Thanks go out to our wonderful 2012 sponsors!
FCBF official booksellers:
The 2012 Fox Cities Reads is underway! Pick up a copy of Make the Impossible Possible by Bill Strickland at your local library and join in community-wide discussions about the book. The author will visit the Fox Cities April 16-18 during the Fox Cities Book Festival.
Author Biography
Luis Alberto Urrea, 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, is a prolific and acclaimed writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph.
Born in Tijuana, Mexico to a Mexican father and an American mother, Urrea has published extensively in all the major genres. The critically acclaimed and best-selling author of 13 books, Urrea has won numerous awards for his poetry, fiction and essays. The Devil's Highway, his 2004 non-fiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize. An historical novel, The Hummingbird's Daughter tells the story of Teresa Urrea, sometimes known as the Saint of Cabora and the Mexican Joan of Arc. The book, which involved 20 years of research and writing, won the Kiriyama Prize in fiction and, along with The Devil's Highway, was named a best book of the year by many publications.
Urrea's most recent novel, Into the Beautiful North, imagines a small town in Mexico where all the men have immigrated to the U.S. A group of young women, after seeing the film The Magnificent Seven, decide to follow the men North and persuade them to return to their beloved village. A national best-seller, Into the Beautiful North, earned a citation of excellence from the American Library Association Rainbow's Project. A short story from Urrea's collection, Six Kinds of Sky, was recently released as a stunning graphic novel by Cinco Puntos Press. Mr.Mendoza's Paintbrush, illustrated by artist Christopher Cardinale, has already garnered rave reviews and serves as a perfect companion to Into the Beautiful North as it depicts the same village in the novel.
Urrea attended the University of California at San Diego, earning an undergraduate degree in writing, and did his graduate studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder. After serving as a relief worker in Tijuana and a film extra and columnist-editor-cartoonist for several publications, Urrea moved to Boston where he taught expository writing and fiction workshops at Harvard. He has also taught at Massachusetts Bay Community College and the University of Colorado and he was the writer in residence at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Urrea lives with his family in Naperville, IL, where he is a professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Additional Information
From Tijuana to Harvard & Beyond: One Writer’s Journey
Born on a dirt street in Tijuana, Luis Alberto Urrea was the first member of his family to graduate from college. Paradoxically, he followed his college career with a long period of service working with the poor in Tijuana's deadliest neighborhoods. In 1982, he left the border to teach writing at Harvard and launched his successful writing career. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Urrea is the author of several books, including bestsellers The Hummingbird's Daughter and The Devil's Highway. In his presentation, Urrea reflects on the parameters and implications of his journey.
Tags: A Conversation with Luis Urrea: Into the Beautiful North
A Conversation with Luis Urrea: The Devil's Highway
From Tijuana to Harvard & Beyond: One Writer’s Journey
Born on a dirt street in Tijuana, Luis Alberto Urrea was the first member of his family to graduate from college. Paradoxically, he followed his college career with a long period of service working with the poor in Tijuana's deadliest neighborhoods. In 1982, he left the border to teach writing at Harvard and launched his successful writing career. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Urrea is the author of several books, including bestsellers The Hummingbird's Daughter and The Devil's Highway. In his presentation, Urrea reflects on the parameters and implications of his journey.
A Conversation with Luis Urrea: The Devil's Highway
A Conversation with Luis Urrea: The Devil's Highway
PLEASE ARRIVE BY 2:45PM FOR THIS PROGRAM.
Here on Earth live broadcast radio show with Jean Feraca and Luis Alberto Urrea
University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley Student Union
Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders from Wisconsin Public Radio will come to the Fox Cities Book Festival on Wednesday April 13th to talk with acclaimed writer Luis Alberto Urrea.
Here on Earth is a live radio talk program with a focus on breakthrough stories, global cultural affairs, and the future. Our host Jean Feraca offers conversations that entertain, inspire, and provide insight to people who are genuinely fascinated by the breadth, difference, and complexity in the world. At the Fox Cities Book Festival, Jean will talk to acclaimed writer Luis Alberto Urrea.
Throughout his life and work, Luis Alberto Urrea has been influenced by the Mexican-American border. The son of an American mother and a Mexican father, he is truly bicultural. He was born in Tijuana but grew up moving back and forth between Tijuana and San Diego. He calls the border his home. He’ll talk with Jean Feraca about the richness of crossing borders in life and literature.
The show will be broadcast with a live audience. Along with the listeners calling in, the audience will be able to ask questions as well. People wanting to attend the live broadcast should be at the location and seated by 2:45pm at the latest.
Jean Feraca and Luis Alberto Urrea will stay on for a book signing after the event.
If you participated in the 2012 Fox Cities Book Festival, we would love to get your feedback. Please take a moment to complete this brief survey. Thank you!
Big thanks go to Atlas Coffee Mill for hosting monthly meetings for the Fox Cities Book Festival Board! We appreciate your support of the Festival and just can't thank you enough for providing a welcoming meeting space for us to plan and dream.