Luis Alberto Urrea's Blog, page 18
March 26, 2012
Iowa City!
As part of the Mission Creek Festival, I'll be reading Tuesday March 27 at Prairie Lights Bookstore in my first ever appearance there. Hope to see you!
March 5, 2012
Tucson Book Fest!
Tucson Festival of Books is this weekend! Come find out why it's my favorite.
(click below for more info)
See you there!
February 23, 2012
Busy Day Today!
A little last minute, but better late than never, right?
I had a great chat with Alison Cuddy over at WBEZ a couple of weeks ago. She's a great interviewer because she's funny and she knows her stuff. That ALWAYS makes for better conversation. Our interview is airing today on WBEZ during their World Affairs show at noon.
Here's Alison's preview to the show and a link in case you missed it.
Hopefully, that will get you in the mood because tonight is our gala event for the Naperville READS! program. As the adult author pick this year, I've been visiting the area high schools and I've enjoyed getting to meet so many of the kids in our hometown. So if you're reading this now, Naperville high school kids, BRING YOUR PARENTS and come see me tonight at Wentz Concert Hall at 7 p.m. Tickets are free and available at Anderson's Books and the libraries in town. If you don't have a ticket, come anyway. Just tell them at the door that we're pals. They'll let you in. (And yes, I know there is snow scheduled for tonight. Pshaw. You can't let a little snow keep you home!)
Here's a link, if you need it.
February 19, 2012
So, whatcha doing this summer?
Ahh, AWP just around the corner which means writing minds are thinking about the summer and all those glorious hours to fill. This is the time of year you might be looking for a writing conference or two. I generally think they're a good idea as a place to find inspiration and community. There are still scholarships available at some places, so look carefully.
This summer, I'm pretty much staying in the West. We'll be re-visiting some of our favorite places and looking to refill my own inspiration reservoir. I will offer some recommendations at the end of this posting, but if you're looking to work with me, I will be teaching at two conferences and speaking at a third.
Aspen, CO
June 17-24, 2012
If you can't find inspiration in Aspen, you won't find it anywhere. This is a good conference for making connections. They invite a top-notch group of authors, editors, and agents. (I actually found my agent Julie Barer there.) The readings and conversations there are amazing. They have not yet announced their guests for the literary festival, but from what I'm hearing, it will be an amazing group.
Fishtrap, the 25th Anniversary
Joseph, OR
July 9-15, 2012
I was so pleased to be invited to the 25th anniversary of the Fishtrap Summer Writing Conference. This one is dearest to my heart and closest to the way I work. Here, it's all about inspiration. These are the blue-collar writers, the people who are trying to tell their stories and opening their hearts to the world. The participant readings routinely break my heart. This year, I'm bringing my pal Jamie Ford to teach a workshop as well. Participants can camp out in tents or yurts, we all eat camp-style food, and then gather around a firepit for song and community when the readings are over. No cellphone, spotty internet. It's summer camp for writers in the truest sense.
The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference
Dallas, TX
July 20-22, 2012
I am a keynote speaker at this conference and I'm excited about it since since I've heard such amazing things. It will be my first time, so I don't have many words of advice to you other than it looks like a seriously amazing gathering for anyone working in nonfiction. I mean, c'mon! Isabel Wilkerson!
Other summer writing conferences I can highly recommend are:
Bread Loaf Writing Conference, Middlebury VT, Aug. 15-25, 2012. Every writer should make a trip up the mountain at least once. It's a lifechanger.
Tin House Summer Writing Conference, Portland OR, July 8-15, 2012. The Portland-Brooklyn mashup means you get exposed to some of the most exciting writers in the business. Best reading venue ever.
Squaw Valley Writers Conference, Squaw Valley CA, July 7-14, 2012. Rotating faculty means you get to work with several faculty members. And shared lodging means you get to make lots of connections.
Summer camp isn't just for kids!
Tags: summerwriting conferences
Sketchbook Sunday
Haven't done one of these in a while. From back in the day. Pen and ink. Drew it for David Thomson's band, The Pike Bishops.
Tags: sketchbookart
February 15, 2012
Deported Words and the Oddness in Arizona
Forgive me for being distracted lately and not writing you a nice long blog post. Yes, I have been on the road a lot--but what else is new? No, I have been running to Twitter / Facebook marathon lately, trying to make sense of the recent events in Arizona. Perhaps you have heard of this. The banning. The removal of books. The annihilation of Ethnic Studies by the Tucson Apartheid School District. Oops. I mean the Tucson Unified School District.
Regardless of the politics of the situation, the ones my heart aches for are the kids. It's emotional what studying your own culture does to you, to your pursuit of education. I can tell you my story, but listen to them tell you their story.
