Readings from Luis Alberto Urrea

Authors

Luis A. Urrea, Mexican-American Writer

Document Type

Lecture

Publication Date

11-2-2013

Publisher

Black Mountain Institute

Abstract

Mexican-American writer Luis Alberto Urrea will deliver the 2013 Vegas Valley Book Festival keynote address, sponsored by the Black Mountain Institute, on Saturday, November 2, at 5:00 p.m. at the Historic Fifth Street School in Downtown Las Vegas. The address will be followed by a discussion moderated by BMI Executive Director and UNLV President Emerita Carol C. Harter. Urrea, who was born in Tijuana and grew up in southern California, has spent much of his career documenting the life of “the border” through fourteen books in a range of genres. His 2004 nonfiction account of immigrants lost in the desert, The Devil’s Highway, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. After a twenty-year investigation into the life of his great aunt, a folk hero known as “the Mexican Joan of Arc,” Urrea published linked historical novels, The Hummingbird’s Daughter and Queen of America, to widespread critical and popular acclaim. Publishers Weekly calls Urrea’s fiction "a rich mix of Wild West and magic realism," and Chicago Tribune hailed The Devil's Highway as " of the great surrealistic tragedies of the global age." Luis Urrea has received the American Book Award, the Lannan Literary Award, and the Southwest Book Award. In 2000, he was voted into the Latino Literature Hall of Fame.

Keywords

American literature; Mexican American authors; Mexican-American Border Region; Urrea; Luis Alberto

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Creative Writing | Fiction

Language

English

Comments

Fifth Street School, Las Vegas

Video File size: 471 megabytes

Audio file size: 34.5 megabytes

Repository Citation

Urrea, L. A. (2013). Readings from Luis Alberto Urrea.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/blackmountain_lectures_events/141