What's New

2008-07-20T22:33:00.001-07:00

On July 12 of this year, a hacker was able to modify several thousand websites, including this one, with a little piece of programming. This malware has been removed from this site. Several of the web pages were modified to point a viewer to another website that would load spyware onto their computer. If you have visited this site between July 12, 2008 and July 15, 2008, please run your anti-virus and spyware detection and removal programs to ensure that your computer has not been compromised.

Thanks for your understanding and support,

The Urrea Technical Team

2007-09-13T06:48:00.001-07:00

OK, so it's only a little embarrassing when the last post on your "News" blog is dated almost a year ago ...But keeping up with Luis is easy with his blog. It's just the business side of things has been ... well, business-y and the real-life stuff has been all-consuming.In the interest of being timely and relevant, however, we offer a few new tidbits:

This month marks the 20th anniversary of Conde Naste Traveler, an excellent magazine. Even more excellently, it is featuring a piece on the top travel books ever as offered by an elite group of authors. We could point you to the exact page and paragraph where Luis makes his suggestions, but then you'd miss a really fun article AND the delight of stumbling over a cartoon of our man hanging with a few of his pals. Check it out.
Last spring, Marc Jaffe published The Best Stories of the American West. Yep, Luis is one of the featured authors with "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses."
In just a couple of weeks, Luis steps out on a crazed tour of cities and colleges that are all talking about immigration and reading The Devil's Highway. He may not be coming to your town, but I bet he's close. Check out his updated schedule with the link at the top of this page. Come see and hear him and definitely say hello!
For those wanting to work with Luis during the summer workshop season, right now it looks like he'll be at the prestigious Bread Loaf Writing Institute and the Hassayampa Conference this summer. We'll have more information here when it's available.
And faithful readers of his blog know that Luis is deep into his new novel. For updates and meanderings and musings, keep checking in with the blog link above.

Thanks for being here!

Now you can hear Hummingbird!

2006-09-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

Now you can hear Hummingbird!
The complete audio version of The Hummingbird's Daughter is now available as a digital download on audible.com. Luis spent a glorious two straight weeks in recording studios in Los Angeles and Chicago reading his epic to you (well, into a microphone, but you get the idea). And now, you can listen on your Ipod, download it to your computer, burn it on a CD. Let Luis tell you a bedtime story or make your commute to work or home feel like you're driving through the outskirts of Teresita's world.
It's an amazing piece of work (we've listed to it here) and, as an added bonus, it features "Teresita's Suite," an original series of acoustic guitar pieces written and performed by Luis's good friend, Mr. Shawn Phillips.
The download will soon be available on Itunes as well.
We think you'll love it.

Much love to the Bay Area!

2006-09-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Much love to the Bay Area!
Thank you so much San Francisco for choosing The Hummingbird's Daughter as your one-city, one-book pick. Luis will be coming into town several times over the next couple of months, so make sure to check the schedule and come by to say hello.
We are humbled and honored!

One City One Book - San Francisco picks The Hummingbird's Daughter

2006-08-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

Mayor Newsom Announces 2006 One City One Book: San Francisco Reads Selection
Tale about a young girl with mystical healing powers chosen for citywide reading program
San Francisco, CA - Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Public Library invite San Franciscans to participate in this year's One City One Book: San Francisco Reads program by announcing the selection of The Hummingbird's Daughter, by Luis Alberto Urrea. Following a highly successful launch of the citywide reading initiative in 2005, co-chaired by Diane Frankel and Marilyn Waldman, this year's program will again feature book discussions and special events and programs associated with the work.

One City One Book: San Francisco Reads events and discussions will take place in libraries, bookstores, and schools during September and October. Program guides, bookmarks, and other materials will be available. For complete program information, visit the San Francisco Public Library website at www.sfpl.org.

2006-04-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

The Hummingbird's Daughter is officially released today in paperback. It's a beautiful production with the added charms of a readers' guide, an interview with Luis, an essay Luis wrote for the Los Angeles Times on what it was like to research and write this book and a list of books Luis recommends to readers.
Speaking of interviews, there is also a wonderfully lengthy and detailed chat with Luis posted at The Elegant Variation. The interview was conducted by king of the Latino bloggers, Dan Olivas.

