Tuesday, April 20 - 7 PM

Luis Alberto Urrea, a winner of the American Book Award 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 and is currently published by Little, Brown and Company. The critically acclaimed author of nine books, Urrea is an award-winning poet and essayist. His first book, "Across the Wire", was named a New York Times Notable Book. He also won a 1999 American Book Award for his memoir, “Nobody's Son: Notes from an American Life.” In 2000, he was voted into the Latino Literature Hall of Fame following the publication of "Vatos." His book of short stories, "Six Kinds of Sky," was awarded the small-press 2002 Book of the Year Award for Fiction by the editors of ForeWord magazine.

Urrea's other titles include "By the Lake of Sleeping Children," "The Fever of Being," "In Search of Snow," "Ghost Sickness," and "Wandering Time." His writing has won an American Book Award, a Western States Book Award, a Colorado Center for the Book Award, and a Christopher Award. He was also in the 1996 “Best American Poetry” collection.

Urrea lives with his family in Naperville, where he teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

www.luisurrea.com

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