw. It was first published in the anthology IMANIMAN: POETS WRITING IN THE ANZALDÚAN BORDERLANDS, edited by ire'ne lara silva and published by Aunt Lute in 2016. Then it appeared in my 2024 poetry collection LIMINAL (Lamar University Press). 14/