2006-03-29T04:16:00.000-08:00

Hummingbird wins the Kiriyama!
Pacific Rim Voices has named The Hummingbird's Daughter the winner of the 10th annual Kiriyama Prize for fiction. It's the first time a Latino work has been honored with the prize, designed to showcase the best literature about the peoples and culture of the Pacific Rim region.
Luis is also the first author to be nominated for the prize in both fiction and nonfiction: The Devil's Highway was a finalist last year.
Of Hummingbird, Gail Tsukiyama, novelist and chair of the fiction judges’ panel, said: “Urrea masterfully brings together a story of a clash of cultures, politics and corruption, religion and spirituality, love and heartbreak to a dazzling effect."
We are humbled and grateful to be recognized.
You can read more of the judges' comments and see the official press release here. More information, a review of Hummingbird and an interview with Gail Tsukiyama can be found here.

2006-02-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

It's an honor to be first!
Today the finalists for the 10th annual Kiriyama Prize were announced by Pacific Rim Voices. The Hummingbird's Daughter is a finalist in fiction, making Luis the first author ever to be nominated for the prestigious prize in both fiction and nonfiction (The Devil's Highway was a nonfiction finalist last year). Hoorah!
You can find out more here.

We LOVE Austin!

2006-02-06T12:45:00.000-08:00

We LOVE Austin!!
This morning, the city of Austin announced Mayor Will Wynn chose The Devil's Highway as his pick for the fifth annual Mayor's Book Club. It's an amazing honor and one we deeply appreciate.
Thanks, Austin! It's always been one of our favorite cities and now we feel even closer!
Doing his part to help keep Austin weird, Luis will be making a special appearance there in April. Keep watching here for more details.
If you've come here as part of the reading program, welcome and please say hello!

Back on the road!

2005-10-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

Lots of appearances coming up throughout the fall, including this week's run through Texas. Luis will be at the Texas Book Festival this weekend, speaking on panels (both English and Spanish) and holding a solo reading and book signing. Please come and say hello. We've heard from lots of readers in Texas and would love to meet you.

Don't forget: The Devil's Highway is now available in paperback.

On the airwaves

2005-09-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Luis is all over Public Radio for the next week or so:
Over the weekend of Sept. 2-4, 2005, "This American Life" will be rebroadcasting its "Garbage" episode, which features Luis and son Eric going back to the Tijuana dump and finding Negra and her family. This was originally aired in Oct. 2002, so now is your chance to hear it again. Check your local listings on NPR stations and XM and Sirius satellite radio.
AND, if that wasn't enough ... Luis's short story "Bid Farewell To Her Many Horses" will be aired as part of the "Selected Shorts" program for the week of Sept. 10-16. This was an amazing performance by actor Ted Marcoux (though not as good as Luis's own reading of the story), recorded in NYC in June 2002. Check your local listings!

Book tour starts this week!

2005-06-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

Urrea's newest Tour of America has hit the road. Check the events calendar and see if there's a stop near you. Come say hello. We'll talk about Teresita and hear Luis read a bit. There are even some surprises planned. Celebrate The Hummingbird's Daughter. We'll be so happy to see you.

Meet Teresita

2005-05-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

One day, while researching through an obscure archive, we came across an autographed photo of Teresita. We've now taken that photo and turned it into a "santos" postcard. Though Luis will give them away at readings and signings, we'd also like to make them available to anyone who would like one. Just go to the "contact" section of the website and send Luis an email with your mailing address. He'll even sign it!

Hummingbird Contest

2005-05-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

The Hummingbird's Daughter is a staff pick at Time Warner Bookgroup this month and you can win a set of books for your reading group!
Click here to enter!

2005-04-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Honors for The Devil's Highway

--- Finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
http://www.pulitzer.org/

--- Winner of the 2004 Lannan Foundation Literary Award for Non-Fiction
www.lannan.org

--- Finalist for the 2005 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize for Non-Fiction
www.kiriyamaprize.org

--- Southwest Book of the Year, as named by the Border Regional Library Association
www.brla.info

--- National best-seller

Best Books of the Year list for:
Los Angeles Times
Chicago Tribune
Miami Herald
San Francisco Chronicle
Kansas City Star
and many more!

Watch for The Devil's Highway in paperback in September 2005