To begin: I would like to thank the Jan Brewer/Joe Arpaio forces of Love and Equity for destroying Mexican American Studies. Once I heard the Spanish was a ghetto language (thanks, Newt--or, as my friend Joe Wallace calls him, "Axolotl") and the Beaners should self-deport (thanks, Mitt), I realized that the bastards I have been battling all my life must be right. We just suck. We are un-American. A blight, I tell you. And now that the Balkanizing cult-like weirdness of Mexican American Studies has been brought down by the flaming sword of righteousness, southern Arizona will be safe again for its original and rightful citizens: White Republicans. I had fiive books yanked from classrooms. That made me the leader of the pack. Yay! It also, of course, inspired book sales and brought me a couple of hundred new Followers, Fans and Friends on social media. KA-CHING!
Not content with removing the Frijoleros--that insidious Sandra Cisneros and Rudolfo Anaya, notorious wetback and narcotraficante--the AZ idiocracy also removed the Indigenous writers. Who told you the Indian Wars were over? Adios, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, adios Ofelia Zepeda--winner of the infamous anti-American MacArthur genius grant. That Thoreau was banned is to be expected. I mean, c'mon. He's Thoreau! Shakespeare? That seems a bit much, frankly. I guess if you put Shakespeare into brown hands something really bad will happen. So he had to go.
Lots of people have been acting up about this. Over at the Progressive's website, a slew of us have posted commets. Although it pains me, I concede that Sherman has written the finest piece. Even in banishment, we like to compete! Here:
The Progressive is featuring the issue on its front page. Read everything here.
The issue isn't me, nor is it books. I happily suggest they keep all my books off their reading lists--but do not deny Ofelia Zepeda a voice. Do not deny Rudolfo Anaya his place. Don't keep my homeboy the gang-banger Guillermo Shakespeare out of school.
The issue is the attempt to edit out an entire ethnicity and culture under twisted "patriotic" propaganda. Ethnic Studies do not divide Americans--they unite. They offer a gateway INTO greater American culture for people who were locked out by the Jan Brewers, the Apartheid school boards, to begin with. I know. I have been in those courses as student and teacher--I can show you the PhD raza who came through those rooms. But it might be folly on my part--a Beaner PhD is probably just what those people fear.
There is a lot of good reporting on the issue out there. But not enough. I don't understand why there isn't national outrage over this issue. It's worth your time to search out stories in the Huffington Post (where Jeff Biggers is doing a great job) and on Salon. The Arizona Daily Star, on-line Tucson Citizen and its Mexican-American issues blog the Three Sonorans (shoutout to D.A. Morales for his righteous anger) are trying to keep the issue in the public eye. Make sure to friend Save Ethnic Studies and Three Sonorans on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. Make this your issue! It's not about Mexican-American studies, it's about education, it's about the history of this land, it's about the people of this land, it's about literature. Be angry!
The irony for me is that AZ is the place my work is afforded the greatest kindness. Just weeks before the banning, I was awarded the Southwest Books citation for best work about the Southwest. In Tucson. Ahem. Next month, I will go frolic at the Tucson Festival of Books. What is happening here? What it is ain't exactly clear....
It's about the kids. I don't care about your politics. I'm a proud Independent. Lost faith in all parties. Political agnostic here. And it's not about my career--doing fine, thanks. Selling books, right there in Arizona. But I cannot stand by and see kids kicked around by people more ignorant than they ever were. Kids stepped on because somebody else has a bigger pair of boots.
There have been teachins and walkouts and small organized protests to what is happening in Tucson. The best response yet -- and one which seems to be geared to the kids -- is the Librotraficantes movement organized by Tony Diaz, founder of Houston's Nuestras Palabras: Latino Writers Having Their Say. Tony's idea is that we need to show the kids that they do not stand alone, that we are right beside them, hands on their shoulders. You can get involved by donating books, money, time, or support. Check him out:
I was told at the TFoB last year by media types that the school board was going to take The Devil's Highway out of schools. Why? There were complaints about "Devil" in the title. I thought they were kidding. They weren't. Hmm, I thought: you'd better go through your maps and history books and make sure all disquieting words are removed. Perhaps the ancient Camino del Diablo can be changed to McCain Alley? Or Tinkerbell Lane?
The Tucson school district is 61% Latino. Oh-oh. Hear those kids--they're starting to rise.
God bless them. And God bless us. They are us.
February 6, 2012
Urrea speaks!
Would you like me to speak at your school/town/library/event? Click the logo for more information.
Naperville READS!
January 18, 2012
Naperville READS!
Honored and excited that the city where I live as chosen me as its adult author for 2012. And eager to hear YOUR story! Lots of cool events. Follow along here.
